Random Acts of Art - 02

All Artwork is by Grady Lyda

When I was 15 years old I planned a series of comix called NEXUS. Carlton Sennett teams up with LaNaRa, a lady from the far future. This duo helps humanity overcome major social upheavals which consequently lead to rapid evolutionary surges that cause even greater problems, inducing further leaps in mankind's development. These images indicate NEXUS 1 - Current Times, NEXUS 2 - Mastery of the Solar System, NEXUS 3 - Intergalactic Exploration, and NEXUS 4 - Cosmic Beings with Unlimited Power.

I had notebooks full of numerous plotlines that propelled the NEXUS heroes into increasingly extreme sci-fi scenarios. But there were other ideas that involved different characters, so I envisioned a magazine that would feature a variety of illustrated stories.

I toyed with various concepts for a monthly book called FOUTRÉ (foo-TRAY), a new spelling of FUTURE that was a play on the French word outré which means unconventional (bizarre, excessive, outlandish).

The time you enjoy wasting is not wasted time. – Bertrand Russell

I was considering a story that takes place during a Halloween masquerade party & I came up with the following concepts for costumes.

SPHINX ...The woman's waist and legs go into the air-conditioned base -- her feet operate pedals that steer the mobile structure... The woman can stand erect but she would look like a begging cat... can't lean over all the time.

CENTAUR ...The man's lower legs are bound against his thighs -- his knees are fastened to the horse's rigid legs. He moves as if he were walking on his knees, operating each artificial foreleg as if they were his own. The rear legs mechanically duplicate the action of the opposing forelegs...

DRAGON & MAIDEN ...Man fits into costume rather awkwardly, in a half-crawling position with legs spread wide, filling only two thirds of the dragon's legs... TV screen shows him outside view thru camera-lens dragon eyes... Maiden's costume is a bit simpler than the dragon's.

NOWHERE MAN ...Worn by Howard Jarlath, Dictator of NowHere. Also called "The Boob," "Jeremy Hilary Boob, PhD," "Boobius Utopius," and "Daffy Old Creep"... Rides atop the Yellow Submarine (Xanthon Submarinion) holding its motor and sporting a pencil between his toes for footnotes...

ADAM & EVE ...Depicts the first man and woman preparing to raise Cain. The body of the woman wearing the costume acts as Eve's head and torso, and Adam's legs and haunches... Adam's head, shoulders, upper back and arms are artificial -- so are Eve's hips and legs...

LADY GODIVA ...Everything below the girl's waist is artificial -- her real hips and legs go through the horse to stand on a wheeled platform which is operated by a concealed remote control device in the horse's shoulders... The girl wears black tights so her legs will be less noticeable when viewed from an unobstructed angle...

AMAZON ARCHER

In the mid-1970s, professional comic book writer Mike Friedrich had already pioneered an independent & uncensored SciFi anthology series called STAR*REACH that was similar to what I had in mind. My first stories were published in his popular monthly magazine.

For more like this, go to  Random Acts of Art - 01  &  - 03  &  - 04

The STAR Boundary - Part 1

Art and Story by Grady Lyda

01 of 16

02 of 16

03 of 16

04 of 16

05 of 16

06 of 16

07 of 16

08 of 16

See the Conclusion: The Star Boundary - Part 2
or, see the tale behind this graphic novelette: My 1st Published Story

The STAR Boundary - Part 2

Art and Story by Grady Lyda

09 of 16

10 of 16

11 of 16

12 of 16

13 of 16

14 of 16

15 of 16

16 of 16 - The End

"Thule" (TOO-lee or THOO-lee) means the northernmost realm of the world. It rhymes with "newly" (NOO-lee)

See the Beginning: The Star Boundary - Part 1
or, see the tale behind this graphic novelette: My 1st Published Story

My 1st Published Story

Out of SPACE ● Out of TIME

Be still when you have nothing to say; when genuine passion moves you, say what you’ve got to say, and say it hot. – D.H. Lawrence

Issue 6 - October 1976 - Cover Art by Jeff Jones

From the Inside Front Cover, here is Publisher/Editor Mike Friedrich's Introduction (shortened by me)

Mike Friedrich at 1982 SDCC

27 September 1976

Hayward, CA

It would be hard to restrain my enthusiasm for this issue of STAR*REACH, even if I wanted to do so. Less than two months ago I literally had no idea what was going to be in this issue beyond the second chapter of "Gods of Mount Olympus" and the short, cute "Childsong" feature... Then in the space of one week three bombshells (if you will) descended upon me...

