KATE WORLEY AND JAMES VANCE
Reviews by Alex Bernstein

Since the running of this article, we have some sad news to announce. We have been informed Kate Worley passed away on June 6, 2004. On behalf of everyone here at PopImage, we'd like to extend our deepest condolences. Barring any requests from the family, we would still encourage you to help out the family with a donation to the Paypal account listed below.

Trisha Sebastian of Saucy Goose Press, publishers of the very fine SMUT PEDDLER, passed the following info along to us. Some sad news regarding two great comics creators of the 80's: Kate Worley and her husband Jim Vance. Both wrote fine works that are still in print. Read the news release below - and then check out the reviews for a little more info on their works. If you're familiar with Worley and Vance - and even if you're not - these two - and their family could use your help: donations, prayers and good wishes.

There's good news and bad news for fans of the cult classic OMAHA THE CAT DANCER. The good news is writer Kate Worley and artist Reed Waller are reuniting to finish Omaha's tale, which began over 20 years ago. The bad news is Worley is suffering from cancer and having some tough financial problems.

Both Neil Gaiman and Waller have provided some details about Worley's illness and difficulties. Gaiman wrote on his Journal:

Kate Worley...who is working on Omaha again for the first time in many years, has cancer. It's not good....[Kate's husband Jim Vance, who wrote, among other things KINGS IN DISGUISE] and Kate are pretty much up against the wall right now, with wolves baying at the door. If they can keep going for a few more months, the wolves may calm down -- the new Omaha material will start coming out and so on. But right now she's fighting cancer and fighting to stay in the place they're living, and they're out at the edges of losing their home while Kate's working very hard to write and to get through this. (It can't be much fun for Jim or the kids, for that matter.) I spoke to Kate, who confirmed just how bad things are right now, and said, yes, they need help, badly.

Donations can be paypalled to Jim at jim1vance@aol.com. Donations, get well-cards, or nice things of any kind can be sent to Jim and Kate at:
323 S Yorktown,
Tulsa OK, 74104.

Kate's e-mail is scriptist@aol.com. And if some well-intentioned person with more time and ability than I have decided to do a benefit comic or something to help them, I think that would be an excellent idea.

SEX AND THE KITTY

OMAHA THE CAT DANCER
Written by Reed Waller and Kate Worley
Art by Reed Waller

If you read comics in the 80's like I did, then you remember some extremely fine independent comics just breaking through the surface. Kitchen Sink, one of the first imprints to move directly from the undergound right into the indepent "mainstream" used one of its more notorious books, BIZARRE SEX, to launch one of the most original and endearing "adult" comics of the '80's: OMAHA, THE CAT DANCER.

OMAHA, first written and illustrated by Reed Waller, and later written by Kate Worley, wasn't just adult-oriented funny animals for the prurient sake of it. Instead, it was an extremely well-written, rich, character-driven story about - well, it was about a lot of things: young people on the run in the early-80's, the mob, sex (real sex - sexuality, sensuality, relationships, deviations from the norm, emotional impact and the constant exploration of the nature of sex) disco, dancing, fame, loss and redemption. But mostly it was about love. Real, heartfelt love - and friendship.

Omaha and her boyfriend Chuck explored their relationship in a swinging, seedy world of clubs, drugs, prostitution and fast money. When Omaha and Chuck were together, you felt their passion and envied their equality and partnership. And when they were separated, it was heartbreaking. Literate, adult material that really was for adults, years before it was fashionable.

THE GREAT DEPRESSION

KINGS IN DISGUISE
Written by James Vance
Art by Dan Burr

Adapting his own stage play, James Vance' KINGS IN DISGUISE is simply one of the best graphic novels ever created - and certainly one of the most harrowing. Without sympathy or sugarcoating, KINGS tells the story of 12-year-old Freddie Bloch, searching depression-era America for his absent father. Taking an old hobo as a surrogate father on his journey, Freddie experiences workers' strikes, hunger, rejection and a hard life in the dust bowl. Vance pulls no punches in this rivetting, disturbing, emotionally-charged work. A winner of multiple Harvey and Eisner awards.

Both of these creators' works are still available through Kitchen Sink press as well as Amazon.com. But honestly, their family could use your money even more.

Please...make a donation, first.

Alex Bernstein is Reviews Editor for PopImage and the author of the web comic "Prom on Mars." www.promonmars.com.


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