Some artists deal with the subject of mortality in delicate, reflective brushstrokes. OFF! bandleader Keith Morris confronts it roughly the same way a hungry pit bull meets a T-bone steak—with fang-gnashing ferocity. To wit: multiple compressed assaults from the band’s new sophomore salvo, Wasted Years (Vice). Because, at 58, the Circle Jerks/Black Flag vet (who still maintains a spin-off combo dubbed Flag) has faced his own frailties, overcome most of them, and simply accepted—then soldiered on—with the rest. Morris, guitarist Dimitri Coats, bassist Steven Shane McDonald and drummer Mario Rubalcaba will be guest editing magnetmagazine.com all week. Read our brand new feature on them.
Morris: OFF! did a tour back in 2012 when we were accompanied by some newly found friends that go by the name the Spits. A great mix of guys and one of these kooks had his nose constantly buried in the pages of what are most commonly known as graphic novels. He’d finished one of these, The Manhattan Projects Volume 1, which creates a few “what if?” scenarios as the story tells of different bloody scientific conspiracy theories and shines a very dark light on one of the major characters, who was part of the Manhattan Project. He has a few skeletons hanging inna’ closet in his head. It turns out that along with the small cast of other scientists and military people involved that the MP is just a front for other way out events that unfold throughout the three volumes of this continuing story. This somewhat secret group that was responsible for the atomic bomb are based on the real people who lived in and worked in Los Alamos, N.M. A small sample of things goin’ on include a portal stone that allows access to other universes, making bargains with aliens who are fighting amongst themselves to determine the fate of the Earth, zen-powered teleportation machines run by a group of Death Buddhists and all sorts’ other sci-fi wackiness taking place on the pages, and this is just MP1. The reason I bring up this graphic novel is that with my addictive personality when I read it I was hooked into reading MP2 and MP3. Now this means that I’ve gotta’ head over to my local bookstore and while scouring the shelves I get turned on to another graphic novel, Battling Boy, created by Paul Pope, whose early work is weak and doesn’t even come close to BB! This particular comic is centered onna’ god-boy who has the ability to take on the characteristics of whatever creature is depicted on the T-shirt he’s wearing. He happens to have been placed in a city, Acropolis, where the child population’s being kidnapped by roaming monsters and taken to their underworld. Amazing artwork, story and cast of characters! I dig on alla’ this kind of stuff due to the fact that my childhood heroes are Jack Kirby (who was responsible for The Incredible Hulk, Fantastic 4, Captain America, The Mighty Thor and an army of others), Steve Ditko (who created The Amazing Spider-Man, Dr. Strange) and Jack Davis (who was a major contributor to Mad and Creepy magazines).
