Hector Tellez swung by our place for a visit, recently, his
van loaded with paintings.
We see each other very rarely but I’ve known Hector since
about 1964.
As kids, we were comic collector buddies and budding cartoonists
together.
Hector and me at the San Diego Comic Con, 1981
Larry and Hector on my front porch 2017
Back in middle school we ferreted out golden age comic books
(at a nickel a piece) from flea markets and neighbors.
One kid casually mentioned that he had a large cardboard box
full of old "funny books" with WWII ads in them. We were at his place in an
instant , like pirahnas, snatching up Superman, Whiz Comics, All-Star Comics, The Blue Beetle….
We used to spend hours negotiating a single comic book trade.
We also discovered the emerging comic fandom together buying mimeographed and printed fanzines through the mails. (Yancy Street Journal, Voice of Comicdom, Fantasy Illustrated, Odd, Alter-Ego, ERB-dom, Batmania and on and on).
We drew cartoons, hand drawn comic books, and also did a bit
of mimeographed comics are selves (I at least once participated in something
called CRUD).
I switched high schools and didn’t see much of him until
after high school when we both wound up drawing for the so called underground.
In the late 1960’s-early ‘70’s, Hector drew a lot of flyers
for Bay Area rock concerts and contributed to the weekly paper the Berkeley
Tribe.
The back cover of Dirty Girdies Comix #3 1969
Some clips from the same issue
Our first appearances in underground commix concurred
together as well—in the tabloid Dirty Girdies Comix {1969} and Hee Hee {1970}.
From Hee Hee
Copyright Geerdes Estate
I’ve always enjoyed his take on cartooning.
Nowadays, Hector devotes his time to painting. Here are a
few examples:
He paints everyday. I’m impressed (and a little envious
perhaps) by his diligence.
Hello Larry,
ReplyDeleteI have a question with regard to Dirty Girdies Comix. The last two issues are very findable in the market with patience, #2 appears once every blue moon, but #1 is listed on the "wants" of many advanced underground collectors. I know leaders in the collecting community who have been unable to locate a copy after decades of searching.
The Kennedy guide states that 1,000 copies were produced like all four issues. Did something happen to #1 to make it "rarer", like copies were destroyed?
Also I do not have a images of DG #1 and it is unclear if it appears in this posting (I do not think it does). Any chance of posting it or forwarding me some scans. Please and thank you, Dan
Hello Dan,
DeleteThank you for your question. You’ve sent me scurrying to what passes for my archives in search of any remaining information on Dirty Girdies #1. I haven’t as yet found anything. Certainly not an actual copy of issue #1. Not too surprising in that my own collection of materials, artwork, sketchbooks, correspondence, etc. were stolen from a storage locker many years ago.
This means I have to rely on my memory banks.
Jay Kennedy was usually right on details. I believe the press runs on DG were 1000 on most issues. However, I somehow think I recall a larger run on #3—more like 3000. But I certainly couldn’t confirm that now.
The first two issues amounted to no more than 8 folded pages. The third issue was our big ‘push’ with 16 pages and possibly a larger press run.
The publication began as the dream of a young would-be entrepreneur named David Goforth. He worked as a copy boy for a local newspaper and wanted to get in to publishing. I was sort of the defacto art editor since I knew a few cartoonists (like Hector Tellez and Greg Dominici).
I gathered the artwork, did the paste-up, went out looking for advertising and designed the ads, etc.
Distribution came down to me mostly walking around to shops and asking if they would take the tabloid on consignment (the answer was almost always ‘no’).
With issue #3 the answer was ‘yes’ from Gary Arlington, who ran the San Francisco Comic Book Company in the Mission District. We sold copies in his shop alongside Zap, Yellow Dog and other earlier underground efforts. Later, I believe, Dirty Girdies #3 was sold through Gary’s mail order operation as well. I’m not sure the first two issues got included in any of that.
I don’t think any of the issues were consciously destroyed but rather died from neglect. I don’t recall lugging box loads of them around. David, the publisher, probably had most of them and probably dumped them somewhere along the line (then again, there could be a box sitting in someone’s garage …).
I was hoping to find at least a photo copy of the cover of DG #1 in my recent file search but no such luck. The issue was written and drawn entirely by me, as I recall, and featured a super-hero parody titled the “Nude Dude’ (who re-appeared in issue #4). I can’t recall the plot if there actually was one. The work I see in my mind (like most of my early DG material) is painfully primitive but I would hope that a copy would surface somewhere to take its place in underground comix history.
I will continue to search about and if I ever do find a copy I’ll let you know.
Thanks again,
Larry
Hi Larry,
ReplyDeleteJust wanted to let you know that the Billy Ireland Cartoon Library & Museum received the Jay Kennedy Collection of Underground Comix and Papers as part of our collections including a copy of DG #1. Rest assured that it is being preserved as part of underground comix history!
I found your blog as I was searching for the copyright owner per a request from someone in Belgium who wanted a hi-res scan of the DG #1 cover to be published in his book, which we cannot release unless he provides permission from the copyright owner. I will send him to this post.
Our website is cartoons.osu.edu and our email is cartoons@osu.edu if you would like to provide your information so we can contact you for copyright permissions. Also, let me know if you would like to have images of the cover or full issue.
Best,
Marilyn
Hello, can i get a scan, or permissies to get it from the OHIO University for Dirty Girdie Comix #1 ?
ReplyDeleteGreetz David from Belgium
Hello David,
DeleteI'm sorry I missed your comment. I don't have a copy of Dirty Girdies #1 but as it turns out (I've learned from another posted comment here) the Billy Ireland Cartoon Library & Museum does. I'm very interested in learning what your project is all about. You can contact me at rlrippee@hotmail.com
Larry