More Shit I Collected As a Kid

Another batch of attic finds from this weekend in CT. Comic Strips and shitloads of them. Not the books – but actual clippings that I meticulously sliced with an Xacto back when I did nothing good as a teen.

I clipped comic strips because I hated waiting for the tradebooks to be published at the end of the year (which compiled a years worth of strips). Comic books were meant to be read, saved, and traded. Why the fuck could I not do the same with comic strips.

I found this box in the attic.

I opened it and discovered my stash of Matt Groening’s “Life is Hell” strips from 1990-92. I loved the uncommon square read flow of “Life is Hell.” Like “The Far Side” (which I found to be boring), this odd shape of the comic strip made it a bitch to place in the comics’ section. So youre paper either buried it with the classified, of in the case of “Life is Hell” you just got picked up by the alternative papers.

I think this is the strip that summed up the strip nicely. For those that know Groening’s work on this front, this will be familiar. Blinky in ropes.

Akbar & Jeff – the gay boys.

The craziest part for me was that “Life is Hell” and the Hartford Advocate taught me what trannies were. Flipping over some of the clippings, you’ll discover that they were only a short phone call away… if you’re into that.

I found these red envelopes as well. I fashioned them out of Hallmark envelope remainders from my days working at CVS. “Calvin & Hobbes” all labelled, dated, and spliced in my outstanding obsessive way. Again, I hated waiting for the trades to be printed. I wanted to pull them out and check out Watterson’s pen and ink work whenever I wanted. I think I have about 15 of these little envelopes labelled C&H. Ridiculous.

I love this one. Calvin was the master of torture without shedding blood. “Home Sweet Home.”

Oh yeah, I got more coming….