Butchie Card Art

The winning bidder for the Instant Piano/Eltingville Club charity auction picked Butchie Mofo for me to draw. Which was definitely a surprise pick. I've only drawn him three times before, in three panels of the Eltingville epilogue. The drawing is on 4" x 6" card stock.

Butchie is arguably the worst character out of a cast of terrible characters, and, as said, only appears in three panels of the epilogue. A lot of his vileness might not show clearly on the page, but I thought of him as the worst kind of toxic person, the kind that because of personal charisma and professional position manages to attract others rather than repel. This creature is able to do severe damage to people, discard them, and move on to others. And is protected by their fans, friends and contacts. He (and Pete, and to a much lesser degree, Josh -- in his desire to become a comics professional and impose his will on fandom) was written to show that awful people in the entertainment industry don't fall out of the sky. The worst people you can think of in comics were fans once. Especially in comics. Eltingville was always about countering the idea that fans are all meek, put-upon, hapless little nerds. Butchie is the worst possible outcome of a fan gaining some modicum of power.

Ever since the Eltingville fandom blew up I've been fascinated and a little freaked out about how many readers like the characters. Like, like like. Except for Jerry, I think they're all horrible little monsters. It reminds me of how there were people who were really into Stinky from Pete Bagge's Hate back in the 90's, and how I never got it. Buddy wasn't anyone to be seriously into, either. Actually, pretty much all of Bagge's characters repellant. I loved Hate but they weren't characters I wanted to do anything more than laugh at. Anyway, that's me. I still don't get it, but as I always say, it's not for me to dictate how fans react to or interpret the characters. I'm glad anyone cares.

Also, between Butchie and the comics, I'll be sending about $375 to Trans Lifeline after the payment comes in. So, he's done some good.