I was an editor at Pulse!, the music magazine, from 1989 through 1996 (and at its sister publication, Classical Pulse!). In 1992, I instituted the regular appearance of comics in the magazine, first with a series by Adrian Tomine, then with one by Justin Green, and ultimately (in 1993) with a back-page comic, known as the “Flipside,” which featured a different artist every month. When in 1996 I left Pulse! I continued, as a contributing editor at the magazine, to oversee the comics. Other folks took responsibility for working with Green over the years, and other comics were introduced on occasion; I continued to edit the “Flipside.”
This list presents an index of the comics that appeared in Pulse! between Tomine’s debut, in February 1992, and the magazine’s closure, after 19 years of continuous publication, in December 2002. I put these lists together hastily following the announcement, on November 7, 2002, of the cancellation of the magazine, so there may be a fact or two wrong. And I have yet to complete the list of, among other things, the comics Green contributed to the magazine, but I’ll have that done in the future.
This list was originally produced when I had a “comics blog,” ReadComicsInPublic.net, which I ran from September 2002 through October 2003. I may also, down the road, detail the subjects of the monthly strips, now that the list is housed on this website, Disquiet.com.
Many of the strips would be of interest to readers of Disquiet, including the Jon Lewis and Jason Lutes’s December 1993 collaborative work, which was about a kind of nightmare rave scenario; Damon Krukowski and Naomi Yang’s October 1994 collaboration, which was an homage to John Cage; Tom Hart’s March 1996 piece, which took Brian Eno, loosely, as its subject; and others. Matt Madden’s August 1995 piece is the focus of the essay “Home Decorating in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction,” one of the earliest long-form writings on this website, dating from 1996. And one of the Dylan Horrocks pieces listed here uses Arvo Pärt as a touchstone for an emotional period in the cartoonist’s life — just to touch on a some of the works below. Also, I wrote a few of the Justin Green comics listed here, including one on Philip Glass, and one about the ill-fated 8-track cassette tape.
FLIPSIDES — LIST ONE (OF FOUR): This is a nearly complete index of the “Flipside” comics published in Pulse! magazine. The list begins in August 1993, the debut of the “Flipside” comic, and ends in December 2002, the final issue of the magazine. A January 2003 piece had been assigned to John Pham, but the magazine was cancelled before he had even completed the comic.
1993 August Peter Kuper (the first one) September SIRK October P. Craig Russell November Adrian Tomine December Jon Lewis and Jason Lutes Holiday Justin Green (in place of “Flipside”)
1994 February Carol Swain March Chuck Ehlis April Dan DeCarlo and Ruth Morrison (Josie and the Pussycats) May Keith Knight June Barry McGee July Richard Sala August Alec Stevens September Jorge Colombo October Damon Krukowski and Naomi Yang November Steve Lafler December John Porcellino
1995 February Carol Tyler March Tony Mostrom April J.E. Fullerton May Jeff Nicholson June Jeff LeVine July Patrick Welch August SIRK September Bob Armstrong October Kaz November Jessica Abel December Jack Logan
1996 February Michael Kupperman March Tom Hart April Mark Newgarden May Matt Madden June Tony Millionaire July Marcellus Hall August Mark Beyer September Peter Kuper October Gary Panter November Carrie Golus December Keith Knight
1997 February Lloyd Dangle March SIRK May Mack White June Dean Westerfield July Dylan Williams August Warren Craghead September Cherise Mericle October Dave Cooper November Gabrielle Gamboa December Mats!
