There's a THETH in My Mailbox, WTF?

When a friend sends you an email asking what’s your physical mailing address and you reply with the requested information, you can assume something’s physically on its way.

When that friend is Shannon McCormick – a man who’s deep into the more brilliant and obscure sectors of comics & music & art & literature and so on, to the point of being a card-carrying member of a group calling itself Insufferable Douchebags – you can reckon something awesome is on its way.

Hello, Friday morning and the postal delivery of Josh Bayer’s THETH from Retrofit Comics!

Because, once again, that McCormick has simultaneously honored this grizzled journo with his generosity & exemplified the sharpest of taste. Because THETH is one gorgeous, gnarly work of sequential art, bringing out the ineluctable weirdness of adolescent highschool days – circa 1980, here – and how kids can wreak and writhe within a matrix of pop culture and social complexities, with Bayer’s expressive visuals making a person (okay: me) imagine Edward Sorel inking the pencils of an E. C. Segar-channeling Frank Stack.

You know what I’m saying?

I’m saying this is something you should see for yourself, if you haven’t already clicked on the links above.

I’m saying this is another testament to Kickstarter’s power for bringing creative excellence into the world, whether it’s Bayer’s stuff or the all-female Dirty Diamonds anthology or the first album from Crow Call or some new compelling wonder from that kick-ass doll who’s playing the Paramount Theatre on April 14th or whatever.

Put a hashtag to some of it, if you must – #insdou, maybe? – but know, word to the wise, that there’s always a ton or two of diverse goodness out there among the world’s relentless dross … and all you need to do is look for it.

Or have Shannon McCormick as a friend.