T Stands for Gumby

Earlier this month, I went to visit my friend, Teague.  Since she lives near the town of Bellingham, I thought I'd ask her if she could take me over to Neighborhood Friendly Comics on our way out to lunch. Since she had an errand to run in Bellingham, my request was perfect timing.

Why a comic book store? Well, my friend, Andy Fish and his wife, Veronica, collaborated on an issue of Gumby, published by Papercutz. Andy wrote the script, did the pencils, lettering, and Veronica did the inking and coloring.

I loved Gumby as a kid. Gumby was a claymation  cartoon and got into all sorts of adventures with his pony pal, Pokey. I had a Gumby figure, a green slab of rubber with wires running through it. You could bend and twist Gumby into all sorts of poses. I loved and twisted Gumby so much, the wires poked through. I wanted a Pokey, but never got one.

Now, in my mind, the comic book was released a week or two before I went to visit Teague, But a check on Andy's website showed the comic was released way back in September. Would this issue still be at the store?

The fella on duty in the store must have wondered what the hell an old lady was doing in his store. Seemed even more surprised when I asked if he had Gumby issue #3. He went to a rack saying this is where the Gumbies would be. Let's see. And he had two copies of #3 and he pulled the second one from behind. The fresh copy. The one, no one had thumbed through.  I thought that was excellent customer service.

At the cash register, he asked why I wanted Gumby. Probably expected, oh my grandchild wants this for Christmas. I think he was a little surprise when I said, well, I worked with Andy at the art museum.

I was ridiculously pleased with my purchase. Why? Well, this was the very first comic book I had ever purchased. When I was growing up, comics were verboten. Dad didn't see them as suitable reading material or appreciate the artwork. I did read comics. Himself was a big Marvel comic fan. Had lots of comic books. Super heroes, cartoon characters, classics done in comic form. So when I wanted to read comics, I would go next door and hang out with Himself.  So having my own comic book was a little on the wild side.

It was also pretty cool holding the comic book in my hand and knowing two of the artist that created one of the stories. This particular edition had 3 different stories.

So I was all set to take pictures of me reading my comic book. I'd have a picture of the cover and then pictures of Andy and Veronica's story, The Treasure of the Obellos. But then I caught the copyright warning on the inside front cover. You can see the cover here

You can also go to Andy's blog. AndyTFish.com  Click on the blog link and scroll to the bottom of the page and on the right hand side you'll see a search box. Search on Gumby and you can read about Andy's project.  Or just read Andy's blog, he's interesting and a pretty savvy guy.

So instead of pictures of the comic book, a picture of me wearing my Gumby and Pokey socks while Erich, the butler, brings me a cup of tea in my favorite mug.

The comic book was so different than the ones I remember as a kid. The price was bigger for one. 😉The pages were nice,heavy-weight, glossy paper, and the colors really popped. I seemed to remember comics with cheap paper and pictures made up of colored dots.

 I enjoyed relaxing with the comic. I could hear the voices of the characters from the claymation television show. Too fun.

All three of the stories were like modern versions of Medieval morality plays. Each story had a lesson or lessons to be learned. Don't try to be someone you're not, apologize and own up to causing a misunderstanding, and you can't always pull the wool over an old person's eyes.

[update: if you want to read Andy and Veronica's story, The Treasure of the Obello's, Andy has provided a link. https://www.newsarama.com/36557-gumby-3-preview.html#s4 ]

So, Andy, if you're reading this, enjoy your Andypalooza and  your special day which starts tonight at midnight. (It's Andy's birthday tomorrow).

Drop by hosts, Bleubeard and Elizabeth's blog to find out what the rest of the T Stands For gang is up to. If you want to play, include in your Tuesday post a beverage or container for a beverage. Don't forget to link your blog to Bleubeard and Elizabeth's page.