Remembering Glen Hammonds, Outlaw Comics Patron

The Outlaw Comics community lost one of its most important figures when Glen Hammonds passed away on February 13, 2020 after a three and a half year battle with pancreatic cancer.

Hammonds founded the comics mail order, wholesale, and publishing company Raw Comics. He coined the term “Outlaw Comics” in the early 1990s and popularized it through Raw Comics ads and his various writings. But more importantly, he was a tireless advocate and supporter of Outlaw Comics. Hammonds was, in a big way, a tastemaker and connector in the indie comics scene.

“I always talk with people about Glen’s undying support for independent, freethinking, democratic and transgressive storytelling in graphic arts,” says Faust writer and co-creator David Quinn. “As I blogged recently, he pretty much built the rep of ‘Outlaw Comics.’”

Before the dawn of Amazon and eBay and before the widespread use of the internet, Outlaw Comics could be hard to come by. Retailers were afraid to carry controversial titles like Faust, while comparatively tame but obscure titles struggled to gain attention in a crowded market place. Drew Hayes’s Poison Elves, for example, was temporarily dropped by Diamond, the largest comic book distributor both then and now, in 1993 due to low sales. Raw Comics provided fans and retailers alike with a reliable source for Outlaw Comics at a time when many shops or distributors simply wouldn’t carry them.

Sirius Entertainment founder and comics retailer Robb Horan discovered Poison Elves through Raw Comics. “Poison Elves first came to my attention as a retailer,” Horan says. “I was originally getting my copies from Glen.” Sirius ended up taking over publishing the series. “I’m prepared to say with certainty that if not for Glen Hammonds, Sirius would not have had Poison Elves,” he says. “Glen was instrumental in the marriage between me and Drew.”

In addition to curating titles through Raw Comics, he also helped get the word out about Outlaw Comics through a publication he wrote for called Syn. “He was one of the most important people behind the scenes,” says Joe Vigil, the creator of Dog and Gunfighters in Hell (and brother of Faust co-creator Tim Vigil). “I think he was the first person to review Dog.”

“Guys like Tim Vigil, Joseph Michael Linsner, and Mark Beachum all owe a lot to Glen he exposed their art to so many,” says Stain artist Michael Boeckelmann. “He supplied a service that we kind of forget about since we have the internet. A lot of small companies survived because of him and personally for me he gave so much advice and helped when I started out.”

Linsner agrees. “Glen was a great guy who had a true love of alternative comics,” he says. “Most of us were operating without any sort of real advertising–it was all very word of mouth. Glen definitely helped spread the awareness that cool stuff was happening outside of the mainstream. He helped us all.”

His influence also occasionally shaped the comics themselves. Kevin Hill, founder of Bishop Press and writer of Rose ‘n Gunn and Sade, wrote that Hammonds inspired the Sade character. “It was the San Diego Comic Con 1994 and he saw Rose’s pierced navel and said ‘Piercing is hot,’” Hill wrote in Rose ‘n Gunn # 2 in 1995. “Sade began to form, almost instantly, in my mind.”

“I’m glad I had the privilege of him being a part of my life,” Hill tells me. “He was always full of hopefulness and helpfulness and encouragement. He was very supportive of my work and a big reason we kept at it as long as we did even when the market began a downturn. He promoted me when hardly anyone else even took notice.”

I never knew Hammonds, but those who did remember him as generous to a fault. “He was the nicest fuckin’ guy you’d ever meet,” says Joe Vigil. “And you could trust him, which was rare in comics.” He and writer David Barbour named a character in Gunfighters in Hell: Original Sin.

He was a true patron of Outlaw Comics, and not in the contemporary sense of the word where anyone who chips in a dollar to a crowdfunding campaign is a “patron.” He spent thousands of dollars every year buying or commissioning original art from creators. He had a huge collection of art and prints. “He liked to buy in bulk,” says Vigil. “You never had any trouble getting paid by Glen.”

“I miss Glen Hammonds, wish I had known him better while he was with us, wish I had been a better friend, not just a long distance partner,” says Quinn. “I will always be grateful to him for his integrity and his whole hearted engagement with the stories, art and characters that hit us where we live.”

Hammond was a superfan who loved collecting original art, but a big part of why he bought so much was to make sure artists had income so they could keep working says Hammer and The Kill Journal creator Jason Crager. “He taught me that if you love someone’s art you have to support them,” Crager says.

