Tuesday, February 16, 2010

R.I.P. Charlie Burgoon


R.I.P. Charlie Burgoon - passed away at approximately 4pm EST February 14th 2010.

Charlie was one of my good friends and a great cartoonist who was just like my other friends except he had shitty hand dealt to him from the start.

In no particular order or importance I'll list off some key points about Charlie Burgoon.

funny
prankster
red hair
glasses
fingerless
big sneakers
flakey
fan of Jimi Hendrix, Ben Harper, Dick Dale, White Stripes, Tool, Smashing Pumpkins, Slint, Spit for Athena, Mudhoney, Guitar Wolf, Blanche, Iron & Wine, Nine Inch Nails, Tom Waits and so many other musicians. I'd be here all day.
not a fan of: electronic music

we went to see Guitar Wolf in Detroit and it rocked balls
collector of: comics, music, movies, tiki-art, concerts,
loved and related most to Frankenstein's monster
hated cops
sarcastic
bitter
hockey fan
detroit fan
dog lover
father died of dementia
smart as hell
angry
willfull
observant
honest
simple
loved to eat cheese burgers from old diners
enjoyed tripping on mushrooms
loved his family
thought people were idiots
drove fast
didn't want pity
knew you were staring
could pretty much do anything I could do
hated pain medication
loved comics by: Pete Bagge, Daniel Clowes, Charles Burns, Jack Kirby, Wally Wood, Bernie Wrightson, and many more
favorite fine artist was Vincent Van Gogh
really enjoyed Las Vegas
loved getting drunk
farted a bunch
never wanted to be an inspiration to others
and...


he won a contest I held for illustrating the cover of the ANT. (Obviously his biggest achievement. No, but it's how we ended up meeting. The ANT was a digest sized comic that I self-published in the '90's. He was one of the 10 people who submitted cover art for the 6th issue and his fit the tone of the comic the best, so it won. I offered the winners a special copy of the issue they did the cover for (which was just the comic printed on red paper and signed), a t-shirt, a poster and $5! The 6th issue had a release party for it during the middle of the afternoon at the Ink and Paper Place, which was a local comic book, collectible, and periodical shop in Coldwater. It was run by Mike and Gloria Lott and they let me set up a table and have a release party there. That afternoon I met Charlie for the first time when he came to claim his prize. He and I knew of each other because we were the only two mini-comic creators in town. He was doing Odd at the time while I was doing the ANT. We instantly connected when he heard I was listening to Dick Dale and the Del-tones on a stereo I brought in with me. We talked about comics and music and movies for the rest of our friendship.)


Oh yeah he had a horrible skin disease (for 40 years he suffered from a rare skin disease called Epidermolysis bullosa. This disease is one of the more horrible things for a human to deal with. The skin is not bonded well to the rest of the body. This means any sort of friction or bumps or anything done to the skin can cause blisters or tears. There are levels of severity with this disease and Charlie had it as sever as anyone can. He wasn't disabled by it though. He did everything that you or I did. Drove, worked, lived on his own, paid bills, ate, drank, shit and fucked. He felt pain over his entire body from having sores and blisters being created and healing at the same time constantly. This did not make him a cripple or anymore disadvantaged as you or I. He never wanted people to use his life story as a means to motivate themselves. He didn't want to be the person you thought about and said, "what am I complaining about, that guy lives in constant pain and still does stuff". His will power was a mystery and that will always fascinate me.


Check out the Monsterhead Books Quasioctix and Reclusives that he and I did together as well as the blog for Monsterhead Books.



As soon as I get my hands on more of his work I'll be posting full comics and other art for all to enjoy. Artworks above and below are all created by Charlie Burgoon.

7 comments:

Tom Dougherty said...

He sounds like a great guy. This is extremely sad news. I know how much he meant to you.

Lasky said...

Sorry to hear of your friend's passing, Marc. I never knew Charie or his work, so I'm glad you've written this remembrance of both. Sounds like he was one amazing guy.

Unknown said...

Charlie was a great guy. He was my cousin.His Art was Awesome we went to many Tool concerts and other concerts as well as K-Wing games, a Tigers,a Michigan State Football game as well as many other things we did together.I even got a Tattoo of one of his Drawing on my side. Got it just before his 40th Birthday N he got to see at 40th B-day Party. He was and still is the COOLEST MOTHERFUCKER I KNEW!! n People who didn't know him sould of. Love U Man R.I.P. JOSH

Unknown said...

Hey Marc is ther any way I can get the same shirt made that u made Charlie? I'll pay for it. here my # if u can do that I would much appricate it 517-617-1679 thank for your time man Charlie's Cousin Josh

burgooncrtw said...

Marc, I can't thank you enough for this post. Charlie was my uncle, and let me tell you, the only uncle I had that was ever around. He was my dads brother as well as his best friend. I will never forget him, and I see that you won't either. This brought tears to my eyes. I think about him every day. It's great to know that his life impacted yours enough to tell the world about it, but it's hard to see there are people who didn't give him the respect he deserved until after he was gone. Again, thank you so much. -Elizabeth Burgoon.

Swellzombie said...

Josh and Elizabeth - I'm glad that I reached the family as well as others. I heard all about you guys but didn't meet everyone. I hope to get Charlies' art more attention in the future. It's necessary to me.

Anonymous said...

Oh man Marc. I just got in touch with Johnny from the old Kazoo comics days and he brought up not being able to find Charles on facebook. I looked and found this. Not exactly what I wanted to read remembering Charles from back in the old days.

I still have the Kazoo comics with his stuff in it (and I think a couple minis by you). I know I'll miss him.

-George Calloway

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