Flamed Out: The Underground Adventures and Comix Genius of Willy Murphy

Flamed Out:The Underground Adventures and Comix Genius of Willy Murphy

Molly and I went to the San Francisco Cartoon Art Museum on Sunday for the presentation and book signing of Flamed Out: The Underground Adventures and Comix Genius of Willy Murphy by authors Nicki Michaels and Mark Burstein. 

 

Mark Burstein during the presentation at the SF Cartoon Art Museum. I didn’t get a shot of Nicki Michaels.

 

Nicki was the wife of Willy; Mark has authored and edited numerous books including the biography book on cartoonist Dave Sheridan, various Pogo collections and scads of books pertaining to Alice in Wonderland. (The third co-author of Flamed Out is the late underground cartoonist and close friend of Willy, Ted Richards).

Authors Nicki Michaels, Ted Richards and Mark Burstein. Photo from the book.

 

Flamed Out: The Underground Adventures and Comix Genius of Willy Murphy is about as thorough and comprehensive as one could want. I’m pleased someone finally gave this greatly talented cartoonist his due.   Here are a couple of examples:

Willy’s cover from San Francisco Comic Book #4, 1973
 

From the San Francisco Sunday Paper 1972 

Here’s a remembrance from the Artists in Print publication Graphiti from 1976:

Flamed Out is published by Fantagraphics. You can find it at their website, other online sites-- or even better--your local bookstore.

The Bread and Puppet Museum, Glover, Vermont

Molly and I, on a recent trip, wound up visiting the Bread and Puppet Museum. 

The Museum is an overwhelming and inspiring site.

The Museum is crammed with decades of puppets from countless performances of social and political commentary.

For a sense of scale, take a look at this shot Molly took of me walking among some the puppets.

Artist Peter Schumann founded the Bread and Puppet Theater in 1963 in the Lower East Side in New York City. 

 

Schumann’s creative style has been described as “a mix of Romanesque, German Expressionism, Cycladic Minimalism and Potato-Nose Naturalism”.

The Museum was established in Glover, Vermont (about 20 miles south of the Canadian border) in 1975 in a former dairy barn built in 1863.

Peter’s wife, Elka Schumann kept the books and managed the finances and was considered the “glue” that held the troupe and museum together. She died in 2021.

Peter Schumann, 89, remains active.

Bread and Puppet is one of the oldest, nonprofit, political theatre companies in the country.

Our friend Sheri.

You can also purchase prints, art, posters, chapbooks and booklets at the museum.

More info at:  Bread and Puppet

Happy Halloween

Here’s an oversized cutout drawing I did for a haunted house back when I was teaching.  These days Halloween is just about the least scary thing happening.  Happy Halloween.

Sachi Tsutsumi Hayward

October 30, 1926 - August 23, 2023

Sachi has passed. She was in my life for over 60 years as a gentle guiding light of kindness. She impressed me with her indomitable spirit, her impish ways when she was determined to get her way, and her loving heart. I will miss our visits. She was so very dear to me.

Sachi and me circa 1964-65

As a 5 to 7 year old Sachi babysat me in her wonderful home on Rhode Island St. on Potereo Hill in San Francisco. You would walk through a tall dark gate into a magical lush green garden with a beautiful fish pond filled with Koi. The house was built as a single story that jutted out over the side of the hill. I remember the tile floors and the way it was open all the way to the back so you could enjoy the view. As you stepped into the house  from the garden you came to a metal sprial staircase, and down this staircase was Sachi's world. As a child I didn't realize that she rented this space from others. I just knew that the home fit her personality. The house felt very serene and peaceful which was how Sachi was to me.  She was very patient with me which endeared her to me mightly. It is only recently that I learned her patience with me was due to her lack of English and not her gentle manner. OR so she says.  She taught me Oragami and painting, and I always felt a quiet sense of being when I was with her.

Sachi and me early August 2023

Sachi came to California from Japan to go to The San Francisco Art Institute to study Printmaking in the early 1960's.  Here are several of Sachi's incredible aquatint etchings courtesy of her niece Lynn, and some from my archives.

"Blue Vase"

Blue Vase 2

 

"Dry Vase"

 

Tan & Blue Vase

Dry Flowers C

Yellow with Leaf

Sachi with her siblings in Japan

As her niece Lynn says, they are all together now.

Sachi has been preparing for her departure for a long time now, I hope her trip is beautiful. The day she died I saw a group of beautiful egrets fly over the delta and I believe this was Sachi joining her family.