Tex And Me - 1999

Tex Blaisdell was one of the legendary artists that taught at The Joe Kubert School of Cartoon and Graphic Art while I was a student there. But those of us who lived at the Clinton House--one of the ramshackle student houses--got to know him a little bit more than as just an instructor.

Tex taught at the school two days a week, so he would stay at the Clinton House on Thursday nights, which means on Thursday and Friday afternoons the dozen or so of us who lived in the Clinton House would have a garrulous, chain-smoking, and profane giant of a man sitting at our kitchen table, working, smoking, and telling stories. (Pictured above with Tex is, L to R, me and two fellow Kubies, Sean Murphy and Dan O'Connor)

When Tex died in 1999 I was deeply saddened, and more than a little mad at myself I didn't take the time to get to know Tex better. Figuring his death might not even be mentioned in the various comic book zines at the time, I decided to write a letter to The Comic Buyers Guide, which they printed in their April 30, 1999 edition.

I've been fortunate enough to have had a lot of my work--both art and writing--see print over the years. But this remains one of the things I am the most proud of, even over a decade later.