Brick Flag
Krass & Bernie
Before skateboarding, before hip hop, before punk rock, before geeks and fandom...just a bit past Star Wars and Classic Space, there was Krass & Bernie.
It was a long walk in winter, or a good bike ride in summer, to the center of my hometown back in the day. I would go there to the only magazine shop to pick up G.I. Joe comics. One day, back in 1982, something different caught my eye. It was what became my first issue of CARtoons magazine! It was hard to believe that someone published an entire magazine of drawn automobile humor, but that's what it was. I read that mag so much that the whole thing fell apart, tattered and torn up. From then on I obsessed about finding issues, which was no easy thing. They came out sporadically every two months or so, there was no subscriptions, and the store didn't always receive them. I managed to find about twenty or so before they called it quits in 1992. To this day I still have actual dreams every once in a while about finding an issue in a store!
Within the pages I discovered many artists. My favorites being Shawn Kerri(RIP) (who would reappear later in my life when I discovered punk / Circle Jerks / Black Flag),Tom Harding, and George Trosley (who would later reappear as a joke illustrator in mens magazines!).
George's "How To Draw cars" section played a huge role in my artistic life, but it was the magazines' staple go to duo Krass & Bernie that was always the high light. This low-brow team would always get caught up in hot-rod building adventures that resulted in a multitude of freaky cars. It is from their title header, the first page that I would turn to every issue, that I got the inspiration for this MOC.
I've never read the origin story about this mash up of dragster & Beetle (if there is one), but I can say this: for some reason they are powering this dragster with the VW's motor, but the geometry is very wrong. Just look at the squished hood and the angle of the chain! I had to be a bit more realistic for the MOC, but I think it's still very Trosley. I like this MOC very much, sticker cheat and all.
As a foot note I know someone began a new run of CARtoons a couple of years ago (cartoonsmag.com/) and there are often back issues of the original CARtoons on EBay and some are on download sites. Also, as I was researching this project, I found out that George Trosley has published a couple of books collecting his Krass & Bernie stories. www.georgetrosley.com/
Krass & Bernie
Before skateboarding, before hip hop, before punk rock, before geeks and fandom...just a bit past Star Wars and Classic Space, there was Krass & Bernie.
It was a long walk in winter, or a good bike ride in summer, to the center of my hometown back in the day. I would go there to the only magazine shop to pick up G.I. Joe comics. One day, back in 1982, something different caught my eye. It was what became my first issue of CARtoons magazine! It was hard to believe that someone published an entire magazine of drawn automobile humor, but that's what it was. I read that mag so much that the whole thing fell apart, tattered and torn up. From then on I obsessed about finding issues, which was no easy thing. They came out sporadically every two months or so, there was no subscriptions, and the store didn't always receive them. I managed to find about twenty or so before they called it quits in 1992. To this day I still have actual dreams every once in a while about finding an issue in a store!
Within the pages I discovered many artists. My favorites being Shawn Kerri(RIP) (who would reappear later in my life when I discovered punk / Circle Jerks / Black Flag),Tom Harding, and George Trosley (who would later reappear as a joke illustrator in mens magazines!).
George's "How To Draw cars" section played a huge role in my artistic life, but it was the magazines' staple go to duo Krass & Bernie that was always the high light. This low-brow team would always get caught up in hot-rod building adventures that resulted in a multitude of freaky cars. It is from their title header, the first page that I would turn to every issue, that I got the inspiration for this MOC.
I've never read the origin story about this mash up of dragster & Beetle (if there is one), but I can say this: for some reason they are powering this dragster with the VW's motor, but the geometry is very wrong. Just look at the squished hood and the angle of the chain! I had to be a bit more realistic for the MOC, but I think it's still very Trosley. I like this MOC very much, sticker cheat and all.
As a foot note I know someone began a new run of CARtoons a couple of years ago (cartoonsmag.com/) and there are often back issues of the original CARtoons on EBay and some are on download sites. Also, as I was researching this project, I found out that George Trosley has published a couple of books collecting his Krass & Bernie stories. www.georgetrosley.com/