Jay Day Remembrance

[roughwriter]

    Hi All! Jay Day is less than a month away (3/5) and I don't want it to slip by quietly this year! What can we do to celebrate Jay? Do you have a favorite sketch he did you'd like to share with us? What about a story about your interactions with him? Anything you all can contribute to keep his memory alive would be greatly appreciated! Thanks!

[RawGoo]

    Hi All! Jay Day is less than a month away (3/5) and I don't want it to slip by quietly this year! What can we do to celebrate Jay? Do you have a favorite sketch he did you'd like to share with us? What about a story about your interactions with him? Anything you all can contribute to keep his memory alive would be greatly appreciated! Thanks!

I remember meeting him when there was a show in Manhattan, around 2008-2009; Topps, and Jay Lynch and David Gross were there, promoting the "new" Old School Wackys.  He was very entertaining, and Dave had lots of promos to hand out.  Anyway, I met a lot of forum friends there, and rode the elevator down with Jay.  As I recall, he told Elizabeth and me a story about his recent cat problem, and we stood outside the building with him for a bit so he could finish.

And on Greg's old forum, I do believe he recounted some stories about his trials attempting to complete 10,000 sketches for that first Old School set.  I was fortunate enough to pull two of his color sketches from that set.  I also purchased one of his earliest sketches from ANS3 from the Topps Vault.  Here are scans of the ones I have now.

     

[lucidjc]

This isn't much but its Jays own words in a PM to me.

Jim,
Haw!  If my name came up with the guys at the plant in Duryea, it was probably 'cause they were cursing me.   I used to do that Bazooka Joe stuff too...when they printed the wax wrappers in Duryea...and that stuff was always late!
       As far as I know, Topps still has the building in Duryea, but they don't have any production equipment there any more. Last I heard they just use it as a warehouse, and they farm their printing out to printers in Texas and Detroit.  They had an office in Scranton at one time too.  But I think they just rented that space.   I live in upstate NY.  I'm 200 miles from Manhattan... But only 60 or so miles from Scranton or Duryea.  Hopefully some day Topps will rallly, and I can go to Duryea to do color checks on the stuff they print at 4 a.m., which would be a much easier gig than drawin' these furshluginer sketch cards.
      You may be sitting on a goldmine, though....There are probably several tons of RATZ and CRACKED ANIMALS stickers in the landfill up there somewhere.
Jay

[Joe G.]

Well I only spoke to Jay on the phone and never had the pleasure of meeting him in person.  That said my brother Dan lives in Jersey and was at a comic book convention in 2013 where Jay was one of the guests.  This was shortly after ANS 11 came out which had some of my first Wacky contributions in it.  My brother showed Jay some of my roughs and Jay drew this sketch for me.  My brother said he had a blast meeting and talking to Jay and couldn’t say enough good things anout the encounter.

[Zenergizer]

if there were a Mount Rushmore of Wacky Artists, Jay would be front and center.

Or at least "askew" to one side

[roughwriter]

   
    Let's try it this way! I'm finally ready to send out the free sketch cards from last year, and I'll give mailing preference to those that post stories or sketches from Jay. There's no reason for this to be a dead thread. Jay did TONS for this hobby, and he deserves better than this. Impress me!

[RawGoo]

I already posted about my one and only meeting with Jay.  How's this for a great painting??



And, here's a fantastic jigsaw puzzle that I haven't opened up yet:

[sco(o)t]

I only met Jay once. It was at a card show in Chicago. We had a gathering of several Wacky collectors who were all on the Prodigy service, collecting, trading and sharing info on that early internet service. Jay was extremely nice and patient with all us fan boys gathered around and produced some nice pieces for us. Mine is below. Unfortunately, back at home, I had it setting on our dining room table waiting to frame it. My then 3 year old daughter grabbed it and wadded it up as this was one of her hobbies at the time. Tried ironing and flattening over the years, but it still carries the battle scars. The pen may be mightier than the sword, but the pen was no match for my daughter. 

[quas]

I only met Jay once. It was at a card show in Chicago. We had a gathering of several Wacky collectors who were all on the Prodigy service, collecting, trading and sharing info on that early internet service. Jay was extremely nice and patient with all us fan boys gathered around and produced some nice pieces for us. Mine is below. Unfortunately, back at home, I had it setting on our dining room table waiting to frame it. My then 3 year old daughter grabbed it and wadded it up as this was one of her hobbies at the time. Tried ironing and flattening over the years, but it still carries the battle scars. The pen may be mightier than the sword, but the pen was no match for my daughter. 

Still looks great!

[vahsurfer]

Pat,

Painting AND Puzzle look great!

I would love to have both one day!

Richard
#StayWacky

[RawGoo]

Pat,

Painting AND Puzzle look great!

I would love to have both one day!

Richard
#StayWacky

I believe the painting used for the puzzle was also done as a poster.

