JON B. COOKE and RONALD E. TURNER. Slow Death Zero. San Francisco, CA: Last Gasp, 2020. 128 pp. $24.95 tpb. ISBN: 978-0-86719-883-6.
I called the doctor
Up in the morning
I had a fever
It was a warning
She said “There’s nothing I can prescribe
To keep your raunchy bag of bones alive”
I got some money left for one more shot
She said “God bless you” I said “Thanks a lot”
It’s a slow, slow death.
–The Flaming Groovies, “Slow Death” (1972)
San Francisco’s proto-punks The ‘Groovies’ lyrics refer to an unrepentant addiction. It was a warning THEN. If you’ve smelled the Purple Haze in the skies from out-of-control wildfires or had a Hard Rain fall by the feet in the NOW of 2021, it could also refer to humanity’s current self-injected climate catastrophe(s).
As a Hippocampus reader why should YOU be interested?
Contributors Richard Corben, Cody Goodfellow, Mike Dubisch, Skinner, and initiator of this all-new 50th Anniversary collection, Thee Jon B. Cooke have all done their servitude in the Lovecraftian art and literary mines. But there’s a different grade of ore here.
Cooke pens a six-page history of Slow Death which was inaugurated two years before that Flaming Groovies single—it would be reason to pick up this anthology alone. As he has done with in-depth articles for Comic Book Artist (TwoMorrows Publishing), Jon serves up a thorough look at the underground comic title, What It Is and How It Came To Be, with every cover of the original run reproduced. Gary Arlington, who started the San Francisco Comic Book Company which published it had a vision: “My dream is for E. C. Comics [The groundbreaking 1950s publishers of Weird Science, Two-Fisted Tales, among other titles] to return with the better underground cartoonists.” Ron Turner was another fan. Drew Friedman contributes an inside front cover portrait of “Baba” Ron, The Once and Future founder and Last Gasp guru and
this publication’s co-editor. Ken Meyer’s Jr.’s vignette of Cooke in Wally Wood-ish space
gear should be a tee shirt design for those of us fans (some since JBC’s seminal ’90s fanzine Tekeli-li!). Make it so.
From the 30 artists and accompanying 6 writers here are a few highlights then, reflecting toxic rainbows:
William Stout’s art will always get this writer’s attention. A great cover showcasing his rich detailed style is followed by a 7-page piece that is more optimistic than most of its company called “Antarctica”. He states
“The world’s greatest photographers all noted that it was impossible to capture the color
of the continent because of color photography’s chemical limitations…as an artist, I
don’t have that limitation—whatever colors I see I can put down onto paper!”
The Colour Out of Antarctica, indeed. Stout had done three covers in a row for the original run of Slow Death, The “Two-Fisted” homage on #8’s Greenpeace Issue being a standout and predecessor to this current collection.
Richard Corben is responsible for possibly the best comic—excuse me—graphic narrative adaptation of H. P. Lovecraft ever done, “The Rats In The Walls” (Skull #5, 1972). One of the last pieces done before his recent passing “Garbage Man” is included here, in contrast to Stout’s storyline being one of the bleakest. “With a nod & thanks to Richard Corben & Howie” (“When Howie Made It In The Real World”, Slow Death #2, 1972), Jon Cooke notes in the Errol McCarthy illustrated tale “Last Chance Gas” that he penned. It has a happy(?) if not righteous ending for its two protagonists.
Cody Goodfellow and Mike Dubisch (Black Velvet Cthulhu) team up for two offerings, “Flotsam & Jetsam” and “Terminal Colony”. Both are scathing indictments of those who become part of the solution only to become a bigger problem—Spoiler: The cancer on the Earth may be US. Goodfellow in particular has proven a true discerning conscience for the enlightened Weird Community but is no Cody Comelately. We are lucky to have him visit this planet.
A Wizard, A True Star, the Bay Area’s Skinner delivers a Panter-esque double page spread of E. C.-like aliens finding our world already trashed: “But hey! At least the flooding makes for some good tubin’ across town!” says greeter Baba Ron trying to scam some beers.
Brooklyn’s Danny Hellman (who I first encountered by covers done for the fanzine Brutarian) ends the book with a faux comic book cover for The Fighting Hippie #18, with Ron Turner breaking that 4th wall to save penguin hugger Greta Thunberg (to whom this whole book is dedicated) from the evil machinations of John D. Rockefeller. There is a suggestion by Jon Cooke of future issues beyond this celebratory revival.
If we make it that long of course before our last gasp.
Slow death…eat my mind away
Slow death…turn my guts to clay
Slow death
Yeah, yeah.