Weirdo was one of my favorite magazines of the 1980s. Started by Robert Crumb in 1981, it's where I learned about The Church of the SubGenius, Stanislav Szukalski, and lots of amazing artists. Over at the Last Gasp blog, Janelle has written a "Where are they now" post about the artists of Weirdo.
She writes, "There were about 85 contributors over the course of Weirdo’s 28-issue run. Some of these artists went on to have life-long comics careers (Dan Clowes, Gary Panter, Peter Bagge, etc) while others have faded into the shadows, their work in Weirdo being all the more precious as a result. Although I may prove not to have the fortitude (read: masochism) to track down all 85 Weirdo contributors, I’d like to start by checking in to see what some of my favorite Weirdo artists are doing now…"
Dennis Worden Although he created various one-shot comics (like Freaks Having Sex and Suburban Teens on Acid) and appeared in numerous fanzines throughout the 80s, Dennis Worden is probably best known for his existential post-Weirdo comic, Stickboy, about a stick figure who struggles to discern the meaning of life, all while being peed on by martians or tormented by a disembodied brain.
Dennis has recently written the subversive self-help book, The Way of the Good Hedonist and continues to work on paintings (although once in a blue moon he still draws comics). You can buy art and various other merchandise from Dennis’ website.
Last Gasp is the publisher of the forthcoming book, The Weirdo Years by R. Crumb: 1981-'93. We talked about it in the latest episode of Gweek.