First, I was attending the San Diego Comics Convention [SDCC] in late July. I heard the grand master Ray Bradbury read from his mind and heart and soul regarding the then week-old Viking-1 landing on Mars... Ray surprisingly presented me his poetic work for first publication in these pages... And minutes after that, the man with one of the most fantastic imaginations in our field, Alex Nino, agreed to illustrate Ray's poem. These events alone were enough to get me high.

The Viking 1 Mars Landing - 7/20/1976

But a couple more surprises awaited. When I returned here from San Diego, in my stack of mail was one of those "discouraged" unsolicited submissions, "Out of Space, Out of Time," from one Gray Lyda... Only this one knocked me out. It has weaknesses... but there is a strong sensitivity in his artwork... and the storyline is a real sneaker; you better read it twice (it wasn't till the third reading for me that many of the ramifications of his story sank in).

And then, in perhaps the biggest surprise of all, in the mail the following day... was this issue's lead story by Bob Gould and Eric Kimball. "Elric" has always been a favorite prose character of mine... I have to thank Steve Grant and Michael Moorcock for their cooperation, Barry Smith for providing the connections and Jeff Jones, the superb book-cover painter, for granting permission to print his cover on much less favorable terms than is his norm...

Now perhaps you can see why I'm enthusiastic. This issue represents for me a distinct step forward toward that elusive "unique statement," a comic that reflects my own editorial tastes, that stands apart from the work of other editors and publishers...

Take care. See you next time.
Mike Friedrich

I was overjoyed when Mike accepted my creation in 1976. Finally, my career as a writer & artist was getting somewhere. Originally titled "Moira-Quest," (Moira is an ancient Greek word meaning Preordained Destiny) the narrative started out as a words-only/no-pictures short story, but it was visually inspired by the mysterious antique artwork shown below.

Flammarion Engraving -- Artist and Date Unknown

In 1972, I sent manuscripts to various fantasy & scifi magazines and it was rejected often. To see a relevant journal entry from that year, go here: Feb 15, 1972 - "The grate science-friction righter."

Eventually, I decided to turn it into an illustrated story & mailed it to several comic book publishers; my favorite one was STAR*REACH. Mike Friedrich (I later learned he pronounced his Germanic name FREED-rick) had only seen a photocopy of my submission, and then he asked me to mail the original artwork which I had rendered with pencil & ink, leaving empty spaces for the lettering.

He was shocked when he received my pages because I had meticulously drawn them at the actual size that they would appear in his 7" x 10" magazine. Mike said it was too small for the letterer to work on and he needed to photographically enlarge every page to 10" x 13.75" so  that legendary Marvel/DC letter-maker, Tom "Orz" Orzechowski (I met him -- he's a good guy), was able to hand-write the text.

Out of SPACE ● Out of TIME - Page 2

It came out pretty good when it was published but there were some errors, which was not unusual in those non-digital pre-computer days. Aside from a few typos, the major mistake was the size of the art which was reproduced smaller than necessary -- I had intended for the black border to "bleed" off the edges, but as you can see, each page has a distracting white border around it. Oh well, live & learn. I was happy when computer programs came along that allowed me to control every detail of my work so I could avoid the inevitable technical problems.

From the Inside Back Cover of Issue 11 - December 1977

Mike Friedrich appreciated the talent of his contributors, so his contracts included a provision stating that "rights revert to the creator five years after publication." So now I own the rights to my story, and I recently devoted hundreds of hours revising it until I was satisfied that it was as perfect as I could possibly make it. With careful Photoshop enhancements, coloring, and improved text, I gave it a new title and formatted the panels for easy viewing on the Web. Next week, I will post "Part One" of the final version of this 16-page illustrated epic adventure.

See  The STAR Boundary, Part 1 -- A grim fable about humanity's first trip to the STARS

A classic example of Exploring the Unknown is Christopher Columbus: He didn’t know where he was going when he left – he didn’t know where he was when he got there – and he didn’t know where he had been when he got back! – Wernher von Braun