After I started posting my experiences with DUCKWORK, I had found this issue from April of 1981 stuck inside the pages of a later issue. This is the second issue of DUCKWORK.
I was still in high school when I picked this issue up. It must have been when I went to interview at PCA. I went with my Father and I brought a portfolio stuffed to overflowing which included drawings, mechanical drawings, paintings, photography and an 8mm projector and movie screen in order to show the interviewer the 8mm opus The Huns which I directed. I was afraid that I would be rejected so my Dad and I figured that we would bring in everything including the kitchen sink. Well, we didn’t bring in my baby pictures, but we thought about it. Little did I realize I had little to fear from rejection. I’m pretty sure that if you walked upright and could legibly sign your name, you were in. I kind of got that feeling when the interviewer said, “Oh, and you got good grades, too. Nice!”
This issue was a 12-pager with only 3 pages of comics. Gerry had a full paged adventure of Star Duck. The others were Amazing Comix, Sick Pup Funnies, Cliches Illustrated, and a tiny 3 paged comic that’s a little hard to make out in the copy I have.
There’s also a special shout out from Gerry to Evan Nurse who was a Junior Duck at the time.
I must have picked it up at the front desk, and 29 years later, here it is again!
After the interview, my Dad and I decided to make a day of it in the City of Brotherly Love. We ditched my portfolio and took a long walk. We ended up traipsing up the Parkway and went into the Philadelphia Museum of Art. Dad was born and bred in Philly, and it’s something he used to do in his youth. He enjoyed the trip down memory lane.
Dad at the PMA long before our walk there.
I wish I had a tape recorder to capture Dad’s roving commentary at the Museum. It was hysterical! I’m laughing and getting a little misty-eyed as I’m typing this.
Don’t miss our thrilling conclusion: Down in Space It’s Always 1982!
