Instant Piano Jam Drawing (1994)

Last Monday I got together with some cartoonist-types for dinner to celebrate Robbie Busch's birthday. Robbie brought out a few Instant Piano prints from back in the day that he found and gave me one and gave another to Stephen DeStefano. I didn't get it home in great shape from the subway ride, ferry and bus home, so I had to flatten it out by pushing on the scanner top. It's still a messy scan, but enough to get the idea across.

The drawing features art by Robbie Busch, Stephen DeStefano, Kyle Baker, Mark Badger and myself (I draw better now). I don't remember who came up with the idea to do a jam print for the Instant Piano series, or what we expected to do with it. Sell it? Give it away? Did we have hopes of running it in the comic? Did we run it in the comic, that white line in the center is suspicious (I'm too lazy to haul the longbox out and search for the Instant Piano file copies). No one was happy with how the print printed, I think someone someone knew did it for free, and we certainly got our money's worth. They're not even straight. Maybe the original art wasn't straight. Who knows. Who even knows what happened to the original art?

The jam drawing was done by all five Instant Piano creators over a period of time, I think some of us were spread out from NYC to California by then and it was sent around. I vaguely remember the process being a pain in the ass. Then again, everything about Instant Piano was a pain in the ass. We had some laughs over the pain in the ass Instant Piano days during dinner.

One interesting thing I found while looking at the print is that a prototype of the three "editors" that harrass me in Dork #7 are in there. I had no idea I was working on those characters for any reason before I started the actual issue. There's five editors in black outfits (above the Instant Piano logo in the upper left-hand corner), in Dork #7 I only had three. They represented Art, Commerce and Fun. I haven't a clue as to what I had in mind for the other two characters, seeing this isn't jogging any memories. Besides those weirdos I can see a few other characters of mine in there obviously there's Milk & Cheese, also Phil the Disco Skinhead and a few early obscure weirdos from Dork like Furious George, Naz and Your Saturday Morning Favorites.

There's also a childhood character I drew all the time which was a ripoff of a little puffball toy item that was always on NYC cash registers in the 70s -- it had googly eyes, antennae and flat feet that could stick to surfaces. I called my version Goog and he was my childhood signature character and I drew comics with him and a bunch of other little monsters that was a prototype for Pirate Corp$!. I stopped drawing him when I realized he was a little copyright violation. I was heartbroken. I still love him. He's in the upper left-hand side by the helicopter ladder that Stephen's dog character is climbing (I remember the name of the guy climbing after him, which is Chooch, but not the dog).

Using the broken magic of the internet I've learned that the little puffballs were called "Weepuls". Apparently they're still around, although I haven't seen one in ages.

On the right of the puppy is a character I drew as a teenager but never used in a comic, a thing on wheels with a top hat. I can't remember his actual name for the life of me. It was something like "(X), The Thing on Wheels". I feel like the name started with an "R", Rodney or Roland or something like that. Weird seeing him again.

For those in the know, Kyle drew the infamous "Satyr Masters From Abyss" action figures that Stephen found in a convenience store (iirc) and bought for the Pianists . They're at the top of the piece, on the right from the flating head of Roscoe "Fatty" Arbuckle. I still have my figure somewhere, which was, uhhh, Shyly Horniram. Not making this up!

Something, something, if you gaze into the Abyss, Shyly Horniram look back at you, etc, etc.

Shyly isn't even the weirdest or funniest name in the series,. There's also Sad Frogerson, Mad Gorinka, Watchful Owlammo, Cheeky Mummiah and...Silly Cocky. These Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle knockoffs have to be seen to be believed. If you want to see a few of these figures to believe in them there's a few on eBay: https://tinyurl.com/57ndhtee

You're welcome!