Lesson 2: Tasty Treats

Ah the early nineties, a light and breezy time it seemed creativity was in the air. The Simpsons were on a roll(which really should have stopped somewhere around season 11 or 12-whenever they went to England), my friend was introducing me to the world of Seinfeld(now tainted), there was still city specific music scenes(gone the way of my space and youtube) as well as record labels that specialized in more or less one sound. Fantagraphics gave us Peter Bagge's Hate and Dan Clowe's Eightball. Comic Books were beginning to get the respect they deserve(but only if you called them Graphic Novels), and punk rock fliers went from being plastered every and anywhere to limited edition prints hanging in art galleries. Vinyl was still viable and becoming quite collectible with record singles coming out in every color of the rainbow, sometimes swirled. I was working at a pizza shop and going to school to become a Art Teacher-determined to change how art was taught(HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA That is Funny), so yeah this is the stew that Tasty Treats crawled from.

The name Tasty Treats came from a delivery driver I worked with who had the habit of saying Glenn's Tasty Treats while I was making food, which in turn fit the book as it was an anthology comic. There was an exception though as I did have a continuing story "Knuckleheads" which was never finished(though it still rattles in my brain). There were some recurring character strips, but Knuckleheads and quite a few stories were inspired by the police blotter and Wmji's "Knuckledheads in the News"(Back then it was the Lanigan, Webster, and Malone show, presently The Lanigan and Malone show, Knuckleheads still on Thursday morning 8-9am). It seemed I was on some kind of roll, but Tasty Treats this form at least, stopped by 1992-incidentally the Jake Ace that was posted November 3rd was from the 3rd issue. If you could see how some of this was laid out it looks like a madman did it, pieces here cuts there, artwork was done on bristol board and I was still using rapidograph pens(HAHAHAHA that's funny too). Now I'm just trying to figure out what the hell I was doing between 93-95.

Next: The Birth of 80 Proof Comix


Tasty Treats 1 1991-92


Tasty Treats 2 1992


Tasty Treats 3 1992


Unfinished Flier

Lesson 1 and Rant #2

4 months in the making finally it's here, your proper Welcome to 80 Proof Comix so let's begin.
Named after one of my favorite movie series The Thin-Man starring William Powell and Myrna Loy as Nick and Nora Charles, high society drinkers who solve crime on the side(though Nick is a ex-detective who always seems to run into guys he "sent up the river" and they are always happy to see him). The kind of movies they don't make anymore, dialogue fast and funny, a dog named Asta, all available on DVD-Find them, Watch them, and Enjoy.
The comic did not and I had no intention to capture the tone of the movies. The Thin-Man was a private detective, who didn't use a gun but his brain. Two issues were put out and a third issue was finished but never released. The Thin-Man did receive a nice Christmas card. Thanks

The Thin-Man #1 1987 #2 1988

I put The Thin-Man to rest and went on to a horror comic, Bloody Murder, the comics usually had two stories one serious and the other with a little more humor. There was a Crypt-Keeper type character-though looking through the issues I don't think I bothered to name him. Not much to say, it's a horror book-I like it(horror that is), still do(not the torture crap they're peddling today-but I'll save that rant for another day).

Bloody Murder #1 1989
Bloody Murder #2 1989-90
Bloody Murder #3 1990-91

But I will say this The cover of Issue 2 is loosely based-influenced by John Carpenter's The Thing, which is a remake of the Howard Hawk's film The Thing from Another World, which is based on the story Who Goes There by John Cambell-Whew.
Now the Hawks film is a classic, I remember it fondly as a kid. But there are certain times in your life when you See something, Hear something, or Read something, that makes your spine tingle and your Brain Turn Upside Down. Carpenter's The Thing did that for me, the story was there and the cast made the chaos, and the horror seem real whether there was a monster on screen or not. But it was the effects in that movie that turned my brain to mush, morphing, tentacle, chest teeth, dogs inside out hell beast animation that was in real time, and the best thing about it was that you knew somewhere that the Norris Spider Head was sitting somewhere in some Hollywood warehouse. The movie did everything a movie should, plus in my case it gave my brain an extra tweak, so when I read that they're planning a remake this was my first thought...

A Favorite

An oldie but goodie-Enjoy

PRESENTTTIIINNNGGG The First Jake Ace(or who the hell is that)

This may be as old as 1992 or late as 1995 found another strip that's from 1996, a history lesson is coming next week(I don't know who looks at this blog, but it's for your benefit and mine). So Enjoy