Dementia is the first comic I ever attempted, and true to my nature it was ambitious. It reflects a period in my life following involvement in the 1991 Gulf War, the death of my 80yr old father, my nascent academic development, and the existentialist crisis so typical of young adulthood. In a weak attempt to promote the value of underground comics I used a quote from Hitler to thumb my nose at so-called high art and its role in a singularly prescribed society. I’ve reproduced the issue in its entirety so that viewers can compare it to later works. Although I cleaned up some of the scans for legibility and a few other embellishments, all the original misguided concepts, dated references, and typos are there.
Dementia was intended to be a series. The first issue introduced the character of Pez (and circumstantially, Taffy and Schiz), and covers the topics of sex, sexuality, and the hypocritical history of these. Through the character of Pez I attempted to mock intellectual absolutes, the masculine tendency to intellectualize life as a defense mechanism, and at least some healthy skepticism with regard to viewing my thoughts as original or a priori. Taffy’s character, despite appearances, serves to ridicule Pez and everything he represents – both are prone to lame pontificating (ahem). The character of Schiz reflects all things empathetic and so he falls in love with every girl he meets. He stands in contradistinction to Pez – obviously, all the characters represent parts to a total view of myself at that time.
