(House of Harley; 2023)
The latest installment of the UK based House of Harley’s UGLY MUG series of underground comix art. If you’re familiar with any of the previous UGLY MUGS (see here and here) you’ll have some idea of what to expect, but if not this mind-roasting compilation will make for an excellent introduction.
The most widely-known contributor is Ed Pinsent, who’s represented in three entries, including the sixth portion of his absurdist epic THE SAGA OF THE SCROLL (the entirety of which is contained in the collection MAGIC MIRROR) and a 3 page oddment called “The Imbalance of Nature,” in which we’re acquainted with things like the “Elephant That Can Draw Mondrian Paintings Freehand,” “Tree Roots Larger Than Its Own Branches in the Sewer” and “Scar Tissue Appears On A Dove’s Plumage After 100 Worms,” with artwork to match. Pinsent also contributes “R.S.D. Lang Record Detective,” about a fellow who “discovers noise music” and uses his talents to perpetuate a prank that goes very wrong.
John Bagnall is another known quantity, whose inimitable primitivistic drawings are displayed in no less than six contributions. The highlights are “How A Comic is Made,” depicting just that (albeit with a vivid sense of Dadaist absurdity), as well as “The Public Convenience,” about the travails of a big city toilet attendant, and “Advisory Bureau,” which mocks public service announcements touting the benefits of physical fitness.
Beyond that we have “Batlight” by Chris Reynolds, consisting of photographs, both interior and exterior, of what looks like a big city office building, accompanied by a minimalistic prose poem whose subjects include a midnight dive, a rattling sound and a “bat light.” The lush and densely detailed “King Kong Memories” explores the influence of King Kong on the life of the comic’s writer-illustrator, the writer/portraitist Jason Atomic, and the punk milieu in which he came of age. “I Fucking Hate Steroids” by Iestyn Pettigrew is a phantasmagoric swirl of imagery held together by the oft-repeated line that provides the title, while “Duk u Sucka” by Tom Baxter Tiffin is a multimedia depiction whose contents are best explained by the subtitle: “The Tell of Blak vengeance and auld ded Ned Kelly lost in The Dreamtime.”
There also exist unaccredited portions emerging from “the artists of the House of Harley, who know nothing of work-life balance.” Included is a recurring “Mark E. Smith, Music Teacher” comic strip about a teacher who instructs his students to use hacksaws as violin bows, admits to having “pissed in the Picasso” and dodges a #MeToo charge by accusing a fellow instructor. “Voodoo Master Selfies” utilizes a stick figure style to illustrate (presumably) what the title promises. “Seb, Surrounded” is an astonishing 8 pager consisting of rough sketches of a woman in contorted poses, accompanied by wordage like “And stay dead!,” “Hansel, your breadcrumbs are no use here,” and “Am I fighting a bunch of girls?” And, in a reminder of the underground (i.e. adult oriented) nature of this collection, “Seminal Surprises” depicts a penis shooting various substances, including music notes, coins and, finally, a key.