Beatles at The Crossroads

February 8, 2012

Still culling and filing old illustrations out of my flat files in the garage. Fresh out of college I launched into a comic strip called The Doper-Roper which ran in the Razz Revue and although it was inconsistent, in both art and writing, I sometimes hit the mark, like this rooster tail of dust thrown up by the entire Cattletrack Police Department:

I was racing a Triumph Tiger 500 at the local TT Track in Tucson at the time, and had a thing for sideways-sweeper bust-outs.

Here's an illustration that ran in the Phoenix New Times, about how every generation rejects the previous generation's music. This barcalounger dad is obviously modeled on my father, Allen P. Bell, although it's unfair to give him the line. He always loved it when our band practiced and he was very open to new music.

Found a couple year's worth of Honkytonk Sue strips. Here's the first strip, circa 1979, when I used the term "Woosie" for the very first time:

And here's a very ambitious Sue strip featuring the Beatles having an encounter with Sue at the Crossroads Drive-in in Tucson:

Yes, Ringo is wearing a Razz T-shirt, and the sign is dead on. The real Crossroads Drive-in on South Fourth Ave. in the Old Pueblo had a remodel not long after this and the drive-up awnings are long gone. I think the sign is still there though, and the Gizmos are still fantastic.

"As long as the day lasts, let's give it all we've got."

—David O. McKay