11/07/2025
The Long Tale of How I Got My Story Published in YEET Presents #68
By Albert Asker
Back in 1987, after the cataclysmic events of the Crisis On Infinite Earths maxi-series, the world was new again. The DC Universe was starting over once more from scratch. A new Superman. A new Batman. A new Wonder Woman. And a new Flash, but with a twist! No longer was Barry Allen the scarlet speeder. He had died in the Crisis and had remained dead and his nephew Wally West took over his mantle.
The series was written by Mike Baron and illustrated by Jackson Guice. I really enjoyed the books and was sorely disappointed when I saw that Baron and Guice were leaving the series after issue #14. I just knew that I wasn't going to like the series after Mike Baron left.
I saw that the new writer slated to take over was named William Messner-Loebs. I recognized his name as he was the writer for Jonny Quest from ComiCo. At the time I had not read Jonny Quest so I didn't know what to expect.
I still picked up the next issue. And then the next. And the next. And the next. And so on.
Improbable as it seemed to me earlier, I actually liked the title more with Messner-Loebs at the helm. As wildly inventive as Baron had been with his new stories, Messner-Loebs was somehow even more creative. Whenever I read a particularly poignant moment in a book I always used to call it an “Alan Moore moment.” Messner-Loebs started amassing a lot of moments like that for me. It didn't take long for Bill to establish himself as one of my favorite writers (and artists) of all time.
His stories were adventurous yet peppered with a lot of humor. I wasn't really used to seeing that in superhero titles at the time. In addition to these fun adventures there were lot of innovative moments too. He wrote a very sympathetic interpretation of a reformed villain, The Pied Piper, and established him as gay in The Flash #53. This was incredibly groundbreaking in 1991. Messner-Loebs won the very first GLADD Media Award for Outstanding Comic Book the following year.
Additionally, he wrote about the homeless and how they were not all alcoholics, or junkies, or crazy people, but rather folks that were legitimately vicitms of circumstance that had a hard time getting back on their feet. Wally West had previously held these aforementioned prejudices against the homeless and only learned about what they truly had to go through by becoming homeless himself.
Those stories touched me very deeply. After reading those books I thereafter went out of my way to help any homeless folks that I would come across in downtown Boise. Helping out with either food, or gas, or directions to the local homeless shelter, or money. If Wally West was going to be a champion for these people, then I could do no less.
During the 90s Messner-Loebs wrote The Flash, Dr. Fate, The Jaguar (for DC's Impact Comics), The Maxx (which was later developed as an animated series for MTV), The Batman newspaper comic strip, and Wonder Woman.
Unfortunately, Bill went through some hard times afterwards. His house burned down (twice!), his mother and his wife were both suffering from health problems, and comic book work was drying up. By the 2000s he was homeless himself.
Reading about this cut me to the core. Here was this fine writer/artist; this fine man who produced such great work and he and his wife were out on the streets. I used to search the internet for stories about William Messner-Loebs because I wasn't sure what his status was and I was worried about him. I had never met him in person, but I felt as though I did know him after reading an autobiographical story that he had written in The Flash Annual #2.
For years I would do a Google search for William Messner-Loebs and periodically one would pop up. Unfortunately, the news was never really good. And of course he didn't have a social media presence because he was homeless so there was no way to get consistent updates.
Then one day some good news! Bill was befriended by a indie comic book publisher named Mike Jones who helped him get some government assistance so that he and his wife could have a roof over their heads. It was never a permanent thing as they got help renting a hotel room, but it was better than being on the streets.
Mike ran an outfit out of Howell, Michigan called Cost Of Paper Comics and their one title was YEET Presents. I joined their Patreon straight away. It was cheap to join (just $5 per month) and they sent me pretty much their entire back catalog for signing up.
I was sent a lot of comic books and they were all really good. Best of all Bill would contribute art and or stories periodically to the mag. It was great! I was in seventh heaven. I was so glad to hear that Bill and his wife were doing better AND he was doing more comic book work.
Mike Jones ran a few fan groups on Facebook related to Cost Of Paper Comics: Old Guys Who Like Old Comics, Fans of William Messner-Loebs, and Fans of YEET Presents. Many times Mike would organize auctions of Bill's old comic books or original art to help support him. It was through these groups that I bought Bill's entire fun of Journey (the adventures of Joshua “Wolverine” MacAlistaire, his original character) originally from Aardvark-Vanaheim and Jonny Quest from ComiCo. I also bought some posters that Bill and Michael T. Gilbert (of Mr. Monster fame) did together. Everything autographed with Bill's intricate signature.
I wrote a story, a one-pager that my friend Damon Bradshaw illustrated for me. Damon used to do a lot of stuff for Jay O'Leary's Connor Comix here in Boise years ago. He also contributed artwork to both Tarzan and the Comics of Idaho and Idaho Comics from my Idaho Comics Group concern. I sent the story in to Mike to see if he could use it YEET Presents. I didn't hear anything back.
Then there were rumors on the internet that Dave Sim had contributed a story for YEET Presents! This was a big deal because although YEET does sometimes feature work by old pros, the content is mostly by amateurs; fans who just want to see their work published in a real, physical comic book. I was excited when the rumors about Sim were later confirmed to be true. However, I was bummed too because I didn't think that my story was going to be in the same issues as the Dave Sim story. Later Mike contacted me to let me know that I was in the issue.
Not only that, but Bill had a pin-up in the issue as well. Just one page away from my story. It was such an honor for me to have my story appear in the same book as Bill's art. That's what I was really excited about. It means so much to me. One of my favorite comic book creators of all time.
YEET Presents #68 not only featured work by Dave Sim and William Messner-Loebs, it also featured work by Michael T. Gilbert (of Mr. Monster by Eclipse Comics fame), Mike Royer (famous inker for Jack Kirby and Russ Manning), Mike Gustovich (creator of Justice Machine) and many more. There were even a couple of guys who had stuff in the book who had never been published before.
I wrote to the group to let them how I felt to see my work side by side by Bill's:
“I was looking through my old back issues of YEET Presents and was struck by how many great stories; how many great writers and artists appeared in YEET. It is such a fun series that captures that feeling and heart of the Golden, Silver, and Bronze Ages. And I've always loved anthologies.
I hope all of you reading this appreciate what a special thing YEET Presents is. It gives fans the chance to live out their dreams. Every kid wanted to be a comic book artist or writer at some point in their youth. We are the lucky few that were able to make those dreams come true. All thanks to a plucky little publisher from just outside of Detroit, Michigan.
Until next time, fellow dreamers.
Albert Asker
Boise, Idaho.”
