records

“Now I am become Dilton, the destroyer of worlds.”

filed under Categories archie, question time, records 13 Comments

As per my wondering if there were any Archie atomic bomb covers from the “Atomic Age” era, along comes longtime reader Paul with his meticulously hand-crafted piece of speculative comical-booking:


Yes, yes, if it were “Atomic Age” it would be ten cents not twelve, but c’mon, what’s two cents between friends? But boy, that’s a comic I’d read in a heartbeat.

So anyway, I’m getting myself all discombobulated answering questions left on my most recent questions post and then answering questions and comments left for me in response to those answers and I promise, I’m reading everyone’s input and will reply to what needs replyin’. Between busier evenings, the frailty of the flesh and some new health type stuff (not COVID, not serious, don’t worry…just a tad dear) my bloggin’ time is somewhat impacted. But I’m not going anywhere, and the people MUST BE ANSWERED so I’ll get around to it all in short order.

Speaking of which, let me go back to my post about the “Omaha” The Cat Dancer record where P.J. left the following inquiry just a few days ago:

“Hey Mike, not sure if you’ve covered it, and it’s comic strips, not comic books, but are you familiar with the floppy record that was packaged with one of the Doonesbury collections in the mid-80s? Don’t ask me to recall the name of it. I had it as a kid, not sure what ever happened to it.”

No, in fact, I’m not, and I had…well, still have, actually…a full set of the Doonsebury collections starting from that very first one, just called Doonesbuy, until well into the 1990s, maybe even early 2000s. Can’t say for sure why I fell off at that point, but boy I was sure into the strip for a long time.

And I have to say, I don’t recall any flexidiscs. Not saying there wasn’t one, as there very well could have been one, but I never came across any in any of the volumes I own. It’s possible that there was a special edition of strip reprints containing material I already had in other books which could have had a record insert, and I passed on buying it. That Action Figure! collection, which came with, as the title would suggest, an action figure toy of Duke (and I definitely bought that!).

Googling “Doonesbury flexidisc” just brings up the “Billy and the Boingers” record that came with a Bloom County collection. But it did lead me to the Wiki entry on Doonsebury which told me about some actual musical releases (a single and a full LP) with songs by the strip’s character “Jimmy Thudpucker,” and now I guess that’s on the ol’ want list now too.

So, no, P.J., I can’t think of a Doonsebury flexi, but I’m sure if someone reading this knows about one, we’ll hear about it in the comments! I hope there is one, honestly!

I know technically the title is “Omaha” The Cat Dancer.

filed under Categories records, undergrounds 10 Comments

Yet another comic book-related record made it into my hands this week…I managed to find a copy the Omaha the Cat Dancer picture disc for dirt cheap on the eBays. Here’s the beautiful front cover:


…and who needs any stinkin’ liner notes when you can just print all the info on the record itself?


This is the original plastic envelope in which the album came, and I’ve already been told that’s not a good longterm storage option for vinyl, so I’ll get it into something else soon.

Released in 1988, and is credited to the band The Shakers, which features Omaha’s creators Kate Worley and Reed Waller as members. It’s not a bad album…, 11 tracks in all, kind of blues-ish, kind of rock-ish, kind of ballad-ish, with some catchy tunes and clever lyrics. Speaking of lyrics…the “info” side of the disc notes that if the lyric sheet wasn’t included with the record, check at the store’s front counter to see if they have it. Alas, my record did not come with said lyric sheet, and I checked my front counter and it wasn’t there either, so I guess I’ll do without.

Now, I wasn’t a reader of Omaha the Cat Dancer, though I was certainly aware of it (and its fairly convoluted publishing history). I remember it, and its collected editions, selling relatively well for us at the previous place of employment. I think it’s…well, I don’t want to say “mostly forgotten,” but I bet we could use a new release of the material for the current marketplace (and some of the sexually explicit content in the series may not seem so outré decades after its initial publication).

I did pick up the two-part Images of Omaha series from 1992, published to raise money for Worley’s medical care. That featured a lot of work from several creators I liked (Cerebus cover on #2!). And maybe someday, if that theoretical new edition of the original comics ever rolled around, maybe I’d try to sample it this time. Of course, I say that about every series I missed out on, so who do I write to in order to get an additional century or two added onto my lifespan so I can finally catch up?

Thus does the “records released by/in conjunction with comic book companies” collection expand even further (after that Tim Truman platter). Always keeping my peepers peeled for more!

Trying very hard not to think about how this is 33 years old.

filed under Categories records 4 Comments

So as some of you who made the mistake of following me on social media may know, I’ve become something of a record…well, “collector” isn’t the right word, perhaps “obtainer” may be better. But I’m trying to keep them organized in boxes and I certainly give each of them a listen.

This was mostly kicked off by inheriting a boatload of vinyl from my grandparents a few years back, which inspired me to dig out my own records from storage, which brought me to haunting the local thrift store to find the occasional 99-cent gem. Once in a while I check out Discogs.com (in particular, my old pal Sean’s shop from whom I got the Tank Girl soundtrack on beautiful blue translucent vinyl).

And once in a while, I hit up eBay, like I did for this record:


The “Timothy Truman” in “Timothy Truman and the Dixie Pistols” is, of course, comics artist Tim Truman, creator of Scout and cocreator of Grimjack.

I remember seeing this thoroughly advertised in Eclipse Comics of the time…it was released in 1987, the year before I started my first job in comics retail. Pretty sure there was at least one copy of this record floating around the shop when I started working there, but I don’t recall when or to whom it sold.

But I would occasionally think about this record, lost to the mists of time as the years, and decades, wore on. But then I realized “hey, I’ve got a record playing, I’m actively looking for records, and I’ve got an eBay…let’s give it a shot!” And a PayPal payment and a remarkably short transit time in the mails (you know, all things considered) I now have it in my hands!

Announced its arrival on the Twitters first, and a pal there noted “U mean the D. Pistols” and I was all “oh, yeah, right,” didn’t even think about that bit of business. And another Twitter pal asked for a review, and, well, look, I can barely review comics, reviewing music is a little out of my wheelhouse. But it’s good ‘n’ loud bluegrass, fast paced and a bit rough-n-tumble, with some robust vocals my Mr. Truman his own self.

But because I’m a comical-book type website that occasionally focuses on visuals, let’s give you a few pics of the item in question (along with guest appearances by my left hand):

The sleeve itself is quite attractive, with a different design on each side:

The center label on the LP itself is very pretty as well:

The album, despite being a used (but nice!) copy, still had the included Scout mini-comic, which was in slightly more worn condition than the record and cover around it. It’s just an 8-page thing, with 6 pages of actual “story” illustrations and a cover and a back cover with creirs


Anyway, that’s one more weird comics item I remember from my past now in my hot little hands. And let me tell you…that Truman kid’s got some pipes on him.