By Kevin Mohatt
Kevin Mohatt is an international award-winning photographer based in Denver, Colorado specializing in editorial photography. He loves photographing people in real situations, with an emphasis on capturing decisive moments and creating images that have an authentic, unique and often edgy feel. Go to KevinMohatt.com to see more of his work.
Jake Fairly oozed forth upon the Denver comics scene from the catacombs of the Rocky Mountain College of Art and Design. Be it comics about Neil Armstrong’s corpse, or generally being metal AF, Jake is a guy with considerably hefty night moves. He’s had work published in periodicals such as Westword and the Denver Public Library comics newspaper, and has been labeled a “street artist” by Westword magazine.
Lonnie MF Allen found his comic-art stride as a high-schooler dabbling in zines and mini-comics, eventually coming up through the ranks in the local comix scene, where he’s long been a regular among Denver’s close-knit cartooning community. An oft-published illustrator, writer and designer in addition to his niche as an award-winning cartoonist, and named one of Westword’s 100 Colorado Creatives, Allen is an organizer for the Denver Drink & Draw meet-up. His work has been published by Dark Horse, Image Comics, and he’s been nominated for an Eisner Award. Find him at lonniemfallen.com.
Award-winning cartoonist Karl Christian Krumpholz’s work has appeared in many different publications and even a documentary. He is currently working on two weekly comics: The Denver Bootleg, which examines local musical history for Denver’s Westword, and 30 Miles of Crazy! – the true-ish tales of the various lives in the city. Karl is always looking for a better place to get a drink. His latest comic, An Introduction to Alcohol, compiles a storyline originally featured in 30 Miles of Crazy! and won Best in Show at the 2017 Denver Comic and Arts Expo (DINK). Karl can always be found at karlchristiankrumpholz.com
Award-winning cartoonist Karl Christian Krumpholz’s work has appeared in many different publications and even a documentary. He is currently working on two weekly comics: The Denver Bootleg, which examines local musical history for Denver’s Westword, and 30 Miles of Crazy! – the true-ish tales of the various lives in the city. Karl is always looking for a better place to get a drink. His latest comic, An Introduction to Alcohol, compiles a storyline originally featured in 30 Miles of Crazy! and won Best in Show at the 2017 Denver Comic and Arts Expo (DINK). Karl can always be found at karlchristiankrumpholz.com
Denver’s godfather of weird—Andrew Novick—knew that he wanted to make a film as soon he got his hands on JonBenet’s tricycle, and in typical Novickian style, the results are a delight. Delirious and disturbing, yes, but a delight all the same.
The titular tricycle—which Novick took from the backyard of the Ramsey family home shortly after the infamous murder—is the documentary’s focus, but the film is so much more than that.
Recursive and multilayered to the point of being almost fractal, the film is a bewildering ouroboros of ideas and concepts, folding back on one another over and over again, stuttering and sputtering in a dance of intellect and emotion that’s surreal and beautiful, while also deeply creepy.
It opens on an interview with Novick, before spinning off to give viewers a peak of his collections of everything and anything, from vintage clown memorabilia to morbid merchandise spawned from the Manson killings. Before long, we’re reliving the infamous JonBenet murder, communing with psychics (and debunking with psychic skeptics), meditating on tabloid culture, delving into the ways we experience cultural phenomena, examining the way we form both memories and attachments to objects, and dealing with the backlash to some of Novick’s especially outrageous stunts, such as the t-shirt designs that seemed to advocate suicide.
Does this sound like an unfocused mess—a madhouse rollercoaster ride through dozens of concepts and ideas and images, going everywhere and nowhere all at once? It is. But it’s also a loose-limbed but fascinating look deep into one of the most unusual and unique minds you’re likely to ever encounter. It’s like an early Werner Herzog doc if Herzog had less focus and a hell of a lot more whimsy, but mostly it’s just like Novick himself: weird and at times off-putting, but always charming and full of joy.
Cory Casciato is a Denver-based writer with a passion for the geeky—from old science fiction movies to brand-new video games. His work has appeared in The AV Club, Colorado Public Radio, Westword and many other places. He really likes zombies.
Artist, musician, owner of Parallel Lines Framing, and founder and president of Disguise Club!