I just joined the subscription a couple of days ago (2/5/22) and slowly reading the old post and working my way up to current ones. I am very grateful you created these digital copies of ashtray 1 & 2. I probably will never get physical copies of these but to be able to read them after having the personal background of what was going on in your life while you created them is a unique experience that is worth the price of the subscription times 10. Thank you for your generous gift to us.
So I've been meaning to share this story with you Jeff. I have a cover you did for a magazine I would suspect most aren't aware of. But let me start at the beginning.
I'm a huge Twin Peaks fan and a couple of years back I was on a sales trip to the Pacific NW. My typical sales trips back then was setting up meetings with current customers and knocking on doors of potential clients. One of my meeting with a customer happened to be in Everett. This just happens to be were Laura Palmer's house is located.
The morning of the meeting I pick up 3 boxes of donuts. I have no ideal how large my customer's company is since this is my first time visiting. As it happened I just needed 1 box and I decided to just give out the others to prospects to help me get in the door. In hindsight this was a great ideal; I just didn't know whose door it would end up opening.
Anyways after the meeting I head to Laura Palmer's house. I just thought it would be cool to take some pictures outside and take it in. When I get there I do just that. It's such a weird experience to see something you love actually existing out there in the world. For a while I just looked up and stared in awe.
Well on this particular day the owner of this wonderful house was getting their carpets clean. The door was wide opened when I got there and the whole time I was outside. I tried to keep my distance to not create an sort of commotion. At some point though someone locked eyes to me and I felt I probably needed to explain myself. I grabbed one of the boxes of doughnuts and headed towards the owner. I didn't recognize her at that moment but as I get closer I'm amazed that it's the same lady who opened the door at the very end of season 3!
Still trying to keep my distance I get 6 feet from the door and explain myself and extend 1 hand with the donuts while the rest of my body tries to remain as far away as possible. For this person I'm just a random stranger and don't want to disturb her at her home.
I found out she's incredibly sweet and takes my donuts and keeps thanking me. Likewise I keep thanking her until I say good-bye and start walking away. As I do I hear the question "Don't you want to come inside"?
I was shocked and even tried to remind her this is her home. She laughed and told me to come inside. She took me around the rooms. I got to go upstairs while staring at the fan as I go up the steps. I turn the corner and I'm peaking into Laura's bedroom. When I come back downstairs she shows me Bob's axe on a table in the living room.
So I promised a point to the story other than one Twin Peaks fan story to the another. This woman was incredibly sweet and she told me I couldn't leave without a souvenir. I pleaded that this experience was more than I could have hoped for and that I still feel that I'm intruding. She ignores me and after looking around she came back with a magazine. She explains it's her personal copy of a fanzine that is sent to her. It is the Blue Rose Vol. 1 #5, March 2018. The cover is Fireman drawn by none other then my favorite artist.
It is so strange; so Twin Peaks that these two things in my life would join together. I like to think I have the Palmer's personal copy of magazine that Jeff Lemire drew the cover for. And it is, excuse me, a damn fine cover!
This is great! I've wanted to read both Ashtrays for a long time and they did not disappoint. I'm impressed about how your unique voice still shines through in these early comics.
I was skeptical about this subscription at first as I wasn't sure if the content would be worth the price. But this post with all of the old photos and stories of your early days along with the Ashtray PDFs has made it totally worth it. Can't wait to see what's next.
I'm pretty sure I have a copy of Ashtray in my box of zines. Will have to excavate and see if I can't dig it out. I've kept most of the zines/mini-comics I bought and traded from 94 through the 2000s.
Until you started posting about it, didn't realize it was a book of yours.
This has nothing to do with the topic at hand, but if you have an HQ file of the Logan poster from Silver Snail Comics, please consider making that a print or a poster for the substack group. I love it, and only have a picture I took while in the store.
This was an excellent peak into your early work! I'm very excited to hear about Lost Dogs, as it was the first of your comics that I ever came across, oddly enough I found a first edition copy at a Half Priced Books in Houston, TX around 2007 or 08 . I ended up grabbing a second copy at a comic shop pretty soon after that.
This is such a wonderful platform to create an archive of your past work. I was a band obsessed teenager and I spent most of my 20s and 30s tracking down EP’s and rare 7inches, trying to collect each piece of an artist’s myriad discography. To have one place to go to where I can access it all for a monthly fee would’ve been the holy grail. Honored and grateful I can do that with your work so effortlessly. Thanks for doing this! Also, you’ve saved me 1000’s in eBay bucks
Wow! Reading those Ashtray issues was great! You definitely finished each with your strong stories; I loved the Cosmonaut and the Surgeon & The Big Escape. These stories seem like they'd fit right into my latest favorite anthology - Razorblades: The Horror Magazine. Have you ever considered submitting a short comic with them? If not, you definitely should.
I just joined the subscription a couple of days ago (2/5/22) and slowly reading the old post and working my way up to current ones. I am very grateful you created these digital copies of ashtray 1 & 2. I probably will never get physical copies of these but to be able to read them after having the personal background of what was going on in your life while you created them is a unique experience that is worth the price of the subscription times 10. Thank you for your generous gift to us.
