Puzz - A Look at Vermont-made 'Zines
Puzz
A look at Vermont-made ‘zines
By Brad Searles
In every issue of Good Citizen, I’ll be taking a look at a different area ‘zine. This issues’ Puzz looks at the guy behind Schoolbus, Jason Cooley. Recently, Jason stopped into Tones, the record store I work at, to let me interview him (in between customers, of course.) Here’s what happened…
BS: Alright…start talkin’...
JC: Well, ask me a question…
BS: When did you start doing Schoolbus
JC: September, 1993…
BS: So what was your point? Why did you do it?
JC: Well, cuz’ I didn’t like Moo-Cow (another area ‘zine…) I thought it was a piece of shit, and I thought I could do it better.
BS: That was really your motivation?
JC: Yeah, I didn’t know that any other ‘zines existed around her, so I thought I was comin’ i[ with this amazing, huge, awesome idea. And I wasn’t.
BS: Has it always been a collection of your comics?
JC: Well, now it is… I was trying to write stories in the beginning, bit I was uninspired. Everything I was writing was coming out, like, “I wanna kill my roommate” or “I wanna kill Brad Searles.”
BS: So you figured you’d just draw yourself doing those things instead?
JC: Yeah…
(at this point Dana Shepard, the Fags drummer, walks up to the counter)
Dana: Hey, waddya doin’?
JC: We’re doing a fucking interview…
BS: You’re gonna be in it now, you know…
Dana: If you’re gonna interview anybody, it should be me…I’m a Good Citizen. (BBBeeeellccch!)
BS: So, Jason, what issue are you up to now?
JC: Number zix, bit that might be it. I’m working on a 60 to 80 page mini-comic called Blammo, or maybe Big Prick…Hey, ask me about Henry Rollins.
BS: So what do you think about Henry Rollins?
JC: I have nothing to say about Henry Rollins.
BS; Okay, now I’m going to ask you typical “influences” question. Influences?
JC: I’d say Dan Clowes, Charles Burns, Quentin Tarantino, John Porcellino, Tom Hart…
BS: So who is your absolute hero?
JC: Um, uh…Andrew Smith. Either hm or Dave Kendall, the old 120 Minutes guy. They’re my heroes.
BS: Which issue are you most proud of?
JC: I’d have to say number four. It had a lot of good, personal comics in it…it was right before the fire.
(Last year, Jason’s apartment building in Burlington burned down. E ended up losing everything.)
BS: How did the fire affect you, personally?
JC: Well, I’m a pretty angry guy.
BS: Even more angry than you were?
JC: Yeah, at that point I was pretty angry anyway.
BS: Did anything good come out of it? Y’know, that “no worldly possessions” crap…figuring out who you are, or any of that?
JC: Nope, that’s bullshit. I want all my stuff back. I was used to having nothing up until that point anyway, so when I finally had some things I wanted to keep forever, and I lost them…it was just like “what the fuck?” Hey, ask me about recurring nightmares…
BS: Okay, tell me…
JC: I have this recurring Star Wars dream that I’ve been having for years and years. I’m in this theater and I’m watching Star Wars. The theater is like Dr. Caligari and shit, with big-ass walls, and it’s filled with these weird fuckin’ people. I keep having it. Maybe it’ll really happen when the next Star Wars movie comes out. I can’t wait for those Star Wars toys to come out again.
BS: So you’re in the Fags now?
JC: Yeah, I’m playing bass. I’ve been playing bass for about two weeks now…as long as I’ve been in the band. Hey, can we say like, “fuck” in this magazine, ot are you going to edit me, or what?
BS: I dunno, let’s call Andrew.
JC: yeah, call that bald-headed curveball jerk off guy.
(So I get on the phone.)
BS: Hey Andrew, is swearin’ allowed in the interview with Jason?
AS: Well, David Jamm did it in the first issue (of Good Citizen.)
BS: Okay, then. Thanks…(I hang up.)
(To Jason): Let’s talk about James Kochalka, ‘cuz everyone has to mention him at least once. His name was in the first issue about a bajillion times.
JC: James is a little boy. He’s a whiny little boy. He’s not like a cute, good boy. He still whines about his Nintendo. Did you ever see Akira? (It’s an amazing Japanimation movie.) He’s going to be like Tetsuo in Akira. He’s just going to get bigger and bigger until he’s such a fucking asshole that he destroys the whole world.
BS: Oh, man!
(at this point James Kochalka enters the store.)
JC: Hey James, we were just talkin’ about you!
BS: James, ask Jason a question.
James: Okay, Jason, sometimes you talk about quitting comics entirely. Have you ever actually decided to do that, and what made you change your mind?
JC: I quit once, halfway through Schoolbus #6. I almost threw all my comics away. But two weeks later I was in a better mood, so I started again. I’m getting really sick of comics right now. But I’ll probably start drawing again tonight.
BS: Tell me more about the new one…
JC: There’s going to be lots and lots and lots of comics…it might be 80 to 90 pages long. Some of the stories are 15 to 16 pages each. I’m going back and forth between stories about specific people and made up stuff.
BS: What was your favorite individual strip you ever did?
JC: I like the strip I did in Schoolbus #3 where I go nuts at work and start killin’ people. I also really like this new strip I’m working on about this girl I slept with and how she dissed me and how I freaked out about it. And how it’s weird how you walk by someone on the street you had sex with and you’re strangers, but it’s like…you had sex.
BS: You realize you just almost quoted “When Harry Met Sally.”
James: Hey, Jason LIVED “When Harry Met Sally.” (We’re all laughin’.)
JC: A lot of my old comics didn’t come out the way I wanted them to. Either I didn’t draw them very well and the story was good, or vice versa. But my new stuff is all coming out the way I want it to. Simple, humble, not studd where I’m just killing everyone. I want to charge as little money as I can for the next one. It’ll come with a tape and an 80 page comic, and I’m gonna charge a buck. I’m gonna sell, like, a million.
BS: A buck? You’re gonna lose some serious money.
JC: Okay, well, maybe I’ll charge $1.50.
Look for Jason’s 80 page epic this spring. And check out the next Good Citizen, where I’ll be talkin’ with Lila Rees, the smokin’ chick behind “U.S Herstoree.”
Brad Searles plays drums in Burlington band Eef, runs Club Fub Records, and writes a local music column for the Burlington Free Press (but please don’t hold that against him!) He wrote this article at the very last minute, once again. Slacker. Send your VT made ‘zine to him ℅ Good Citizen or stop by Tones and say hello.