The Green Everyman Makes A Comeback

Like skinny jeans on your sister and Amy Winehouse doing doo-wop, Gumby's newest incarnation is a blast from the past lodged firmly in our present. The beloved Claymation creation first appeared in 1955's "Gumbasia," a Fantasia parody short by Gumby originator Art Clokey. Since then, Gumby has starred on television, in a full-length feature film, and, most recently, in a new comic series written by Bob Burden, illustrated by Rick Geary, and published by Walnut Creek resident Mel Smith. This Saturday, Dr. Comics and Mr. Games in Oakland will hold a debut event for the Gumby graphic novel, a book comprised of the comic series' first three issues.

Gumby's story so far in the series has been a typical one: lean, green shapeshifter meets girl next door, develops a crush on her, wonders what to do next. In any other fictional universe, this would be a standard arc, but for Gumby, it's totally new. Author Burden knows he's breaking new ground for the character. He counts the little clay fellow as one of his favorite characters, and he won the Will Eisner Comics Industry Award for "Gumby's Summer Fun Special #1" in 1988. This is part of the reason Burden was chosen to helm Gumby's latest reinvention. Like Dali's clocks, Gumby can melt at any moment. He is a boy of unknown origins, a man without a past, a child without a country. His best friend is a talking horse; he doesn't wear pants. Gumby's existence is surreal, to say the least. This is something that Burden understands, and he brings this perspective to the newest Gumby franchise.

"The key to it is that they never explain where Gumby comes from," Burden says. "That's what makes it interesting. No one has ever asked me, 'Why is Gumby green? Why is he made of clay? Why does he have that shape for a head?' There's no explanation for that."

Burden adds, however, that Art Clokey's father did have a strange haircut reminiscent of Gumby's trapezoidal forehead. In creating Gumby, Clokey may have recreated images from his past. Burden can speak to this argument as the creator of another iconic character, Flaming Carrot. Flaming Carrot is what Burden describes as a "surrealistic superhero" who "doesn't come from anywhere."

Flaming Carrot, with a utility belt comprised mainly of ineffective flotsam, is far from a traditional Superman character. Similarly, Burden's Mystery Men, comic book creations that were turned into an eponymous movie in 1999, lacked the typical flounce and flair of Marvel mythology. And Gumby, the plastic everyman, has his noble Robin in Pokey, but lacks Batman's dark side.

Still, Burden says, "It's much more interesting to tell a story about a hero who doesn't have all-powerful superpowers."

The masses seem to agree. In March of 2007, all of the original Gumby episodes were digitally-remastered and posted in full on YouTube. What seems more relevant, though, is the overwhelming presence of a certain Gumby-esque aesthetic, of the manifestation of surreal in our everyday lives.

"You look at the Superbowl commercials," Burden says, "And it was one comedy-slash-surreal thing after another."

In fact, Burden's comment could sum up the entirety of late 20th-century history. The recent past is nothing if not surreal joke after surreal joke, and Clokey's iconic character has been with us for most of it. Like those skintight pants and Amy Winehouse's musical omnipresence, Gumby isn't going anywhere any time soon-and readers of Burden's latest graphic novel will celebrate that fact.