That's a pretty tough question for some folks, for others, it's an instant answer. This is one of the rare categories where i can narrow out a single favorite, despite how much i may enjoy many others. Decades after his death, you can still find oblique references in my artwork, such as in this painting:
That should narrow it down to one of two people, and given that the other one is still alive in the wilds of Ohio, the answer becomes obvious.
Hm, what?
Yeah, 'obvious' is subject to definition. First off - the pertinent aspect of the above image is the name of her truck, painted on the door - the Overland Vegetable Stagecoach.
NOW it's obvious, right?
Overland Vegetable Stagecoach was the team name used by Dave Sheridan and Fred Schrier for a few issues worth of work they created way back in the day for Mother's Oats. No slight to Fred Schrier here (I built the Time Machine according to his schematics, and it worked magnificently), but Dave Sheridan was touched in the head in a way i've been touched, so his work just felt closer to home at times.
Many of those who recognize his name will do so from Sheridan's work with Gilbert Shelton on Those Fabulous Furry Freak Brothers, and/or from his most famous creation - Dealer McDope. But today let's look at how Dave Sheridan can appear in a book with classic underground creators like Robert Crumb, Jaxon, and Spain - and still be the Star of the book. Besides, today is the first day of the week, which means this has all been a circumlocutory approach to...
Our subject today?
The Oh-So-70s nunsploitation undergound book from Last Gasp Eco-Funnies starring The Leather Nun, and Tales thereof.
Allow us to elaborate:
Dave Sheridan provided the cover for the book:
And while there is very definitely a singular Leather Nun character, as depicted above, the individual stories are not all bound to her (Her?). At most, She provides the thematic (and moral?) core of the title, but that's loosely applied.
Another underground creator who's very high up on my list is Jaxon, who here decided to go historical again with the story of a 'mad' Arab monk named Alhazared and
This is unbelievable to Alhazared, who knows her "pussy is as dainty and delicate as it was before <her> luscious mons sprouted its first silky hairs, centuries ago." However, closer inspection reveals...
After studying a necromiconic tomb, Alhazared realizes his own magicks have caused the problem, having "warped time upon itself, in the process juxtaposing our dimension with another - beyond finite comprehension"
As we all know (right?) "the minions of the Great Old Ones inhabit this dark abyss, lurking, waiting for some mortal blunder to provide them a gateway" through which the banished Elder Gods might return to regain their ascendancy...
With minimal foreplay, the pair proceed to couple within the confines of the protective magic circle before it's too late...
Jaxon probably pairs best with Sheridan, but the two should maybe not be read in combination on heavy drugs, especially psychedelic hallucinogens.
Spain, on the other hand, goes for the cold hard digs into society & religion with his 3 page tale:
R. Crumb, Himself, has his own brief encounter with Religion and A Nun, if not THE Nun, (and finds he's having nun of that) in the middle of short examination of his inner drives:
Meanwhile, Pat Ryan sticks with the religion theme, but switches to Father Justin Thyme and the Confessions Of A Teen Confessioner...
...and Roger Brand's tale, Br'er Dragon's Dream (or The Meat Will Please Come To Order) just tossed that memo in the trash and went off into strange scifi territory:
But the core of the book is Dave Sheridan's tale. It's reminiscent of his implicitly drug fueled mindwarped journeys/tales as a part of the Overland Vegetable Stagecoach, shifting between levels of reality quite casually. It's a fair example of what i enjoy about his work. Note that pages 2-5 are smaller than the others. That's because they were originally formatted 2 to a page - sideways - on pages 2 & 3 of the original comic.
One of those aches i get inside is when i think he died before 40, and all that we lost with him.
Keep Hanging In There, Fred!
pages by indicated artists from Tales Of The Leather Nun (1973)
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