1998 February Keith Knight April Ellen Forney May Tony Mostrom June David Lasky July Jorge Colombo August Gregory Benton September Ed Brubaker October Fawn Gehweiler November Tony Millionaire December Steve Weissman
1999 March Dan Strachota April Dylan Horrocks May Dave Cooper June Jorge Colombo July David Lasky August Matt Madden September Tony Mostrom October Mack White November Brian Ralph December Jessica Abel
2000 February Jordan Crane March Tony Mostrom April Gregory Benton May Leela Corman June SIRK July Jason Little August Patrick Welch September Greg Cook October Ivan Brunetti November Tony Mostrom December Dean Haspiel
2001 February Ellen Forney March John Pham April Tony Mostrom May SIRK June Tom Hart July Megan Kelso August Dame Darcy September John Pham October Bob Sikoryak November Patrick Welch December Tony Mostrom
2002 January David Lasky February Jessica Abel and Matt Madden March K. Thor Jensen April Justin Green (in place of “Flipside”) May Josue Menjivar June Brian Ralph July Josh Simmons August Caesar Meadows September Dean Haspiel October Megan Kelso November Keith Knight December Jeff LeVine (the final issue of the magazine)
TOMINE AND THE SUB AD — LIST TWO (OF FOUR): This is a complete index of the smaller “subscription ad” comics published in Pulse! magazine. The space originated with a piece by Adrian Tomine in the February 1992 issue. That first piece appeared on the magazine’s letters page. Starting with his second comic, in March 1992, the comic moved to a half-page subscription ad. The subject matter alternated months between music and film. He contributed through September 1994, at which point he left in order to concentrate on his own comic, Optic Nerve. After that, different artists contributed each issue, through March 1996, when the last subscription-ad comic was published. One further sub-ad comic was written and drawn by Christine Shields, but the series was cancelled before her piece could run.
1992 February Adrian Tomine (Mail / Man) March Adrian Tomine (Sleepwalk) April Adrian Tomine (Affinity) May Adrian Tomine (A Rock n Roll Dream) June Adrian Tomine (Secret Agent) July Adrian Tomine (The End) August Adrian Tomine (Sleepwalk Part 2) September Adrian Tomine (Walk Man) October Adrian Tomine (Mister Video: A True Story) November Adrian Tomine (Night Sounds) December Adrian Tomine (Cinema Verite)
1993 March Adrian Tomine (Who’s That Grrrl?) April Adrian Tomine (Personal) May Adrian Tomine (Sleepwalk Part 3) June Adrian Tomine (Foreign Film) July Adrian Tomine (Noise Filter) August Adrian Tomine (Business) September Adrian Tomine (7″) October Adrian Tomine (Get the Nerve) November Adrian Tomine (“Moshing” Sucks) December Adrian Tomine (Betamax) holiday ’93 Adrian Tomine (In the “M” Section)
1994 February Adrian Tomine (Break-Up (Part One) March Adrian Tomine (Break-Up (Part Two) April Adrian Tomine (Vinyl Mystery) May Adrian Tomine (Irony) June Adrian Tomine (Vinyl Mystery) (accidentally ran twice) July Adrian Tomine (The Comeback) August Adrian Tomine (Fanzine) September Adrian Tomine (Announcement) (the last one by Adrian) October Jeff LeVine November Megan Kelso
1995 February Michael King March David Lasky April Ariel Boreaux June James Kochalka July Alec Stevens August Matt Madden September Patrick Welch October Sam Henderson November Joe Chiappetta
1996 March Steve Weissman (the final subscription-ad comic)
CLASSICAL PULSE! — LIST THREE (OF FOUR): This is a complete index of the back-page comics that appeared in Classical Pulse! magazine. The bimonthly magazine published its first official issue in December 1993, though a standalone classical holiday supplement appeared the year prior. The magazine ran for 23 issues, through August 1997. All but the final issue contained a comics page.
December 1992 Holiday Classical Supplement P. Craig Russell Issue 1 (December 1993) P. Craig Russell Issue 2 (February 1994) J.E. Fullerton Issue 3 (April 1994) Rick Geary Issue 4 (June 1994) Justin Green Issue 5 (August 1994) Chris Ware Issue 6 (October 1994) Dylan Horrocks Issue 7 (December 1994) David Lasky Issue 8 (February 1995) Jon Lewis Issue 9 (April 1995) Jim Woodring Issue 10 (June 1995) James Kochalka Issue 11 (August 1995) Tony Millionaire Issue 12 (October 1995) Shane Simmons Issue 13 (December 1995) Alec Stevens Issue 14 (February 1996) SIRK Issue 15 (April 1996) Steve Weissman Issue 16 (June 1996) Patrick Welch Issue 17 (August 1996) Jeff LeVine Issue 18 (October 1996) Brian Biggs Issue 19 (December 1996) Tony Gleeson Issue 20 (February 1997) Megan Kelso Issue 21 (April 1997) Jeff Guarino Issue 22 (June 1997) Christine Shields (the final Classical comic)
JUSTIN GREEN — LIST FOUR (OF FOUR): Justin Green contributed to almost every issue of Pulse! magazine, and one of Classical Pulse!, from March 1992, the debut of his “Musical Legends” strip, through December 2002, which was the final issue of the magazine to be published. December 2001 was the last issue of his “Musical Legends” series, which consisted of biographies of musical figures. For all of 2002, he did a series called “Sound Experience,” which consisted of anecdotes submitted by readers of the magazine. What appears below is an index of his comics in Pulse! through 1996. The list will be completed in the future.
