The Story of Morse's Funnies

History Narrated by Albert in 2001

Q: How did this comic come about?

A: While I was working on the Walt Disney v. Air Pirates case, in 1972, Bobby London gave me the original of a cartoon he had drawn about me and which was published in a comic entitled Merton of the Movement. The original cartoon drawing hung in my office. Inspired by it, other cartoonists started giving me pages.

When I had 14 pages, I took them to the local speedy printer and first he printed the first edition of 100 comics, which had 14 pages, printed on one side. Fifty copies were on card stock, with card stock pages, and 50 copies had a card stock front cover and 20 pages, including the back cover. When I had 22 pages, I again went to the speedy printer. There were 100 copies printed. Fifty copies were on card stock, with cardstock pages, and 50 copies had card stock covers and 20# pages, printed on both sides, 11 total pages. The third edition was limited to 12 comic books. It has 78 pages, plus the original Crumb cover. The insides were xeroxed. The quality is not very good, particularly of the photos and the self portraits. This edition includes self portraits of 31 underground cartoonists of that era, as well as my photographic portraits of 22 of them.

Q: When did you realize that these comic books had any value?

A: When I saw them listed in Jay Kennedy's Underground and New Wave Comix Price Guide in 1981, and in the last year, I heard from a sales person at the Green Apple Book Store in San Francisco that he had sold an unauthenticated, unsigned second edition with a cardstock cover and 20# pages for $500.00.

Q: Are you the same Albert Morse that was in a short story by Paul Krassner in The Realist, and the basis for a character in a novel entitled Disposessed, by Don Carpenter?

A: Yes.

Q: I understand that you have a collection of the original artwork for complete comics. Which ones?

A: Yes, I do. Here's a list:

• Guy Colwell; Choices; the Inner City Romance Comic; 1972
• Joel Beck; Marchin' Marvin; No date, but I believe it was drawn by him in 1964
• Rene Rich; Amputee Life; 1973
• Morse's Funnies; 1973, 22 artists
• Justin Green; Binky Brown Meets the Virgin Mary; no date
• Greg Irons and Tom Veitch; Deviant Slice; 1973
• Trina Robbins; Girl Fight 2
• Larry Todd; Dr. Atomic; 1973
• Barney Steel; Agamemnon; 1969

Q: Is it true that you took photographs of many of the underground comic artists in the 70's and that you have a collection of self portraits of many of those artists?

A.Yes, and you can see them here. It is a moment in time of how they viewed me, how I viewed them and how they viewed themselves.

Q: If you still have these, it seems like the collections would make an interesting exhibition. How the cartoonists saw themselves (the self portraits) and how you saw them (the photographic portraits you took of them), as well as how they saw you (the original pages the cartoonists from Morse's Funnies). Would you consider exhibiting your collection in a museum or other appropriate venues?

A: Yes, I would enjoy sharing this important moment of cartoon history with the public. You can see a listing of the photographs and self portraits in the description of Edition #3.

Q: Are you the same Albert Morse whose photographs of tattooists were exhibited at the Pompidou Center, Paris and the Oakland Museum in California? And did you publish the book "The Tattooists"?

A: Yes.

Q: My dad has been hoping to get one of these comics since they came out. I would like to give him one for his 50th birthday. Can you inscribe it to him?

A: Yes.

Q: I have heard rumors that you continue to crank these out. Is that true? How do I know these were printed in the 70's?

A: There was only one printing of each edition, and that was in the 70's. I'm not sure of the exact dates. Feel free to have the papers, inks, and printing method tested by a recognized forensic lab. In the event that the lab conclusively states, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that these were not printed by photo offset printing in the 1970's, I will give you double your money back. I hope this answers your questions and solves the mystery of Morse's Funnies to everyone's satisfaction.

First Edition

To the best of my recollection, the first edition of Morse's Funnies was photo offset printed on one side. It was bound by two staples. There were a total of 100 books printed, 50 on index card stock, and 50 on 20# paper with index covers front and back. It contained the following pages, in the following order, by these artists:

1. Cover: R. Crumb
2. Simon Deitch
3. Larry Todd
4. Trina Robbins
5. Dan O'Neill
6. Ken Barteleme
7. Bobby London (horizontal placement)
8. Dave Sheridan
9. Art Spiegleman (horizontal placement)
10. Gary Halgren
11. Ted Richards
12. Patricia Moodian
13. Sharon Rudahl
14. Toby Cleyman

Second Edition

The second edition was photo offset printed on both sides, with a total of 11 sheets/22 pages. The covers were index card stock, and the pages were 20#. It was bound with 2 staples. 100 books were printed.

1. Cover: R. Crumb
2. Inside front cover: Ken Barteleme
3. Patricia Moodian
4. Ted Richards
5. Greg Irons
6. Spain
7. Trina Robbins
8. Dan O'Neill
9. Willy Murphy
10. Guy Colwell
11. Bill Griffith
12. Jay Kinney
13. Sharon Rudahl
14. Toby Cleyman
15. Gary Halgren
16. Dave Sheridan
17. Simon Deitch
18. Larry Todd
19. Art Spiegleman (vertical placement)
20. Bobby London (vertical placement)
21. Inside back cover: Leslie Cabarga
22. Back cover: Justin Green

Third Edition: Last and Limited Edition

In about 1985, I found out that the young son of a close friend was facing many difficult challenges. He was a big fan of underground comics I hoped that this would cheer him up. While I was compiling the book I decided to make 10 copies. I gave one signed copy to my friend's son, and to the best of my recollection two copies were sold. One was signed by me and the other one was not signed as per the buyers request. I later heard from two well known collectors that they had purchased 2 unsigned copies. This leads me to believe that those 2 copies were pirated.

This edition had the Crumb cover on heavy paper, which was from leftovers from the original printing. The insides were xeroxed. The quality is not very good, particularly of the photos. They are spiral bound, with black plastic binding.

These comics were created purely as an exercise in egomania, to give as gifts to friends and clients, therefore almost every authentic Morse's Funnies was at least signed by me, and possibly inscribed. Between 1973 and 1976, other combinations were created for individual people. I don't know the combinations or how many were created this way, but they were always signed and inscribed by me.

This, to the best of my knowledge more that 25 years after the fact, is the story of Morse's Funnies.