It was Seattle in the early 90s and we were young and drunk and had no musical talent. No artistic talent either, but that didn’t stop us from creating an endless series of “underground” comics with a “punk rock” attitude. The kind of comics that mocked corporate “cock rock” bands like Pearl Jam and Alice In Chains. We genuinely hated Pearl Jam back then, as expressed in “BORING WHITE-MALE ROCKERS” on page 21.

Hitler Guy was inspired by Saul Steinberg’s classic Hitler comic strip, although I didn’t know that at the time. It was 1990, before such information was available on the Internet, and before Dr. Seuss & Co. Go to War (2009) was published. That book featured many of the Steinberg Hitler cartoons: Re-printed for the first time since World War Two. Hitler Guy is supposed to be funny, but it’s not quite as courageous as Steinberg’s work. After all - had Hitler won the war and taken over America, Steinberg would have been dead meat.

Just Seth is based on my friend Seth, inspired by a cartoon by Scott Dikkers called Jim’s Journal that ran in the Onion, when it was still just a newspaper out of Madison, Wisconsin. Jim’s Journal was about a boring guy and his boring life. Just Seth was supposed to be a parody of Jim’s Journal. About a boring guy who takes drugs.

Seth used to be a busboy at a fancy Seattle steakhouse, and he’d bring us home crazy high end beef, sometimes.

Most of these Just Seth cartoons are printed here for the first time.

Cindy the Starbucks Mermaid came out of a series of neofeminist posters and comics that helped persuade Starbucks to change their logo. Real.

So come along and enjoy Hitler Guy, Just Seth, Cindy the Starbucks Mermaid and other treasures from early 90s Seattle trash culture. You’ll be glad you did!