Macedonio – 27

Website

27

I occasionally get actual letters with review comics, things that people have clearly put a lot of time and thought into.  I rarely respond to these letters, partially out of some vague desire to keep the reviewer/reviewee separate (as if there’s a line in this business) and partially because they often say such nice things that I’m too embarrassed to answer.  This time around Macedonio (that’s the name he gave me so that’s the name I’m using) took the time to relay a good chunk of his life’s story, how he was in prison from the late 70’s to early 80’s, and how he made comics while inside and got 5 pages published in Weirdo #5 (kids, if you don’t know what Weirdo was, you have no sense of comics history at all).  He more or less stopped drawing when he got out and worked at a job that he loved for 25 years… until he got sick.  You’d think a lengthy stay in prison would be the crappiest thing that happened to somebody in their life, but his illness took a toll on him.  In the “silver lining” department, at least it got him back to drawing, and now he’s trying to get his name out there a bit again.  This comic (and he sent a few more that I look forward to getting to in the coming weeks) deals with what he remembers of his time in prison 27 years ago.  It opens up with a letter from the parole board back in the day, and it looks like he actually had his parole denied several times because he was making comics dealing at least partly with his life in prison.  That’s some harsh, nonsensical shit right there.  Anyway, his memories include a horse gnawing on him (with a guard on its back) as he was working outside, how stealing in prison is OK as long as you’re up front about it (it’s a dominance thing), the pitcher/catcher debate, and how time itself becomes irrelevant in jail.  There’s more, but I think anybody reading this should think about supporting him by buying a few of his books.  That linked website above is a collection of 84 pages (!) of pretty much all of his comics and well as some paintings, as it’s the easiest thing in the world to go there and kill 15 minutes looking at some really fantastic stuff.  Seriously, go take a look, or bookmark the page for when you have some free time at work.  No price listed, but I’m guessing this is a couple of bucks.