I went to Half Price Books yesterday (there are five in Columbus), specifically looking for some music from the Fruit Bats (Mouthfuls, Spelled in Bones) or maybe a Nada Surf CD (none to be found). I ended up buying “The Raw & The Remix,” a Fine Young Cannibals remix disc from 1990.
Of course, I had to check out their graphic novel selection. So I picked up a few “non-fiction” books: Adrian Tomine’s “Scrapbook” ($10!), “The Essential Guide to World Comics” by Tim Pilcher and Brad Brooks (I borrowed this encyclopedic tome from the Columbus Met Library a few months ago– it’s a good, overall informative comic book resource) and “Does this Cape Make Me Look Fat?” by Chelsea Cain and Marc Mohan (totally fucking hilarious). I also found “The Long Chalkboard and Other Stories” by Jenny Allen and Jules Feiffer (yay!), as well as a smattering of other actual graphic novels. When I walked up to the counter to pay for my haul I had one book on the top of my stack that I was very excited about and couldn’t resist voicing my enthusiasm to the cashier:
“Excuse me, if you wouldn’t mind, I’d like to ask you a rather self-centered and potentially pretentious question.”
“Go ahead.”
“If I am one of the authors of this book, do I get a discount?”
“I doubt it sir, but if you’d like, I can ask the manager.”
“No, that’s okay. It’s just not everyday that I see this book in a bookstore.”
“So, you really wrote this?
“Nah, I just drew it.”
“Amoeba Adventures. Sounds fun.”
Yeah, so there I was, in Half Price Books, holding “Amoeba Adventures: Mushrooms and Dinosaurs,” written by the great Nik Dirga and illustrated by yours truly. Nik was the creator of the whole Protoplasm Press universe—writing and illustrating these hilarious, adventurous stories of Prometheus the Amoeba and the rest of the All-Star Spongy Squadron: Rambunny, Ninja Ant, Karate Kactus, Dawn Star and Cyrone Julian Spifinov (formerly “Dr. Spif,” then “Mr. Spif” and eventually just plain Spif). Mr. Dirga began self-publishing Amoeba Adventures on his own in 1990 and I (as of issue #14) became the regular artist on the book in 1994, joining him in the creation of “all things spongy.”
Jeez. We had a hell of a lot of fun back then.
“Mushrooms and Dinosaurs” collected issues 15-19 of the series (there were 27 total issues) and it was my very first published trade paperback comic book (and currently my only one).
As I was having a little nostalgic flashback with my cashier, Gwen, the other nearby cashier overheard us talking. She didn’t have any customers to ring up, so she chimed in: “Amoeba Adventures? What’s that? Oh, this Prometheus looks so cute! Wow, you drew this book? I’d love to read it.”
Long story short, I let the other cashier (Grace) keep the book, gave them both postcard invites (with sketches) to one of my upcoming gallery show (Komics @ Kerouac) and bicycled home beneath a clear, brisk January evening sky.
