Battle Of The Eyes "Corpsemeat 2"

The original Corpsemeat Comix was a b/w photocopied zine produced by Savage Pencil, under the 'Sexy Swastika' banner in 1983 (reprinted 1991).

It's follow up "Corpsemeat 2" is something of an un-holy grail amongst underground comix collectors. For a start there are 2 distinct versions of Corpsemeat 2 the A4 ish b/w version produced by Long Gone John's Sympathetic Press and a full colour screen printed version printed in France by L'A.P.A.A.R.

I first saw a one of these back in the early 90's when Paul Gravett showed off his copy at a small press symposium, It blew me away, it's magnificence was burned into my brain.... took me over 20 years to finally get my mitts on a copy, but finally I did, #XXXVII to be precise.

This edition of Corpsemeat Comix is truly a thing of obscene beauty, as big as a "Treasury Edition" and silk screen printed in lurid multi colours it has to be, simultaneously, in content and exectution, one of the most beautiful and ugly comics ever produced.

As well as Savage Pencil & Eyeball (Chris Long), the BoTE roster had been expanded to include Alan Moore, American underground stars Gary Panter & Mark Beyer as well as some of the French art punk crew brought into the fold by the screen printer.

There are some massive differences between the 2 editions in content as well as in execution. In this blog we will look at both copies side by side.

size comparison

The cover on the original edition was by a Disney animator called Eric.

In the credits it is listed as 'Saccharine Satyr' by Count Erick Dizney.

On the deluxe edition it was re-drawn, in a style reminiscent of the early Walt Disney cartoons, by French artist Michel Pirus.

The inside front & first page give us artist credits.

The Sympathetic Press edition leaps straight into page 1 of 'Driller Penis' art by Eyeball a.k.a Chris Long & Savage Pencil (Battle Of The Eyes) script by Curt Vile a.k.a Alan Moore.

The next page contains one of Savage Pencil's classic circular illustrations, reminiscent of his etched vinyl collaboration with Sonic Youth on their Halloween II 12". 

(note the addition here of  a Mark Beyer bird in the margin a preview of what is to come later...)

In the Sympathetic press version we now turn to a Battle Of The Eyes collaborative centre-spread, followed by Gary Panter's 'Kill Billy' which is expanded across 2 pages to form the middle of the French edition.

The 2 editions diverge considerably for the second half of the book.

The Sympathetic Press edition goes straight into a Mark Beyer strip 'Destiny' whereas the screen printed one gives us a 1 page collaborative strip by Savage Pencil and Gary Panter from 1986 entitled 'Nuts Boys Necros' this is followed by A Battle Of The Eyes piece 'Stumbo' (a reference to the Wiseblood single of the same name) which appears after the Beyer strip in the other book. 

'Destiny' in the screen print edition is abstracted and reshuffled...

(note Savage Pencil flaming skull design in margin, originally used as a Slam City Skates sticker )

(sticker peeled off a wall in Fulham in 1990, from my sketchbook of the time)

Stumbo by Wiseblood (Clint Ruin a.k.a Jim Thirlwell a.k.a Foetus & Rolli Mossiman) this was the follow-up single to Motorslug which came packaged together with the previous Battle Of The Eyes comic 'Nyak Nyak Autobutcher'

Despite the fact they used an image of Ray Harryhausen's Gwangi (above) on the record label Stumbo is, of course, a reference to Harvey Comic's friendly giant.

The Harvey trade dress has also been aped by Savage Pencil for the Sexy Swastika logo, taken here from the 1991 issue of Dead Duck Comix.

In the Sympatheic Press comic there follows a Peter Bagge 'Girly Girl' strip & credits page. In the French edition we are treated to 'Jim Bones' prior to the end paper with edition specifics.

Bonus: here's the ad for CM2 in Sympathetic Press' 'Bad Thorts' & the Savage Pencil interview  from 'Tripping Yarns #2' 1988 where Corpsemeat 2 is alluded to.

"Choice Comic Cuts For Crazy Carnivores"

"Mister Inferno's Love Slug"