biigdad

I’d like to try something here that might be fun. I acquired a comic jam OA piece from the Eric Sack collection. The jam was organized by John Burnham during the 1974 Berkeley Comic Con. There are several sketches on the piece that are not signed, for which I can’t figure out who sketched it, and one that is signed but I can’t make out the signature. Most of the artists on the piece are underground (which is why I chose this forum topic initially) but a few are above ground. Many artists sketched one of their signature characters. I figured that with the extensive experience and brain power of the members here, you might enjoy a challenge to see who can arrive at the most plausible solutions for the mystery artists. Solutions can be offered by verbal response, and/or by uploading other art by the proposed mystery artist that closely resembles the unsigned sketch, or in the case of the illegible signature, a comparable signature. I have been lurking on this forum and the prior discontinued UG forum for years so I know about most of the major players herein. I’ve been impressed by your vast in-depth expertise and appreciate all the knowledge you have imparted to the community. I contacted Eric Sack for his opinions but he was not able to offer any insight. I have reviewed the Tales from the Berkeley Con comic book, the program book from the 1973 Berkeley Con, my comic collection, and looked all over the internet but have only been able to solve one other mystery signature – that of Sheridan Anderson. Here is the list of the jam artists that have been verified either by their signature, or in the absence of a signature, by one of their signature characters. So these should be excluded from the proposed mystery artists: V. Bode, F. Brunner, J. Burnham, G. Colwell, D. Geiser, A. Kupperberg, J. Lynch, K. Deitch, J. Kinney, G. Hallgren, C. Dallas, D. O’Neill, G. Hudson, L. Fountain, L. Welz, Spain, V. Moscoso, G. Shelton, L. Todd, N. Smith, C. Rogers, S. Mouse, L. Marrs, R. Holmes, S. Englehart, P. Moodian, D. Sheridan, T. Robbins, A. Weiss, S. Anderson. I appreciate any help you can give! The below sketch is the one that has a signature but it is illegible. Looks Like "Del hunter" to me but I can’t find anyone with that name or names. The girl could be a heroine, could be drawn by a mainstream artist or UG artist. She is holding a comic called Pencil Bird Funnies. Pencil Bird is a character from Alice in Wonderland. Frank Brunner’s sketch on the jam is of The Man-Thing chasing a Pencil Bird so maybe that was some inspiration for this sketch. Or maybe vice versa since I don’t know which sketch was done first. To me this looks like it could be a Crumb sketch, given the duck-turtle subject matter, the putt-putt tail exhaust, and the somewhat-crosshatch and fine line detail. But I can’t find any record of his attendance at the ‘74 Berkeley Con. Seems like I have seen a wolf in glasses somewhere before, but this one is not Ted Richards’ because he drew his signature E.Z. Wolf elsewhere on the jam. Looks a little like O’Neill but he already has a sketch elsewhere. An interesting style.