Like many small time starving artists/doodlers, yours truly have been doodling since I stopped sucking my thumb in public (compared to now when I do it in private). Not much to yap about them early drawing days, not even my junk during high school, which was taken up my pointless obsession with Las Vegas and the movie Xanadu.

The closest I ever got to see my work move beyond crayon and into ink at the time was a pathetic weekly strip for the Santa Monica Collage campus newspaper that ran only three weeks as the editor used the remaining strips to hit his girlfriend with. I found out about it when the city's police department contacted me.

I hadn't taken my art seriously and concentrated mainly on not hurting my co-workers until around 1990 when I discovered zines and its guide, the late great Factsheet Five. Small press ahoy, bubba!!!

From there, I created my first comic title BROS. FROM BAKERSFIELD, which was about bored fanboys living and surviving in Buck Owns' infamous backyard. This title would lead to its spin-off and sole survivor from those early days, SHMUCK-O RAT. This one is the continuing adverse adventures of a rat living in Venice Beach and trying not to hurt its inhabitance. This title would insanely piss off the "furries" as 1) the strip is 99% human, 2) 99% on that underground/R. Crumb influence, too, 3) the central character has no boobs AND a dick and 4) I made fun of furries.

I've done other zine projects like NegativFANBOYland (a Negativland fanzine) and TIKI HELL (my tribute to tiki culture), but the only other "comic" title was my Josie & the Pussycats/Dan DeCarlo fanzine JOZINE. What started off as a one issue hit & miss deal turned into three issues and a thorn to the side of the real underbelly plankton of comics (next to furries): Archie Comics management. Hurr hurr hurr, test tube babies!

After years of getting addicted to the smell of toner, cartoonmayhem and Landwaster Books officially printed a compilation book called 'THE WHATEVER OF SHMUCK-O RAT' (already re-printed).

Currently, I'm using this ComicSpace space post new weekly SHMUCK-O RAT and not-so-weekly THE JOLLY PINEAPPLE strips, slap up the occational artistic scraps, post the occational personal art news and (a lack of) networking; basically to use this corner of the net to gain successful self-employment.

Well, my style is just above Matt Groening's penmanship. However, you'll have to visit the related links below to find 'em and see 'em.

Whom & what I like in comics?! Well, I'm NO fan of superhero comics. A clique that went past the expiration date. Sure, I like the standard "boob" factor that the mainstream sector of this industry rides on, but too much sugar will rot the teeth, give ya diabetes and you'll end up hearing voices in yer head telling you take Marvel Comics seriously and that Paris Hilton has talent.

Tiles of interest: American Splendor, Neil The Horse, Love & Rockets, The Complete Peanuts, old Ralph Snart, Reid Fleming, Josie & The Pussycats (DeCarlo era ONLY), Rudy, Martin The Satanic Raccoon, Howard The Duck (probibly the only Marvel character I like before the movie killed him off), etc.

Artists of interest: Frank Cho, The Hernendez Brothers, Peter Bagg, Jim Balent (that "boob" factor again), Steve Gerber, Evan Dorkin, R. Crumb, Jim Mahfood, Dan DeCarlo, Terry Austin, Adam Hughes, Frank Strom, Steve Gerber, etc.

For the rest of these influences and what the hell else I kill my Pop Culture time with, here are links to my little rest stop on the internet:

DON-O'S DUMP
MY 'Rate Your Music' SPACE:

MY SHMUCK-O RAT STRIPS and MERCHANDISE
JOZINE
...and for those of you slobs with a MySpace addiction or Rupert Murdock fanboys who vote republican:
DON-O'S (smaller) DUMP

...by the way, I hadn't shaken this "Xanadu" thing as I still maintain a related mega-site called the XANADU PRESERVATION SOCIETY!

God I pity me on THAT one...and the "boob" factor, too. Damn you, Little Annie Fanny!!
Don-O

LATEST BRU-HAHA:(6/22/08)

It’s official. My first zine in 6 years is ready for purchase and consumption: TWILIGHT WORLD (the zine version) is my new quarterly odds & ends/perzine filled with new and re-worked old art and rants and what not.

Issue One (June 2008) opens with my zine history since the late eighties, then there’s your standard dream journal, a brief auto-bio piece about people who write auto-bio books (books by Charles Bukowski & Hillary Carlip are referenced) and your standard reviews. This issue is 10 pages, double sided and 8 by 11.

For a physical copy send two dollars (or a reasonable zine trade) to:
(well, e-mail me first)

Or PayPal the two dollars to oddlystupid at yahoo dot com.

Or, for the “technically advanced”, you can download it for one dollar at Lulu.com: www.lulu.com/content/2753893

OLD BIT OF NEWS:
I finally put up some new pages in the JOLLY PINEAPPLE junk drawer...I mean, ye old JP Gallery.

The new pages is a "prologue" to the forthcoming second major story, 'FOOL (IF YOU THINK IT'S OVER)'...and if you're a Chris Rea fan, you got a much lesser life than I do, but not that there's anything wrong with that. Enjoy and aloha, bubba!

Announcing the release of SHMUCK-O RAT's NET FUN AHOY VOL. 1. A collection of the Rat's continuing abuse of the dime-a-dozen world of internet comic strips. Sure, what's the big deal, you've seen many of these strips many many times before, only in printed form. Only this time, its in printed form...with bonus material seen and read before...I hope! Including scenes from my other strip, The Jolly Pineapple.

The book is 114 pages with a cover price of $11.95, 2.50 for a download version.

You can find it at Lulu.com or Landwaster.com

IN THE FUTURE:
The brave and/or insane folks at LANDWASTER will be publishing a long lost and dead character of mine called SAMANTHA-X! Stay tuned for the horrid details.