Friday, May 13, 2011

Steve Mellor is hella rad...


Back when I was a kid Iwas dimly aware of the fact that there was more to comics than just the stuff on the spinner rack at TG&Y. Of course nobody is going to sell undergrounds to a ten year old so I did the next best thing and indulged in the teen humor mags du jour. Mad and Cracked were my drugs of choice but one title I'd flip through every now and then was Marvel's CRAZY! As a whole I thought Crazy was pretty lackluster but there was one thing about that magazine that made it worth picking up. Steve Mellor.

Mellor's work was unlike anything I'd seen before. His style combined the big-footed/classic comics influences of the Crumb/Zap crowd but at the same time forged new ground with an almost punk rock vibe. I remember his feature the "Kinetic Kids" in which he'd draw a comic strip that spanned a couple of pages and then you'd flip between the pages and it would act like a flipbook. Clever fun stuff. He also did a ton of work on the Spectacular Spider-Ham.

I loved this guy's work and it had a pretty big influence on my own style. Sadly rumor has it that he's given up the art game for acting. Oh well. He made a lot of great stuff and for that I say thanks.

If you'd like to check out some of his work go over to Shane Gline's Cartoon Retro blog. He has posted a TON of Mr.Mellor's work (Thx Shane!) and also go to the Big Blog of Kids Comics to check out Steve's classic "Goose Rider" story.


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