Gary Groth

Bezango, WA tells the tale of cartooning and comics in the Pacific Northwest, focusing on the alternative community. The film chronicles both the past and the present, while featuring Frank M. Young, co-creator of the Eisner Award winning graphic novel "The Carter Family: Don't Forget This Song," and James Gill, a cartoonist, and mostly-cheerful introvert of the finest class.

Todd Loren, whose scandalous series of unauthorized comic book biographies of rock stars enraged and sometimes charmed his subjects, provoked numerous lawsuit threats from the likes of Bon Jovi, Guns N Roses and Skid Row, and eventually led to a landmark First Amendment case, all before he was savagely murdered in 1992. Includes first hand accounts from many of the artists and writers who were inspired and exploited by Loren, along with interviews with Alice Cooper, Mojo Nixon and more.

The documentary follows underground comics artist Jack Jackson as he inks his final graphic history, a 166 page story of the Alamo told from both the Mexican and Anglo points of view. The film is comprised of ten visits to the artist's studio over a twelve month period, documenting the painstaking process of inking with an old-fashioned dip pen. Finally, the book is completed but his planned sales outlet, The Alamo gift shop turns it down because there is “too much sex and violence.” Three years later Jackson commits suicide at the gates of the family cemetery in Pandora, Texas.