Hammonds’s daughter Erin says that generosity stemmed from a lack of financial support from his own parents. “It’s not that he had bad parents,” she says. “But they thought that boys should take care of themselves.” Hammonds spent his early life living lean and working odd jobs to put himself through college. Eventually he became an automotive technology instructor at a community college. “He was sort of a success story, but he had a lot of empathy for those who struggled,” Erin says. “Throughout his life the most important thing was preparing for retirement, making sure my mom was taken care of, his kids were taken care of, making sure that no one struggled.”

Friends and family say you’d never guess Hammonds was into such violent, angry, and often nihilistic comics. “He was the most unassuming guy,” says Crager. “He was like that cartoon basset hound Droopy. He was a quiet, supernormal guy.”

Hammonds was also a writer and publisher. In 1995, he published an ashcan under his own “Outlaw Oracle Studios” brand previewing three titles he wrote: Naked Justice illustrated by Pete Ayala, Infidel illustrated by Ayala, and Pathos illustrated by Terry Staats. The next year Hammonds published additional preview ashcans for Naked Justice and Infidel. None of these ashcans were lettered and, as far as I know, Hammonds never published full versions of any of the three titles. Naked Justice, however, was partially serialized in Raw Media Quarterly issues 6 through 12 published by Avatar Press from 2000 to 2003. I don’t think the story was ever concluded. He also wrote the Bloodshed: Requiem Halloween Special published by DAMAGE! in 1997.

In later years he published portfolios with art he commissioned, including the Faust vs. Calavera portfolio (featuring pin-ups by Tim and Joe Vigil, Marat Michaels, and many Italian artists) and the Sar-na portfolio set.

At the time of his death he was working on a portfolio of art inspired by occultist Aleister Crowley with contributions from Tim Vigil, Crager, and others. Crager hopes to finish and publish the portfolio.

Hammonds also busied himself selling off much of his collection and seeing that his wife and children would be taken care of. “He spent some of his last days making sure people got the comics he’d promised them,” Crager says. “He was worried about his obligations.”

He loved Outlaw Comics up until the very end. “If he were still alive he’d be doing comics right now,” Crager says. “100 percent.”

This Is a Living Document

If you have stories and memories of Glen, please get in touch with me at klinfinley@gmail.com, I’d love to add to what we have here so far. Likewise, any additions to corrections to the bibliography below would be much appreciated.

Unpublished (and Unfinished) Pathos Pages and Art Courtesty of Terry Staats

A few of these unfinished pages appeared in the Outlaw Oracle preview ashcan in 1995. Pathos never got her own ashcan and her story went unfinished, but Terry Staats was kind enough to provide these pages dedicated to Glen Hammonds's memory.

Glen Hammonds Bibliography

Comics Written by Hammonds

Outlaw Oracle Studios Preview Ashcan, Outlaw Oracle Studios 1995, illustrated by Pete Ayala and Terry Staats.

Naked Justice ashcan, Outlaw Oracle Studios 1996, illustrated by Pete Ayala.

Infidel ashcan, Outlaw Oracle Studios 1996, illustrated by Pete Ayala.

Bloodshed: Requiem Halloween Special, DAMAGE! 1997, illustrated by Lionel Ordaz.

Raw Media Quarterly, # 7–12, “Naked Justice,” Avatar Press 2000–2003, illustrated by Pete Ayala.

Comics with Poems by Hammonds

Rose ‘ Gunn vol. 1 # 2, Bishop Press 1995.

Comics with Introductions or Afterwords Written by Hammonds

Faust: Love of the Damned # 5, Rebel Studios 1992

Razor vol. 1 # 4, London Night Studios 1993

Poison Elves vol. 1 # 15, Mulehide Graphics 1994

Rose ‘n Gunn vol. 1 # 1, Bishop Press 1995.

Other Writings

Syn. This was a zine or alternative newspaper published in Los Angeles in the 1990s. I don’t know much about it other than that Hammonds wrote for it.

Indy # 4, London Night Studios 1994. (The Outlaw Comics issue. Hammonds contributed multiple articles.)

Portfolios Commissioned and Published by Hammonds

Joe Vigil’s Lost Works, Raw Comics 2005.

Faust vs. Calavera, Raw Comics 2007.

Sar-na, Raw Comics (Date unknown).

Sinbuck vs. Djustine, Raw Comics (Date unknown).

Vigil Masterworks, Raw Comics (Date unknown).