Revolutionary Ideas in the Comics Business Aren’t All That Funny

All is not comic in the comics business.

San Diego-based Revolutionary Comics is doing a comic book on the seamy side of the New Kids on the Block singing group (allegations of arson, mob ties and fan abuse).

The New Kids book, now at the printer, is for Revolutionary’s line of tell-it-like-it-is comic books on rock ‘n’ roll bands (“Unauthorized and Proud of It”).

But one of the firm’s two nationwide distributors, Capital City Distribution of Madison, Wis., won’t touch the New Kids comic.

Because Capital has a virtual monopoly in certain parts of the country, that’s a big hunk of Revolutionary’s market. Capital is afraid of a lawsuit and unafraid to say so.

“Whenever there is litigation, we like to back off and let the parties settle their dispute,” Capital co-owner John Davis said.

That infuriates Revolutionary’s publisher-president, Todd Loren, 31, who started the company four years ago.

“Capital should be supporting us and saying, ‘Here’s somebody who stood up for comic books as literature and as communication,’ ” Loren said. “Instead, they’re acting like we lost. To me, that’s a totalitarian attitude.”

Last year the New Kids merchandising company sued Revolutionary over a previous New Kids comic. To settle the suit, Revolutionary agreed not to use the group’s logo or trademark but was left free to reproduce the Kids’ names and likenesses.

Loren feels the new New Kids comic is within the rules of the settlement. But Davis isn’t taking chances.

Other rock groups have also used attorneys to rein in Revolutionary. As Loren tells it, entertainment industry attorneys are Doberman pinschers with briefcases.

For that reason, you will not see further Revolutionary comics about Judas Priest, Skid Row, Bon Jovi, Iron Maiden, Slaughter, L.A. Guns, Depeche Mode, Faster Pussycat and INXS, among others.

Regardless, Loren has big plans for Revolutionary. He puts out a line of Conspiracy Comics (“Marilyn Monroe: Suicide . . . or Murder?”) and sports comics.

“This industry has a history of cowardice and refusing to stand up,” he says. “That’s why we don’t get the respect we deserve.”

Home Is Where the P.O. Box Is

Don’t you love those computer-generated form letters that insert your name and address in the text in an effort to hawk some product or service.

Howard B. Owens just got one from a “Sears authorized contractor” trying to sell home improvement:

“If you’re like most Americans, your home at P.O. Box 242 in El Cajon is your largest investment. To help keep your home valuable for years to come, please take a moment to complete this brief check list.

“Is exterior paint chipping or peeling on eaves and overhangs of your brick home? Your frame or stucco home?

“Have you considered home improvement to cut down the time, effort and cost of exterior maintenance?”

Owens figures he’ll pass on the offer. After all, how much time and effort does it take to keep a post office box looking nice?

Put-Downs, Palynology, Pleasure

It goes without saying.

* Supreme justice.

A woman I know finally found a way to let the office lecher know she’s tired of his boorish behavior. She called him Clarence.

* The Times’ Bob Bayer has received the ultimate in specialty catalogues: The Sanding Catalogue out of Hickory, N.C. Every kind of sandpaper and sandpaper tool imaginable.

* License plate, on a truck in El Cajon: “DULL MAR.”

* Dave Faulkner swears he saw a bumper sticker in Oakland, “My Child Has Perfect Attendance at San Quentin,” and a graffito in Berkeley, “Gravity Ain’t Easy But It’s the Law.”

* In San Diego this week for its annual convention: the American Assn. of Stratigraphic Palynologists.

They use microscopes to study plant fossils (rather than animal fossils): pollen, spores, cysts, fungus, etc. But you knew that, didn’t you?

* The Bangkok Post refers to Capt. Sticky, the San Diegan organizing 15-day debauchery tours to Thailand, as “The Prince of Pleasures.”