The Comix of Two Cities is a mini-comic series by Matt Howarth, based on The Residents' albums Mark of the Mole and The Tunes of Two Cities (parts one and two of the group's epic - and unfinished - Mole Trilogy).
The comics were officially licensed by The Cryptic Corporation, but The Residents did not have any sort of creative input during the project; thus none of the series' characters or events are considered canon to the events of the Mole Trilogy.
It consisted of twelve issues, with an additional "dub version" mini-issue sold exclusively on the European leg of The Residents' Mole Show tour. The first six issues were published by Ralph Records and Howski Studios between 1982 and 1985, and the rest were made available when ÆON Press reprinted the series in 1996.
History[]
Comic artist Matt Howarth was a long-time fan of The Residents, who first featured the group in a cameo in an issue of his Rock Horror series. In 1982 he was inspired (in a "tangent of silliness") to create a mini-comic based on the group's expansive (and unfinished) six-album Mole Trilogy, after listening to the recently released second album in the series, The Tunes of Two Cities.
The resulting comic, The Comix of Two Cities, has a heavy science fiction influence present throughout (as is common in Howarth's work) and features short one-off strips and parodies, completely separate from the main plot. The mini-comic had the blessing of The Cryptic Corporation. The Residents were consulted on the project, however they did not play a part in writing its script, and the series is not considered to be official canon by the group.
The events depicted in the comic differ from those depicted on the albums, and a notice was printed on the first page of each issue warning the reader about the differences: "There are strong deviations between The Comix of Two Cities and the Residents’ Mole Trilogy. They are deliberate and calculated to enhance your confusion." Later issues and reprints would feature a warning clarifying that this is not part three of The Mole Trilogy.
Plot[]
Picture sleeve mockup for Flintmole's debut album, Born in a Hole. While the album does not actually exist, the sleeve was available for purchase in the Ralph Records catalog.
The sun of an unnamed planet has entered nova state. A black hole froze the sun mid-explosion, and while this saved the planet from being destroyed, the added radiation caused mutations in its inhabitants, transforming the northlanders into the round, blue-skinned Chubs, and the southlanders into the hooded, tunnel-dwelling Moles.
Phreddie Flintmole is a struggling Mole musician, who deals with the day-to-day discrimination of being a Mole migrant in a Chub city. After being signed by the label Literary Records, he is forced to make constant press appearances. Burned out by his schedule, he fails to show up for an interview. In response, Literary replaces Flintmole with a look-alike, and fakes his assassination on air. Flintmole's "death" makes him a musical icon, generating a lot of money for the label. Flintmole hides from the public, making music on his own independent label under the persona of "Dorian Floon". While he is once again an unsuccessful artist, the hush money he receives from Literary is enough for him to live a life of slack.
David, an albino Mole, lives with resentment for the sun while dealing with a drug addiction. During a hallucination induced by mushrooms, David confronts the sun about all the things it has "done" to him. The sun explains that it is not a god, and that it has no control over what fate decides. When David wakes up, he is no longer an albino, and finds his shadow now has magical abilities. He adopts the name Don Dave, a spiritual brujo, and also the persona of "Shadomole", a mysterious anti-hero.
After the brain of the genius Buckfinster Muller (or as Tom calls him, Uncle Bucky) is stolen, "mole-tie-millionaire" boy inventor Tom Mole and his best friend Bud go on a search to rescue it. They find that a Chub-based mafia stole the brain to put inside the "Frankontainer", a machine that would be the greatest criminal mind in the world. While the mafia is arrested, they can't stop the brain from becoming evil. Tom eventually travels to space and stops its space armada. The brain of Uncle Bucky is put into a benign robot, where it returns to its former consciousness. A moon colony is founded by Tom after these events.
Shadomole showing Tom Mole's Spam and Marshmallow Sandwich to the Aldebaran foe.
Five years have passed, and the colony suffers an attack from an alien of the Aldebaran species, who then drops down to Tom's planet to confront him, and to conquer his world. But Shadomole appears with a sandwich high on air-puffed glucose, which goes against the Aldebaran diet. Appalled, the alien flees to tell his king about this. The Aldebaran King, who is also disgusted by the sandwich, decides the planet of the Moles and Chubs is not worth conquering, and they should destroy it instead.
Several years later, Flintmole dreams of having a concert where he shows off a variety of experimental instruments, and vows to make that a reality. Don Dave approaches him, and takes him through a spiritual journey, where he tells him about the Aldebarans' plans. He also teaches him about the nemo-space, an consciousness pool where everyone leaves their dreams while they sleep. And tells Flintmole that the only way to save their world is for him to find Tom Mole, and talk to him about what's going on. He must also tell him that the Chubs must not be saved.
The Honeymolers talking about Flintmole's new album.
Flintmole "returns from the death" to speak with Tom, now an adult. Uncle Bucky explains that what Don meant is that in order to save the Chubs as well, they most exclude them, for that is the only way that they will cooperate. So the group decides to return Flintmole (believed to be dead by the entire population) to the public eye to deliver a message to the masses. They do so by releasing his second album, which depicts the Chubs as an abusive species, and ends up with the Moles saving themselves by tele-transporting through The Salt Chamber, the most mysterious ruins on the planet. A radical Chub group destroys the Chamber in response, which goes according to Tom's plan, as he believed that that place was in reality a Aldebaran homing beacon.
