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.
