Page one!

Guess what? This substack is actually active!

This is a graphic novel biography, one page at time….

Hello friends and lurkers,

I started this project in August of 2025 when I reached out to my friend Pleasant Gehman aka Princess of Hollywood to ask permission to create a graphic novel biography of her life. Pleasant has lead a fantastical life; born in 1959, she saw and experienced Rock ‘n’ Roll unfold, and was an integral part of the burgeoning punk scene that emerged in Los Angeles in the late 1970s. Pleasant was on the forefront of music journalism; interviewing punk bands that larger magazines failed to notice (Including BLONDIE) with her zine “Lobotomy.” She lead the punk band The Screamin’ Sirens, acted in films, and became a traveling burlesque dancer. She is also a medium, UFO witness, a sex witch and diviner. Pleasant was there for so many beginnings and left her impression all over Hollywood’s underground. I first met her at Hollywood Forever Cemetery where she gave me a prescient tarot reading, only after feeding the ducks at Dee Dee Ramones grave (RAMONES DUCKS!) I was truly taken by how, in her 60s, Pleasant was still getting a kick out of life. She’s sexy, sensational, incredibly warm and kind and hilarious. She’s adapted to the times (where as I am a staunch resister of technology…to my own detriment) and continues to thrive and bring joy and energy healing to all who encounter her.

I began with recorded interviews (which I am no where near finished with) and then created written scripts, then story boarded the actual pages of the comics. I am old school. I am a ludite. I can barely understand Substack. Everything I do is practical, handmade: paper, pen, rulers, markers, scan at Kinkos. I like to make my life even harder by doing things like cross hatching and stippling, so when I draw it takes a lot of time. But that’s the beauty of it right? Something slowly labored over time. I try to draw every Friday, when life doesn’t get in the way. It’s an uphill battle for all of us living under capitalism to make time for our craft, but we chug along one line at a time.

I aim for monthly updates of finished pages and I’ll share about my process and what I love about the specific stories shared by Pleasant. I am an eternal student of the craft and appreciate feedback! I hope to someday publish the whole story in collaboration with Pleasant, until then, please enjoy.

A teenage Pleasant meets Paul and Georg before they became Darby Crash and Pat Smear of The Germs, after getting high with Tony Curtis. I love how dreamy everyone is!

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