Meanwhile, Tom tries to get into nemo-space by technological methods, but eventually realizes that he can only go there by making Flintmole think about his dream. While in nemo-space, they meet with the head of Literary, who was asleep at that moment. Furious at Flintmole for revealing his death was faked, he tries to kill them both. But Don Dave stops him in nemo-space, while in the real world, Shadomole murders the head of Literary Records in his sleep.
Knowing he can't stop the Aldebaran death ray, Tom's plan is to make a machine that potentiates Flintmole's desire for his dream so much that he can be able to bring their planet into nemo-space for a brief time, enough to transport the entire planet to another part of the galaxy when they come back from it. However, while successful, the Aldebaran aimed their death ray to the black hole that held the solar explosion still, so the sun can go nova again. Just as the death ray reaches its destiny, Flintmole manages to transport them all into nemo-space. And because it was once again active, the black hole is transported as well, eating the planet in the process.
Typical fight between a Mole and a Chub.
Because of the black hole, the planet doesn't end up in another part of the galaxy, but in a different universe altogether. Everyone is now safe from the Aldebaran menace, but a side-effect of going to another universe is memory loss, which the entire population of the planet is now dealing with. Shadomole is the only one who keeps his memories, and he is happy about these results, as he believes that collective amnesia may cause an even ground where Moles and Chubs can finally live together in peace. But that's not the case at all, as "some things are deeper than memory. Some things are part of life."
Release[]
The Cryptic Corporation, in collaboration with Howski Studios (owned by Matt Howarth), published the first issue of The Comix of Two Cities in October 1982, selling it during the San Francisco leg of The Residents' Mole Show live tour.
After the first issue, Ralph Records took over Cryptic's publishing duties, making future issues of the series available through their catalog on a quarterly basis. While a total of twelve issues were produced, only six were published by Ralph. One last issue was featured in Medium Consensed, a compendium released by Howski; after that, the remaining mini-comics would be left unpublished for several years.
In 1996, ÆON Press (who had recently published Howarth's Stalking Ralph) finally released the complete Comix of Two Cities in a professionally printed comic book format. While this run also lasted six issues, the new format was double the length, with two mini-comics in a single issue. The run lasted from May to October of that year.
"Dub" version[]
Cover for the Dub Version, which was sold during The Residents' first euro-tour.
A special issue was sold exclusively during the European leg of The Mole Show,[1] titled Das Komix der zwei Städte (subtitled the "DUB version"). The size of the "dub version" issue is roughly four times smaller than one of the regular mini-comics.
The back cover describes it as "the domestic dub version of Les Comix de Deux Villes", suggesting that it's simply a translation of the original comic into European languages, however its content is completely unique and aside from the main storyline of the series.
The plot follows four moles (representing The Residents) as they arrive in England on their first tour though Europe. As their guide directs them through various places, they become increasingly more confused due to the language barrier, and find themselves in countries that are not even part of Europe, such as Japan and China. Like the first issue of the series, self-contained one-off strips and parodies are also featured.
For this issue, Ralph and Howski were assisted by Rough Trade Records, and while some of its one-off strips were included in the ÆON Press reprint of the series, the main story was not included.
Legacy[]
Matt Howarth continued to collaborate with The Residents in the years following The Comix of Two Cities. He was one of the artists who contributed to the Freak Show graphic novel, and The Residents appeared in several episodes of his series Savage Henry.
The most notable collaboration between both parties would be Stalking Ralph, a full-fledged crossover between the group and Howarth's Annoying Post Brothers. Published by ÆON Press in 1995, the success of that comic was key in making the reprint and completion of The Comix of Two Cities a reality.[2]
Credits[]
Mole-Mania is running wild.
The following credits take into consideration all released issues of the series:
- Art and story by: Matt Howarth
- Additional art by: D.M. Kister, Daniel Silk, Michele Passman, Brenda Barrows, Ferret
- Dub Version additional art by: A. Sciarra, Gary Panter, W.E. Rittenhouse
- Script assistance by: D.M. Kister, Daniel Silk, Lou Stathis
- Ideas for the Dub Version by: A. Sciarra, Gary Panter, Michele Passman
- Special thanks to: Helen, Lou Stathis, Regressive Aid, W.E. Rittenhouse, Frequency One management
- Dub Version special thanks to: Phillip and the translators (Patty, PBM, Lou, Toshiko and Ann)
- Publisher: Howski Studios, Ralph Records, ÆON Press, The Cryptic Corporation (1st issue), Rough Trade Records (Dub Version)
- Based on lifeforms created by The Residents
Cover art gallery[]
See also[]
External links and references[]
- The Comix of Two Cities on The Residents Historical
- Matt Howarth's Attic (official website)
- Bugtown Mall (Math Howarth's official online store)
- ↑ "The only part of "The Comix of Two Cities" adventure that never got reprinted. It was exclusively targeted for the band's 1st Euro tour." - Matt Howarth, The Residents Facebook group, May 8 2021
- ↑ "After the success of Stalking Ralph, Howarth approached ÆON about the possibility of re-releasing The Comix, and ÆON agreed. All twelve issues are being reprinted in a six-issue limited series which started in May, 1996." - TZOQ, RZWeb, 1997
