A GIFT FROM JAY LYNCH

In a previous post I mentioned that I had sent a letter to artist Jay Lynch.
Jay is one of my favorite artists and has had his hand in everything I love (Mad Magazine, Garbage Pail Kids, Wacky Packages...) so of course I love him. He's extremely well-known for his work in underground comics.

He had mentioned on Facebook that he had a bunch of old personalized pens he came across in his home and would give one to anyone willing to mail a self-adressed stamped envelope. So of course as one of my heroes I had to do it. I had sent along a blank square of cardboard and asked if he had time to do a small sketch with the pen on it also. I figured the pen would mean a lot more to me if he had actually used it.

I don't know if the pen worked well or not but Jay was nice enough to mail back a fantastic self portrait on the card and gave me not only one, but two pens. What an awesome guy.

I told him I had a neat shadowbox I planned to display them in so when I got the letter back from him I went to work. I included an autographed card I got in one of the Wacky Packages series 7 packs also. Turned out fantastic in my opinion.

Thanks a lot Jay!

Here's the pics:



If you were wondering what "Um Tut Sut" means, Google it. It's a fun search.



Jay does these awesome commission pieces for fans based on characters from the Wacky Packages he's designed. I love his quick wit and sense of humor. Jay never seems to run short on ideas for new jokes and puns. Below are a few of my faves. I also included the original cards they were based on.

















This next one included three different characters from spoofs on three 80's toy lines.









Thanks again Jay, maybe someday someone will be wise enough to do an independent film based on your life and experiences in the world of underground comics and art and you can become a millionaire. It happens.

COOL BEANS 10-10

Just a few recent things I've been meaning to blog about.

This last weekend I went to "The Worlds Biggest Garage Sale" which probably isn't really the worlds BIGGEST garage sale because that would be ridiculous, but I like it and I go to it every year anyway.

This year they held it at the local cattle congress fairgrounds (yeah, I'm from Iowa) and my sister was one of the people who helped organize and run the event. She said they opened the doors at 7:30 am and there would be a long line of people waiting to get in so I should try and get there early.
I woke up at about 6:00 am so I could be good and ready. Sure enough by the time I got there a large hoard of people had already formed a line. I could see my sister in the doorway of the east entrance where she said she would be stamping peoples hands. It costs a buck to get in.
There was about 300 people waiting to go in the door. I overheard a couple people mention that there was another entrance around back so I followed them around the building and got right in.
I've got an exceptional ability to scour a large flea market quickly for stuff I like so it only took me about twenty minutes to make my rounds through the different vendors. The local comic shop had a large booth and since they recognized me I had to stop and chit-chat with them for a few minutes.
There wasn't a whole lot of antiques and old collectibles this year, it seemed to be a lot of stuff that was from the last 20 years and kind of disappointing. I guess they try and cater to what they feel Iowans would dig so the vendors bring out all their Nascar, wrestling figures and collectables, baseball cards, country records, and crafty stuff.
I always scan the whole place before I buy anything. By the time I was finished I had found very little I was interested in.
I ended up paying a quarter for a blue dinosaur Diener eraser that I dug out of a bag of rubber dinosaurs and five Mad magazines I talked the vendor down to $1.00 each. I already had two of them in my collection but they were in good condition so I just got them all.

Here's my loot:




Mad Super Special #8 1972


Mad Super Special March 1994


Mad Sex and Dating November 1993

This one has one of my favorite Spy Vs Spy Vs Spy cartoons where the third female spy outsmarts the other two.




Mad Collectors Series January 1993

I remember my mom bought me this issue when I was a kid and home sick with the flu. I must have read it cover-cover a dozen times that day.


Mad Collectors Series 11 August 1995

This one was a good find too because it still had the poster in it illustrated by John Pound. He's they guy that painted all the early Garbage Pail Kids.



Overall it was worth the dollar to get in and I got to see my sister.

I've also been meaning to post these awesome sketch cards that G.P.K. artist and pal Brent Engstrom mailed to me and my kids. He started doing these really cool sketches on the peeled off backs from old GPK cards. He did two of those for each of us and also a colored sketch of us as Garbage Pail Kids. Freaking awesome!!



He drew me up as "Cleaved Steve". I commented, "That's all I need is another scar on my head."

He also drew me up "Sewer Sue" and "Nasty Nick"





He sketched my son Jack as "Jack Frost"



He also did the GPK "Jack Frost" and "Jack-O-Lantern" for him.





For my daughter Sam he drew her as "Snooty Samantha"



Brent also sketched her "Snooty Sam" and "Soft-Boiled Sam".





Once again, these are freaking amazing. Thanks a bunch Brent.