So I'm late to the full subscription party, but loving everything you put out.
The first thing I thought of when looking at Ashtray was that it looks like Bill Sienkiewicz + Al Columbia had a baby. I think it's beautiful art.
So I've been meaning to share this story with you Jeff. I have a cover you did for a magazine I would suspect most aren't aware of. But let me start at the beginning.
I'm a huge Twin Peaks fan and a couple of years back I was on a sales trip to the Pacific NW. My typical sales trips back then was setting up meetings with current customers and knocking on doors of potential clients. One of my meeting with a customer happened to be in Everett. This just happens to be were Laura Palmer's house is located.
The morning of the meeting I pick up 3 boxes of donuts. I have no ideal how large my customer's company is since this is my first time visiting. As it happened I just needed 1 box and I decided to just give out the others to prospects to help me get in the door. In hindsight this was a great ideal; I just didn't know whose door it would end up opening.
Anyways after the meeting I head to Laura Palmer's house. I just thought it would be cool to take some pictures outside and take it in. When I get there I do just that. It's such a weird experience to see something you love actually existing out there in the world. For a while I just looked up and stared in awe.
Well on this particular day the owner of this wonderful house was getting their carpets clean. The door was wide opened when I got there and the whole time I was outside. I tried to keep my distance to not create an sort of commotion. At some point though someone locked eyes to me and I felt I probably needed to explain myself. I grabbed one of the boxes of doughnuts and headed towards the owner. I didn't recognize her at that moment but as I get closer I'm amazed that it's the same lady who opened the door at the very end of season 3!
Still trying to keep my distance I get 6 feet from the door and explain myself and extend 1 hand with the donuts while the rest of my body tries to remain as far away as possible. For this person I'm just a random stranger and don't want to disturb her at her home.
I found out she's incredibly sweet and takes my donuts and keeps thanking me. Likewise I keep thanking her until I say good-bye and start walking away. As I do I hear the question "Don't you want to come inside"?
I was shocked and even tried to remind her this is her home. She laughed and told me to come inside. She took me around the rooms. I got to go upstairs while staring at the fan as I go up the steps. I turn the corner and I'm peaking into Laura's bedroom. When I come back downstairs she shows me Bob's axe on a table in the living room.
So I promised a point to the story other than one Twin Peaks fan story to the another. This woman was incredibly sweet and she told me I couldn't leave without a souvenir. I pleaded that this experience was more than I could have hoped for and that I still feel that I'm intruding. She ignores me and after looking around she came back with a magazine. She explains it's her personal copy of a fanzine that is sent to her. It is the Blue Rose Vol. 1 #5, March 2018. The cover is Fireman drawn by none other then my favorite artist.
It is so strange; so Twin Peaks that these two things in my life would join together. I like to think I have the Palmer's personal copy of magazine that Jeff Lemire drew the cover for. And it is, excuse me, a damn fine cover!
This is great! I've wanted to read both Ashtrays for a long time and they did not disappoint. I'm impressed about how your unique voice still shines through in these early comics.
I was skeptical about this subscription at first as I wasn't sure if the content would be worth the price. But this post with all of the old photos and stories of your early days along with the Ashtray PDFs has made it totally worth it. Can't wait to see what's next.
I'm pretty sure I have a copy of Ashtray in my box of zines. Will have to excavate and see if I can't dig it out. I've kept most of the zines/mini-comics I bought and traded from 94 through the 2000s.
Until you started posting about it, didn't realize it was a book of yours.
This has nothing to do with the topic at hand, but if you have an HQ file of the Logan poster from Silver Snail Comics, please consider making that a print or a poster for the substack group. I love it, and only have a picture I took while in the store.
This was an excellent peak into your early work! I'm very excited to hear about Lost Dogs, as it was the first of your comics that I ever came across, oddly enough I found a first edition copy at a Half Priced Books in Houston, TX around 2007 or 08 . I ended up grabbing a second copy at a comic shop pretty soon after that.
So so cool! Love!
Thanks a lot! Love to have access to your past work. We can already see, especially in Ashtray #2 imo, the seeds of a great storyteller!!
You like Ted McKeever, Jeff? I'm getting serious McKeever vibes from Ashtray. A little McKeever is always a good thing.
This is such a wonderful platform to create an archive of your past work. I was a band obsessed teenager and I spent most of my 20s and 30s tracking down EP’s and rare 7inches, trying to collect each piece of an artist’s myriad discography. To have one place to go to where I can access it all for a monthly fee would’ve been the holy grail. Honored and grateful I can do that with your work so effortlessly. Thanks for doing this! Also, you’ve saved me 1000’s in eBay bucks
Hahaha, I love La Hacienda Flying Burritos!!!
Super stoked but I’m having problems downloading them! Yeeek
Wow! Reading those Ashtray issues was great! You definitely finished each with your strong stories; I loved the Cosmonaut and the Surgeon & The Big Escape. These stories seem like they'd fit right into my latest favorite anthology - Razorblades: The Horror Magazine. Have you ever considered submitting a short comic with them? If not, you definitely should.