[roughwriter]

   The revelry of Mardi Gras is behind us and today, Ash Wednesday, begins the Lenten season, where we focus on our sins. The timid response to the celebration of Jay's memory would be an appropriate topic of consideration! Jay was involved with Wacky Packages from their inception until the day he died. He was the creative genius behind many of the gags in the early series and kept contributing through the ANS days almost 50 years later! There is no exact number on his total contribution to Wacky Packages, but the most educated guesses put it at about 500 designs! He was also a key figure in the Underground Comix movement that sought to break the decades-long strangle hold the Comics Code had on American humor. He also contributed to more mainstream magazines such as Crazy. He had a very tough early life, and it is amazing he turned out to be such a kind and generous person.
     Jay passed away in 2017, and the very last interview he gave was to Gary Groth for The Comics Journal on March 8th of that year. In that interview he said "Ever since I was a kid I always wanted a certain degree of immortality that in our system represents being able to talk to unborn generations, and that being through the printed word. So I got that as good as I can." Jay's desire for his iconoclastic voice to be heard after his demise is being carried out now by the gag writers and painters that follow in his footsteps and continue to poke fun at Commercialism and rampant Capitalism through Satiric Parody! Join me today in honoring his memory. Long Live Wackys!

[Fanatical_and_Sickly]

A little late to the show, but I'll still add a story in here.

This was at the 2008 NYCC, back when it was held at the beginning of the year (April 18-20 specifically that year).
It was not long after I had gotten inside Javit's Center on Saturday morning, and I had quickly wandered over to the Topps booth to see what they had on display.
While I was there checking out the displayed items, I noticed Jeff Zapata making his way over to the booth with Jay Lynch in tow.
After they arrived, Jeff indicated that he needed to stay at the Topps booth, but that Jay still needed to get over to the Abrams Books booth for his upcoming signing stint for the newly released Wacky Packages book.
Jeff asked if I wouldn't mind escorting Jay over to Abrams which was a short ways away.
Well, sure, absolutely!
Jay and I slowly worked our way over the other booth, and after arriving, noted that Jay's book signing slot was still some time off.
So we both sat down in the booth and I got to hang out with him for a bit, to talk Wackys, the new book, and whatever else.
He even took the time to work a doodle of himself into my copy of the Wacky book while chatting away.
Great time!

[koduck]

That was the most wonderful thing about Jay: A generous spirit. And a master conversationalist who loved to talk but was an equally good listener.

[vahsurfer]

Patrick,

Thanks for sharing.  I did not have the honor of meeting him.
EVERY word spoken of him is of a kind and caring and generous personality.

He was truly a Lost Wacky in our world!

Richard
#StayWacky

[Monsterettes]

I'm more than a little late to the party -- I haven't posted in seven+ years! I've been doing a massive decluttering. While going through all my wackys, I thought of the Forum again. The below is from the sketch poster, I don't actually have the sketch itself. Well Jay, I at least (if not all of posterity) remember you for this drawing...

[Monsterettes]

I remember meeting him when there was a show in Manhattan, around 2008-2009; Topps, and Jay Lynch and David Gross were there, promoting the "new" Old School Wackys.  He was very entertaining, and Dave had lots of promos to hand out.  Anyway, I met a lot of forum friends there, and rode the elevator down with Jay.  As I recall, he told Elizabeth and me a story about his recent cat problem, and we stood outside the building with him for a bit so he could finish.

Pat, I remember the conversation about cats! It sounded like a CATastrophe. I was fortunate to get a sketch from Jay at a gathering at Greg Grant's place. Almost 20 years ago now!
 

[freetoes]

I just now noticed that Jay's obituary in the Times included a photo of him from 1973.

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/03/12/arts/design/jay-lynch-underground-comics-creator-dies-at-72.html

[koduck]

Pat, I remember the conversation about cats! It sounded like a CATastrophe. I was fortunate to get a sketch from Jay at a gathering at Greg Grant's place. Almost 20 years ago now!
 

Hey Elizabeth, Great to see you back on the forum!  Hope you're doing well! Thanks for sharing your Jay stories and art! So cool!!

[DrSushi]

Hey Elizabeth, Great to see you back on the forum!  Hope you're doing well! Thanks for sharing your Jay stories and art! So cool!!

Yes, welcome back! Great to see the Monsterettes avatar in action again

[vahsurfer]

Very cool card - I wish I had it!!!

Richard
#StayWacky

[roughwriter]

   
       Alright! We got some decent responses and nice art posted about Jay! Thank you all!
   I guess it would only be fair to reward you all with awesome news! There will be several Jay Lynch designed Wackys in the upcoming new Wacky Packages set! NOT reprints! These will be previously unpublished designs, although the roughs may have surfaced on fan sites over the years. What a great way to honor Jay's memory! Huge thanks to Dave Gross for locating the designs and to Brent Engstrom for painting them!

[Mr._Stubble]

   
       Alright! We got some decent responses and nice art posted about Jay! Thank you all!
   I guess it would only be fair to reward you all with awesome news! There will be several Jay Lynch designed Wackys in the upcoming new Wacky Packages set! NOT reprints! These will be previously unpublished designs, although the roughs may have surfaced on fan sites over the years. What a great way to honor Jay's memory! Huge thanks to Dave Gross for locating the designs and to Brent Engstrom for painting them!

In the what?  A new set, you say?  With Jay Wackys?  Well, that's great news!

Hey, one big fav to ask from someone who is privy to set details before they go live on the Topps site: 

Please provide us with the number of titles in the set and who are the sketch artists (assuming there are sketches).

Thanks Pete!

[Fanatical_and_Sickly]

In the what?  A new set, you say?  With Jay Wackys?  Well, that's great news!

Agree! lookig foward to seeing more Jay Wacky concepts come to life!