1992 March (Benny Goodman meets Charlie Christian) (the first “Legend”) April (Philip Glass) May R. (Brunson Campbell) June (A brief history of the origin of rock) July (Benny Goodman and Bix Beiderbecke) August (Elvis Presley’s philanthropy) September (John Philip Sousa) November (Joni Mitchelll) December (Mike Bloomfield)
1993 March (Gram Parsons) May (Alan Freed) June (Blind Willie McTell) July (The angels of country music) August (Tommy Moore) September (John Lomax and Leadbelly) October (Steffan Grossman and Gary Davis) November (Peggy Lee) December (Little Richard) holiday ’93 (The Chipmunks) (in place of “Flipside”)
1994 February (Django Reinhardt) March (The Ventures) April (Joe Venuti) May (Gene Vincent) June (Anita O’Day) July (Raymond Scott) August (Stephen Foster) October (Leon Redbone) November (Joan Baez) December (Conway Twitty)
1995 March (Country songwriters) May (Wayne Newton) June (Emmett Scratch) July (Jimi Hendrix) September (Buddy Holly) October (Jethro Tull) December (Eric Park)
1996 February (Cat Stevens) March (Richard Olsen) April (Country women) May (Liberace) June (Bill Hicks) July (Mezz Mezzrow) August (Fats Waller) October (Um Kalthoum) November (Song poems) December (8-Track)
(Note: The index of 1997 – 2002, still in the works.)
Instant anthology? You should pitch it.
Thanks, Mark. Much appreciated. It would be cool. A ton of legwork, but cool.
There’s been a good, natural Pulse! diaspora. Many of Justin Green’s Musical Legends have been collected in a book published by Last Gasp, and all but one Adrian Tomine’s pieces are in his Scrapbook (Drawn & Quarterly). And of the stand-alones, Matt Madden, Jessica Abel, and others have put some of their work in subsequent collections.
Legwork is easier than ever with these computo-boxes they sell nowadays.
I think an anthology of all this talent would be a be no-brainer…
I’d buy one anyhow…
I’ve got a couple of those boxes. I will pursue. (And I think you’d get a copy free.)
Nice! One of my earliest cartooning gigs!
Wow, what a kick to stumble over this! Marc, I remember our phone conversation when I sent you a copy of the comic page that ultimately wound up in Classical Pulse! in 1996. That– and its “mother ship,” Pulse!– were pretty cool magazines from start to finish.
Excellent to hear from you, man — glad to contribute to some good memories.
Thank you for this list. I’m glad I got a chance meet you and thank you at APE last year for putting such great work on Tower’s pages. Yes, I’d buy a collection to stack next to my copy of the Musical Legends book.
I think the Justin green stuff was collected. I had this book floating around for a while but can’t seme to lay my hand on it now.
http://www.amazon.com/Musical-Legends-Monumental-Memories/dp/0867195878/ref=pdbbs2?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1239645765&sr=8-2
@Langell: Thanks very much. Nice to have met you, too.
@Heidi M: Yeah, Justin Green’s Musical Legends was collected by Last Gasp (I wrote the afterward). It’s a great collection. That cover was, I believe, a pre-publication draft, for promotional purposes; the final, published one is an original drawing.
Some of the most fun I’ve ever had illustrating was when I had a regular illo gig for PULSE. A lot of mags have folded over the last decade, but PULSE is one of the few I actually miss.
It was a pleasure to do editorial illustrations, portraits, spot illustrations, and the occasional comic strip for Pulse! and Classical Pulse!, Marc. You were a fine editor to work with; all the best to you!
Thanks, Alec. Great to hear from you.
Hey Marc, Crazy to see my name on a list of such great comix artists. I always tell my student I got paid ONCE for a comic. Everyone says “Anthology” and I’m right there with them. It would be a great one. I’m still making comix with my buddy, Jeff, who did the Mormon comic for Classical Pulse: westerinocomix.com Take care.