Another thing I wanted to post is that I finally got around to stopping by my local Target to see what they had for the new Wacky Packages series 7 stuff. I was hoping to find the blister packs so I could get the bonus cards but didn't find any. I was surprised to see that they had the mini cereal box sets which I ordered off the Topps website because I didn't think they were released in stores? (see previous WP series 7 post). I did find the Garbage Pail Kids silly bands though. For some reason they saw Garbage Pail Gang which is weird ( In Australia the cards are called "The Garbage Gang"). The bands which are rubber bands that kids wear on their wrists and when removed retain some specific shape (ex: dog, flower, car...) they are currently a big fad for kids and come in all different styles and colors. They even have scented and glow-in-the-dark bands. The Garbage Pail Gang ones are shaped like poop, fart blast, garbage cans, etc... too bad they didn't make them smell. I've been wearing the poop one for the last couple days. I'm just a big kid. Samantha said her school banned silly bands because they were a distraction and some kids were putting them around their necks.





That reminds me, there is a funny spoof of silly bandz in the latest issue of Mad:


Mad #506 December 2010



Made me laugh.

Last of all, before I hit the hay I wanted to share something neat. The great Wacky Package/Garbage Pail Kid artist Jay Lynch had mentioned on Facebook that he ran across a box of old personalized pens he had left over and he said if anyone wanted to mail him a self-addressed stamped envelope he would send you one. I guess he has about 500? So of course I mailed him a letter and I'll post something when it comes. I drew him up an envelope based on an old Wacky Packages card. Here's the pics:






Done nerding out, time for bed.

RECENT AUTOGRAPHED PHOTOS

I got these three in the mail today.


FRED SAVAGE


PETER GALLAGHER


SAMUEL L. JACKSON

The photo of Samuel L. Jackson had visible fingerprints all over it so they could possibly belong to him? It was obviously signed in blue ballpoint pen and pressed deeply into the photo (tough guy).

TODAY'S AUTOGRAPH

Today I got an autographed photo of Susan Lucci in the mail. She is best known for her role as Erica Kane on the soap opera "All My Children". She has been on the show since it's first episode in January of 1970. The last couple autographs I got kind of suck. I never watch soap operas unless I'm trying to take an afternoon nap.
My goal in the beginning was to try and see how many "celebrity" autographs I could get in a year without spending money to buy them and I'm doing pretty good so I guess I shouldn't complain.
This is the 40th signed photo I've received in the mail since I started sending out requests on August 19th of last year. Since then I have also purchased 13 autographed photos from thrift stores and flea markets and I had 5 autographs to begin with. So that's a total of 57. Not bad.

MARY TYLER MOORE AUTOGRAPHED PHOTO

I got this signed photo of Mary Tyler Moore in the mail while I was in the hospital.



I used to watch The Dick Van Dyke Show on Nick At Nite and I thought Laura Petrie was the bee's knees.

JERRY SPRINGER SIGNED PHOTO

Got this in the mail yesterday.

SHIRLEY MACLAINE & AUTOGRAPH COLLECTING

I started collecting celebrity autographs on August 19th of last year and it's been really neat to see who sends a response and how the whole thing works. I've received well over 100 signed items and photos since then from all kinds of celebrities.

Today I got my second mailing from actress Shirley Maclaine. The first time I got a 5"x7" photo and a letter but for some reason she forgot to sign it. That was over a month ago. I didn't consider that a positive response because there really was no autograph so I just kid of blew it off.



So I was surprised today to find a second mailing. This time I got a 8"x10" autographed photo and a duplicate letter. The photo is just slightly different this time.





I think Shirley Maclaine is neat because she's all about astrology, psychics, hypnosis, and paranormal stuff. Things I've always been fascinated with.
After I got the first letter I considered Emailing her again just to let her know she forgot to sign the photo. I guess one of her psychic friends must have told her because she sent that new one.

Most celebrities won't personalize the photograph probably because they just fill them out by the stack and don't answer personally. I found that some celebrities ask you to support a foundation or donate money to a cause. I tried to get an autograph from Tippi Hedron from "The Birds" but she asks you to donate $25 bucks to save the hippos or something. Michael J. Fox wants you to donate to stem cell research or muscular dystrophy.

Some celebrities send you shitloads of email. I must get at least 20 emails a month from Lisa Lampanelli. Some are travelling or shooting movies so you have to try and contact them where they are currently at. You send a request to a movie set or a show on broadway and hope they get it before it's over.

As a Christmas gift I thought it would be funny to get a bunch of autographed photos of porn stars for my brother so I emailed a bunch and one of the guys who is supposed to be the "oldest porn star still performing" started sending me emails and creeped me out.
I haven't sent out any new requests for autographs recently, I think I'm going to make a top ten type list of ones I really want and I'll post that on another blog.