When Frank Johnson died, his family discovered a secret he’d kept for more than half a century.
Over the course of 50 years, Johnson, a shipping clerk, musician and record collector, wrote and drew a comics series that predated American comic books as we know them, leaving behind notebooks filled with 2,300 pages of what is essentially a long-form graphic novel (along with 131 unbound drawings).
And that’s just the material that survived.
There’s a strong possibility that more might have existed of the collection, which was discovered after Johnson’s death in 1979. The earliest comic dates from 1928 when Johnson was just 16 years old, but it’s labeled “#91,” suggesting much more material that has never turned up.
While there was a piece written about Johnson in a 2005 issue of Folk Art and a display at the 2017 Outsider Art Fair, his hidden work is finally becoming available to a wider audience of comics fans. “Frank Johnson: The Secret Pioneer of American Comics” has just been published by Fantagraphics, and this first volume introduces Johnson’s long-form serial “Wally’s Gang,” in which a group of guys get into all sorts of good-natured shenanigans.
In the first extant “Wally’s Gang,” the penciled artwork is less developed, but the characters he’d be returning to over the decades are already identifiable; by this volume’s final 1949 episode of Wally and friends, the artwork (still in pencil, which he’d always use to draw the series) is sophisticated and well-developed.
Also included in the volume is Johnson’s only surviving work done in ink. “The Bowser Boys,” which is about a group of heavy-drinking layabouts, predates the underground comics of S. Clay Wilson and R. Crumb, according to Chris Byrne, who provides an essay in the book. (Graphic novelist and educator Keith Mayerson provides another.)
“My favorite is ‘The Bowser Boys.’ People talk about that kind of anticipating or being prophetic of underground comics,” says Byrne, who organized the Johnson exhibition at the Outsider Art Fair.
Having the comics in an easy-to-read book form – Johnson’s original pages were photographed and appear in full – makes it easier to understand its achievement, says Byrne.
”This larger story that is ‘Wally’s Gang,’ which goes through 50 years and the majority of them in 25 notebooks, it’s really hard to see that unless you have the book and you have a way of going through it,” says Byrne.
Byrne, who’s interested in self-taught artists and outsider art, first considered Johnson’s work in the tradition of artists like Henry Darger, a Chicago custodian who left behind a 15,000 page novel and hundreds of mixed-media images, instead of as a pioneer of cartooning.
“That was my original approach to the Johnson material, because the obsession comes across first, really,” says Byrne, author of the books “The Original Print: and “The Magician” and owner and founder of the Elaine de Kooning House in East Hampton, New York. “I think the self-taught artists are sometimes more innovative.”
“I could sense that about Frank Johnson,” says Byrne. “I did have that feeling you get with a great artist.”
Interestingly, it seems that Johnson, Darger and Vivian Maier, the street photographer whose work was discovered after her death, were all quietly operating in Chicago at roughly the same time.
Johnson’s tone is light and upbeat, but there’s something a little haunting about knowing that these stories never had an audience beyond their creator – and could have easily been lost had it not been for the efforts of Johnson’s step-grandson, the collectors who purchased the material and people like Byrne, Mayerson and the Fantagraphics team. A second edition is edited and ready to go.
Byrne is grateful that someone understood the value of what Johnson had been doing and held onto it.
“A lot,” says Byrne. “Can get thrown out.”
For more information, go to the Fantagraphics website
Micaiah Johnson will always buy a copy of this book
Author Micaiah Johnson grew up in Southern California’s High Desert, spending time in Barstow, Victorville and Lucerne Valley. After getting her bachelor’s degree at UC Riverside and a master’s at Rutgers University–Camden, Johnson is currently a PhD candidate at Vanderbilt University. Her latest novel, “Those Beyond the Wall,” which is a follow-up to “The Space Between Worlds,” is out now from Del Rey/Random House. She spoke with correspondent Diya Chacko and took the Book Pages Q&A.
Q. What was the first book that made an impression on you?
“Brokedown Palace” by Steven Brust. It was the first book that I read where I felt ‘Oh, this is so much fun. This is beautiful fun.’ And it was over for me from that moment on, it was just me reading 10 books a week sitting on the floor of the library.
Q. Is there a person who made an impact on your reading life?
My grandmother loved listening to murder mystery audiobooks on drives, and sitting and reading together. My aunt Renee, who in true High Desert fashion, is not technically related, had not just a love of books, but a love of writing. I remember using a typewriter at her place to write my very first short story. So my grandma taught me how to love reading and my aunt taught me that it was possible to write. Those things have never left me.
Q. What are you reading right now?
I’m reading “Leave the World Behind” by Rumaan Alam. My friend gave it to me for my birthday a couple of months ago.
Q. Is there a book you always recommend to others?
There are two. One is “The Little Prince,” which is my favorite book of all time. Whenever I’m in a new city or I go on a vacation or have a really great experience, I will go to a used bookstore and buy a copy of “The Little Prince” because there always is one. That’s my souvenir, and to remember the time, I’ll put a postcard into the book.
I also make people read “Crush,” by Richard Siken. Reading that poetry almost feels like a religion, like proselytizing.
Q. Is there something from a book related event or happening that made an impression on you?
I was at Balticon (a science fiction convention in Maryland), and I was having a conversation with another writer about how hard it was to be non-White women in the book industry. I was giving her advice that had helped me when I first started, because her debut book was coming out, and we’d both had struggles with publishers not really understanding our work.
A stranger walked up to me, and said, “Hey, I was eavesdropping on your conversation and everything you said was great, and it was everything I needed to hear. So I drew a picture of you as a thank you.” I squealed. It was just the sweetest, most amazing thing, because you never know who’s listening. I still have that drawing of me on my wall. It reminds me of why I’m doing this.
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The next episode of Bookish is today, March 15 at 5 p.m. Famed ghostwriter Sarah Tomlinson talks about her new novel “The Last Days of the Midnight Ramblers,” and San Jose Mercury News reporter Scott Herhold discusses his book, “Murder Under God’s Eye.” Plus, the learn about the Southern California News Group’s Noteworthy authors. Sign up for free now.
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