On the anniversary of his death at 83 years old (and taking into account the fact that the news took several months to wing its way across the pond to Ballard Heights), Rob finally pays tribute to Larned Justin, artist, cartoonist, small press editor, publisher, promoter and guru, YouTuber, avid gamer(!) and quite simply an all-round fun guy....
I must have contacted Larned as I made my first fumblings in the field towards the end goal of collecting John Miller's sizeable but sporadic comics output together, somewhat nervously exploring what was already out there and getting in touch with what I assumed was a proper bona fide publisher (who soon revealed himself to be a good-natured and seasoned small press veteran, myself-ish 30 years further down the production line in many ways)....
Around the time of his editing the White Buffalo Gazette, Larned had enthusiastically published a peak-era John collection called As The Miller Told His Tale - a copy presumably spied languishing at Ice Station Zebra - and so after an exchange of letters a mail swap came about, copies of Khaki Shorts crossing the Atlantic in exchange for a prized ATMTHT and a few of Larned's own comics (last seen entering the huge oversized black bag of art, art materials, books and ephemera that Adam J. Smith used to cart around with him everywhere he went 15+ years ago)....
Shortly after this Larned pleasantly surprised Adam and myself by posting us a few A Cartoonist And A Cat strips tailored specifically for inclusion in our Khaki Shorts zine-thology, a welcome gentle addition to our (mostly) Scottish Viz-gone-quite-seriously-askew content....
....his strips drawn, as we realise with some astonishment now, at the equally unfathomable and impressive age of 68! A cover even appeared quite out of the blue, prompting a hasty cobble together and extending the great second run of Khaki Shorts by yet another issue....
Of course, Khaki Shorts eventually wrapped up (and was Khollected in 2015), things taking a natural shift away from snail mail towards the internet and Facebook in the meantime, Larned ever present, sharing an abundance of drawings, strips, doodles, gags, and homemade videos. If there's anything I took away from it all it was Larned's lust for life, or perhaps better put as the pure furst for fun, the joy of simply creating (and not worrying too much about what it all meant or added up to)....
Thankfully his output is everywhere to enjoy, covering all sorts of topics - making, talking and promoting comics, portraiture, being a Korean War veteran - and I'll admit that in moments of creative and life crisis I'd often think of Larned (and still do!) happily at home just goofing around and having a ball, what the heck!, and remind myself that that's the kind of old I'd like to be. Is there any better tribute...?
Further appreciations can be found here at Smeary Soapbox Press and Small Press Heroes....
"Hi Rob, Everything is fine here. I'm still doing comics at 82!"
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