SURFING : Appeal of Comic Art Swells

For some time, Rockin’ Fig and I have been wanting to talk about the Surf Crazed comic book creators, who are both from Orange County. One surfs; the other is a knee-boarder.

But since the surf’s been good and apparently business has picked up, we couldn’t interview Salvador Paskowitz, 25, or Roy Gonzales, 35, both from San Clemente. But Fig said he goes back a ways with both of them.

I surfed with Roy, Fig said. We were on the 1980 NSSA (National Scholastic Surfing Assn.) national team together. He was a knee rider.

What was he like, Fig?

He was kinda like a wild, boisterous guy who always tried to make everybody laugh. He used to do drawings way back then, finish them and then turn to you and say: ‘Hey. Check this out.’ He did all kinds of funny drawings and really far-out-looking faces and tikis.

Well, Figgy, they started out with 55,000 copies. But apparently getting their comic books into enough stores has been a problem. They’ve now entered a deal for nationwide distribution and will bring surf art to the masses, said Glenn Wilk, the artists’ publicist.

Their comic book, which started in 1991 as a quarterly, will publish six issues in 1993.

I remember Roy selling his prints shop to shop. Those pictures were kinda neat but really far out, and I don’t think they went over too big. But it seems like he kinda found his niche with the Surf Crazed comics.

At $2.50 each, how popular are they, Fig?

It’s popular. It’s not like people are lining up around the door for them. But they’re really neat. I like the futuristic look he gives some of his characters. Especially the characters with armor. Actually, I’m a little old to be reading comics, although I like the stuff that’s in there.

Their characters include Riders of Steel, a gang of surfers that cut through a wall of water and come out in an aquatic future world where surfing metallic creatures war with a mutated race.

And always they use local beaches as the backdrop. In their first issue they had Elvis--yup, Elvis--in a rhinestone-studded wet suit tool up to Trestles in a pink Cadillac.

Surf Crazed is considered the only comic book based on surf culture. Paskowitz, a member of the famous Paskowitz surfing clan, was once asked what he thought of Marvel Comics’ Silver Surfer, which originated in 1968.

“He’s a dork, not a surfer,” Paskowitz said of the comic character who travels through space on a silver surfboard.

Paskowitz attended the Art Students’ League of New York for a short time before returning home to help his father, Dorian, run the Paskowitz Surf Camp at San Onofre.

Paskowitz met Gonzales at the Surf Spot, a surf shop that Gonzales had at the time. Gonzales would bribe his new friend to work for him while he attacked the waves.

Surf census: According to the Dana Point-based Surf Industry Manufacturers Assn., or SIMA, surfing ranks will rise in 1993 by an estimated 70,000. SIMA’s two-month survey found that there will be 1.47 million surfers this year, contrasted with 1.4 million in 1992. About 275,000 surfboards and 425,000 wet suits are expected to be sold in 1993.

Fig’s reaction? It sounds like it might be pretty crowded out there this year. Like, elbow to elbow. But it sounds like retailers may have a good year, a season to cut loose.

Figgy said 1991 suffered from weeks of gray, overcast skies and colder temperatures, followed by the recession summer of 1992.

SIMA also said the core ages for surfing are 17 to 22, slightly older than in 1992, when it was 16 to 21, statistics we took exception with.

Fig: I don’t think we can forget about lots of people coming back to surfing who are in their 30s and 40s. You know, those who used to surf before and say: “I had to quit surfing to get a real job and get established.” Now they have the time. They’re surfing, and their kids are surfing too!

Contest results: Taylor Knox of Carlsbad pulled in first place and $4,000 at the U.S. Bud Pro Tour contest at Pismo Beach last weekend. Second was Richie Collins of Newport Beach, and third was Chris Brown of Santa Barbara. In long-boarding, Joel Tudor of La Jolla grabbed first place and $1,000. In second place was Chris Olivas of Newport Beach.