This one’s a mini-episode, with me going solo again to talk about the late Glen Hammonds, a hidden figure in the development and popularization of Outlaw Comics. Hammonds, who passed away of pancreatic cancer in 2020, was the proprietor of the comics retailer, wholesaler, and publisher Raw Comics and was a legit patron of the Outlaw Comics arts, spending thousands of dollars a year commissioning art to help the artists make a living. I also updated my 2020 article on Hammonds with a little more information about his work on Syn.
Next up: John and I jump ahead in the Dark Age timeline a bit to talk about Legion of the Night by Steve Gerber and Whilce Portacio.
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Credits:
Hosts: Klint Finley
Music: krudler.bandcamp.com
Mentioned in this episode
- Outlaw Comics (see also: Outlaw Comics taxonomy)
- Syn magazine (see here and here)
- Indy Magazine
- Jason Crager
- Yes, I forgot that Poison Elves was still titled I, Lusiphur at the time it was dropped by Diamond (around issue 5).
Show script
Here’s the script from the show, but if you prefer to read rather than listen you’re probably better off reading my older article on Hammonds.
Welcome to Sewer Mutant, the comics podcast for weirdos like you. Our music is by Krudler, and I’m your host Klint Finley flynig solo for another special episode.
The not so secret origin of Sewer Mutant is that I started the project to document a genre of comics known as “Outlaw Comics,” such The Crow, Faust, Cry for Dawn, Razor, and Poison Elves. We’re talking today about the patron saint of Outlaw Comics, the late Glenn Hammonds, proprietor of the comics mail order and distro Raw Comics.
Hammonds coined, or at the very least popularized, the term Outlaw Comics, through ads for Raw Comics and various writings, perhaps most importantly the Outlaw Comics issue of Indy Magazine issue 4 in 1994.
In Razor issue 4, he defined Outlaw Comics as “the new genre of comics based on extreme violence, strong sexual situations, and very independent artistic expression.”
Hammonds passed away in February 2020, not long before I started the project that mutated into Sewer Mutant. He’s been on my mind lately because I recently acquired a full run of an alternative newspaper Hammonds wrote for called Syn, spelled S-y-n, so I thought now would be a good occassion to reflect on his legacy. I also wrote an obituary slash tribute to him on sewermutant.com in 2020 with more information.
Hammonds was a patron of independent comics in the true sense of the word, not just the contemporary sense where anyone who chips in a dollar towards a crowdfunding campaign is called a patron. He spent thousands of dollars every year buying or commissioning original art from creators. He had a huge collection of art and prints. Hammond was a superfan who loved collecting original art, but a big part of why he bought so much was to make sure artists had income so they could keep working Jason Crager, the creator of The Kill Journal, told me. Crager said: “He taught me that if you love someone’s art you have to support them.”.
Gunfighters in Hell artist Joe Vigil told me that Hammonds liked to buy in bulk and he always paid on time and in full.
His Raw Comics outlet was incredibly important during the Dark Age of comics. Before the dawn of Amazon and eBay and before the widespread use of the internet, Outlaw Comics could be hard to come by. Retailers were afraid to carry controversial titles like Faust, while comparatively tame but obscure titles struggled to gain attention in a crowded market place. Drew Hayes’s Poison Elves, for example, was temporarily dropped by Diamond, the largest distributor at the time, in 1993 due to low sales. Raw Comics provided fans and retailers alike with a reliable source for Outlaw Comics at a time when many shops or distributors simply wouldn’t carry them.
Hammonds also wrote a few comics himself, but not many. You can find out what little I know about that side of his life on sewermutant.com, I’ll provide a direct link in the show notes.
I’m sad he didn’t get to see Sewer Mutant or the flourishing Outlaw Comics revival that’s flourished over the past few years.