Thick, meaty brushstrokes and a rare ability to tell a truly funny story in comics form
If you don’t know this book and you like the Erratic Press sensibility, then chance are you’ll really enjoy this one. Dougan’s true-life adventures in the deep south and Seattle, Washington mix with hilarious fictional short stories. Unforgettable true story about working at a Texas funeral home. The last story is a satire of the ups and downs of working in a thinly veiled Starbucks (remember, this was back in 1993) and buying into the whole self-improvement movement. Maybe it’s ‘cause I grew up in Louisiana and lived in Seattle that these stories are so much fun to read — but I suspect many others will dig them, too.
His earlier collection material, EAST TEXAS: TALES FROM BEHIND THE PINE CURTAIN (1988) is worth seeking out, too with spot-on depictions of the bleakly hilarious modern South. ("Things for teenagers to do in East Texas: Go the lake and get drunk, get pregnant...")
I had the great fortune to meet Michael once, at a 1997 comic shop party in the Fremont neighborhood of Seattle. Jim Woodring and Jason Lutes were there, but I was most excited to meet Michael. I was very familiar with his work. I read his stuff in Boston before I moved to Seattle. I regarded him back then as one of my favorite cartoonists, in part because he wrote about the South, which is where I'm from (and he nails it - "The bigger the hair the closer to God"). I saw him as one of the best of the 1990's alternative cartoonists -- the ones who told funny stories about their lives. At the party, the one time I met him, he was very grounded and humble -- just a regular, real guy - very pleasant and a good talker. I still have my copy of ZERO ZERO #17, which he signed for me (he got the cover story in that one). We corresponded through email for a while and he patiently answered my gushing fanboy missives with grace and honesty.
He was such a nice, grounded guy - very approachable and modest.
You can read more about Michael Dougan here.
Thick, meaty brushstrokes and a rare ability to tell a truly funny story in comics form
If you don’t know this book and you like the Erratic Press sensibility, then chance are you’ll really enjoy this one. Dougan’s true-life adventures in the deep south and Seattle, Washington mix with hilarious fictional short stories. Unforgettable true story about working at a Texas funeral home. The last story is a satire of the ups and downs of working in a thinly veiled Starbucks (remember, this was back in 1993) and buying into the whole self-improvement movement. Maybe it’s ‘cause I grew up in Louisiana and lived in Seattle that these stories are so much fun to read — but I suspect many others will dig them, too.
His earlier collection material, EAST TEXAS: TALES FROM BEHIND THE PINE CURTAIN (1988) is worth seeking out, too with spot-on depictions of the bleakly hilarious modern South. ("Things for teenagers to do in East Texas: Go the lake and get drunk, get pregnant...")
I had the great fortune to meet Michael once, at a 1997 comic shop party in the Fremont neighborhood of Seattle. Jim Woodring and Jason Lutes were there, but I was most excited to meet Michael. I was very familiar with his work. I read his stuff in Boston before I moved to Seattle. I regarded him back then as one of my favorite cartoonists, in part because he wrote about the South, which is where I'm from (and he nails it - "The bigger the hair the closer to God"). I saw him as one of the best of the 1990's alternative cartoonists -- the ones who told funny stories about their lives. At the party, the one time I met him, he was very grounded and humble -- just a regular, real guy - very pleasant and a good talker. I still have my copy of ZERO ZERO #17, which he signed for me (he got the cover story in that one). We corresponded through email for a while and he patiently answered my gushing fanboy missives with grace and honesty.
He was such a nice, grounded guy - very approachable and modest.
You can read more about Michael Dougan here.