OFF: speaking of comics...

[John Majka]

All this talk about comic books reminds me of when I used to work for
Friendly Frank's Distribution at their worldwide headquarters.  FFD was
bought out a few years back after a serious shake-up in the comics industry,
but before the buy-out it was the third-largest worldwide distributor of
wholesale comic books.  I was the bookkeeper there, responsible for calling
up people and demanding their money, among other things.  Downstairs from my
office was the warehouse proper where new books arrived and were sorted out
for orders.  Oftentimes I would be hanging out down there and sometimes
there would be a shitty cassette player (or sometimes even a good one) and
we'd listen to all kinds of cool music.  One day this guy from a retail
store walked in to pick up his books and he was dressed completely in black,
with a long black trenchcoat and black sunglasses with very pale white skin
and black gloves.  He was singing something under his breath, and as he got
closer I freaked out because it was "Spirit of the Age" by Hawkwind.  We
became fast friends after that.  Thereafter I was always sure to have some
Hawkwind tapes available to be played downstairs. A few times some of the
guys even drank beer, smoked pot, and dropped acid, getting goofier by the
minute, while Hawkwind blared and they packed boxes!  It was a fun place to
work out and I even got to talk to Harlan Ellison on the phone one time.
Sandman was my favorite comic... and of course all the underground stuff...
Savage Henry (with its Klaus Schulze story lines) was always a fave...
Memories....
John Majka
flossbac at wcic.org