I had a copy on VHS which went missing (permanently borrowed, is my guess). So years later, when in Sweden, I made a trip to Film Tecknarna to buy the copy I have now. I was hoping to meet the filmmakers themselves but that did not happen, sadly.

I have never been able to figure out why some non-linear films films are tantalising in their ambiguity but other, similar films are merely vague and annoying. Perhaps the difference is when there is an underlying structure, with its own internal logic that appeals aesthetically in some way to the mind? I remember reading somewhere that the film-makers were interested in making a film with the same approach to repetition as a piece of music (and the soundtrack is great too).

Put your headphones on, give it your full attention and allow yourself to be hypnotised.

Despite receding hair, getting a haircut now causes me no anxiety whatsoever. Ironically, I most worried about my hair when I had plenty to spare. As a small boy, I saw the world through an unruly mop, but even attempts by my mother to merely WASH my hair caused me to howl with as much tonsil-quavering gusto as being dragged to the dentist.

The drama of childhood dental appointments is easy to understand –my yowling correlated precisely with the actions of a bloke jamming a drill in the nerve-endings of my teeth– but it isn’t immediately clear why anyone grooming my hair caused such dread. Of course, in the 1970s, even grown-men loathed the barbershop but that was mere fashion. My hair-angst went much deeper than that, and was not connected to aesthetics at all. Like some tiny SAMSON, I saw grooming of my hair as an attack on my very self.

No matter how “good” the haircut, even if done professionally at the barbershop a few blocks from our house, I hated it anyway. Mum’s desire to save an inevitable public fracas, not to mention personal expense, meant that the haircuts were more likely to be done at home, by her. There were already 4 of us boys when I was 7 years old, so trimming our hair must have been an unending and utter misery for poor Mum. However, there came a savior: THE HAIR MAGICIAN.

In the 1970s, the K-TEL corporation solved the problems of common folk with little doo-hickeys, whatsits and thingamajigs. A particular point of interest was that each product had been “seen on TV” though only in the commercial that pointed out that fact. One such advertisement promised that a product called THE K-TEL HAIR MAGICIAN would deliver a haircut by merely combing your hair. Why, after a few strokes of this gadget (which looked like a long-handled comb) you’d be the very picture of style! (Such as it was in 1973). All this, without having to pay for a haircut! Mum must have thought all her prayers were answered at last.

I remember sitting out in the back yard on a kitchen chair as Mum swooped in with her newly-bought miracle gizmo. Predictably, as she combed it through my hair, I howled like a banshee, though this time with good reason; a haircut from the HAIR MAGICIAN hurt like holy hell. The K-TEL wizards had cunningly installed razor blade cartridges between the teeth of this comb to do the cutting. In theory. In reality, a few strokes from this new-fangled comb left hair entangled in the fangle, cutting capacity was lost and subsequent styling was achieved by hair being not so much cut as TUGGED out by the roots.

Sadly, a wave of the Hair Magician’s wand did NOT magically transform me into the smiling BRADY BUNCH kid of the TV commercials. Instead, I was transformed into something resembling a mangy dog who’d had chewing-gum cut from its fur with toenail-clippers. In terms of an identifiable fashion style, it could be compared to the punk look, but about 5 years too soon to be either identifiable or appreciated.

The only consolation was that it was relatively easy to blend in, even with such a hair disaster atop my head. Not just because the 1970s was the time when everyone’s hair went wild but also because mine wasn’t the only Mum to fall under the evil spell of THE HAIR MAGICIAN.

The totality of my reading stash of graphic wonders now includes the following:

“EDWARD THE TREE CLIMBING DOG” by Kris Pearn
“THE NUN WITH TWO GUNS” by John Hoffman
“HOLLOW VICTORIES” by L Frank Weber
“GIRLS LOVE PICTURE BOOKS” and “DEAR EVERYDAY” by EunJu Newhouse
“LA LA LAND” and “LE MENAGERIE” by Bernyce Talley
“ICE BEAR JUDGES YOU” by Daniel Chong
“AMAZING EVERYTHING” by Scott C.
“NIGHT OF THE LIVING VIDIOTS” and a neat SKETCHBOOK by Andy Ristaino
“HIDDEN” by Graham Annable.

Now that Wondercon will be moving to Anaheim in 2012, not only is APE San Francisco’s coolest comics show, it’s the ONLY comics-show left in town, at least until 2013 when Wondercon may return. In the meantime, I hope to see you this weekend!

My understanding is that the models are always dressed and posed to a theme and this time it was “burlesque clowns”. Three 20 minute poses and one 40 minute pose.

After several hours of drawing a sexy clown, we went with Julia’s friends Nadine and Lisa (who had also been at Dr Sketchy’s) to Meet my pal Bosco at HENRY’s HUNAN, where we all enjoyed a tasty dinner and several hours of pleasant conversation.

Having been asked to draw my version of a no-nonsense gun-nun, naturally I got into the mood by remembering my own beat-downs at the hands of the bad-assed old nuns at my Catholic primary school (none had any guns, thankfully, or I might not be here today). I began by thumb-nailing poses of a gun-toting nun; either blazing away, or crouched atop a cathedral gargoyle. THE DARK KNIGHT in a habit.

Then, realising that such action stuff would surely be covered in either the story itself or the OTHER pin-ups, I started thinking less GUN and more NUN. What would the inner-life of a vampire-hunter nun be like? Maybe she prays with the guns, which have been consecrated and each named for a warrior angel from the bible. Being Catholic, no matter how much she hates those VAMPIRES, there’ll be GUILT about killing them. She wraps THORNS around the hand grips (seen in bottom panel) and when she shoots the demons, she is punished for her sins too.

I thumb-nailed more ideas, and had a hard time deciding which to finalise. Then, researching online, I saw photos of stained glass windows, which were medieval Catholic COMICS if you think about it; telling stories in a visual (and multi-panelled) way, and I decided to use as many of the thumbnails as I could, in one pin-up. I wanted to draw the guns covered in Catholic charms, like those MILAGRO CRUCIFIXES you see in Mexico, and should have added some blood dripping from her hands, but I ran out of time. With all my fiddling, I just got the pin-up to John in the nick of time. Given to him last night, the book is at the printers today!

I’ve attended myself a few times before, most recently LAST year, when I enjoyed it so much that I had to try being on the OTHER side of the table this time. It is a very small show; you could take in the whole thing in an hour or two. It has a low-key, indie atmosphere focused very much on books. Not just comics, but self-published poetry and magazines. Best of all, unlike many such shows, it is FREE TO GET IN!

The ZINE FEST takes place near the 9th & Irving neighborhood. The first building you come to, just inside Golden gate Park, is the S.F. County Fair Building (A.K.A. the Hall of Flowers).

If you’re in the Golden Gate Park area this holiday weekend, please come by and say hello. The ZINE FEST goes from 11AM-6PM on both Saturday and Sunday.

We were having a lot of fun developing this idea but the needle-scratch moment came when we found out that a film called HOODWINKED was already in production elsewhere. Clearly our timing was bad and therefore the project was shelved.