"CRAZY" MEN COMIX [Number 1]

"CRAZY" MEN COMIX [Number 1]

16-page black-and-white digest with Red Covers
Published by Thru Black Holes Comix
Contents Copyright © 1982 By: Thru Black Holes Comix
Ltd. Ed. of 200

This is where it all began! While the Crazy Men in this issue bear little resemblance to the supremely wacky and wonderful Crazy Men of today this was the comix where MICHAEL RODEN first began developing the idea of a world populated by, well, Crazy Men.

Here's a little background on the origin of the Crazy Men. I have always liked the crazy men of the movies ... like Jack Nicholson in The Shining and many others. So back in the 80's I decided to try and come up with some cartoony crazy men of my own. The bug-eyed Crazy Men that are recognized today didn't happen until later in the full sized color cover Crazy Men Comix. Along the way different crazy men were born like the very first one, "Terrible Fred." And "Morbid Mortimer" which was drawn by Ed H. Dorn and I put it together as a panel story. Another very notable first crazy man is "Crazy Mentor" by Tom Brinkmann. And then of course there's Plain Loon! MICHAEL RODEN: email to DLC dated Jul 9, 2006

cover MICHAEL RODEN untitled illustration
Weird horror collage/drawing done in the wonderfully scary horror style that was common to the TBHC zines of the 1980s. Interesting in and of itself but in a far different way than the sublimely zany CRAZY MEN wonderfulness that was soon to follow.

page 2 FRODO and M. RODEN untitled drawing
South of the Border madness that is reminiscent of some of the wackier episodes in the famous CARLOS CASTENEDA books. "The inside front cover shows Frodo's 'Don Brouhaha the Giant Cockroach' first mentioned in a Firesign Theater album." (MR: email to DLC dated Jul 9, 2006) This is a wonderful page!

pp 3-4 MICHAEL RODEN Terrible Fred
Two-page story about a curse, effectively rendered in the collage-drawing style. Note the innovative layout and the beautifully detailed backgrounds.

pp 5-6 E. H. DORN (STORY & LETTERING BY: M. RODEN) This is ... Morbid Mortimer.
Wonderfully mysterious two-page Lovecraftian tale about madness gone terribly wrong.

pp 7-10 MICHAEL RODEN Observations As Well Historical As Theological, Upon The Nature, The Number, And The Operations Of The Devils.
Stunningly beautiful Medieval horror story. One of the finest examples of the famous MR collage-drawing technique and certainly one of the coolest comix story titles ever.

pp 11-12 TOM BRINKMANN Crazy Mentor
Cool cosmic-psychedelic story about the adventures of an ascended master or something like that. Very spacey and cool.

pp 13-16 MICHAEL RODEN with TOM BRINKMANN It's ... Crazy World!
This wild fantasy tale utilizes a combination of collage and original drawings. Note that this is one of the very first Plain Loon stories. The back cover is a collage masterpiece.

Had this title not been the birthplace of the later Crazy Men, this would still be one amazingly cool comix. Given its historical significance, this is truly a must-have item for any TBHC collector.

Resource Note:
Thanks to MICHAEL RODEN for providing copies of this historic comix.

History:
Page posted to the online MICHAEL RODEN CATALOG 15 July 2006.