Providence art books: Monster

Above is a selection of Providence comics of the past 15 years from The New England Journal of Aesthetic Research archives. One of the anthologies printed by Fort Thunder was “Monster” (reproduced below). Each issue was a loosely edited (and the editors switched off each time) selection of monstery comics (a major subject of Fort Thunder works) and goofs. Among the highlights were the Garfield tribute issue (Garfield was a major influence) and the 1998 glow-in-the-dark issue, which is pictured at bottom. It had a black velvety cover and then inside the comics by Brian Ralph, Leif Goldberg, Mat Brinkman, Ron Rege Jr., Jim Drain (pictured from top to bottom below) and others were screenprinted with glow-in-the-dark ink. Which sounds like a brilliant idea – and it was – except that each page had to be separately charged with light before it would glow. So the book was never something you could sit down in the dark and read through. But that was part of its messed-up genius.

Related:
New England Lowbrow?
“Book As Post Modern Medium” at 5 Traverse.
Print the legend: Providence’s ‘Wundergound.’