'Bunny Boy Comic'.
Adam A. Weller is a British illustrator, photographer and medical assistant from Margate, Kent. He is best known for drawing the obscure 'Bunny Boy Comic' (2010) in cooperation with the avant-garde music collective The Residents. The work is based on a conceptual web series made by the band. In the late 1980s and early 1990s he also published wacky comics in various British humor magazines.
Early life
Adam Weller was born in 1971 in Margate, Kent. His father was a painter and decorator for most of his working life, until he switched to a job as traffic controller at Dover Harbour Board. His mother was a cook at various establishments. Weller went to primary school at Salmestone, followed by Dane Court Grammar School. From a young age he drew comics and cartoons to the point that it often distracted him in school, save for art history lessons. Among his graphic influences are Hergé, Albert Uderzo, Steve Ditko, John Romita, Sal Buscema and Stan Lee. In an e-mail to Lambiek on 17 April 2020 he expressed his "love for the Ligne Claire (Clear Line) of Hergé and the warmth exuded by Uderzo's drawings."
After leaving school, Weller got a part time job at Marks & Spencer until the early 1990s, followed by one at electrical goods shop Tandy and several children's homes as a support worker. Since September 1998 he works as an operating department practitioner at the Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother Hospital in Margate, where he prepares and assists the anesthetists and scrub for the surgeons.
'The Lad With No Bones'.
The Thanet Times
While working his first jobs, Weller spent time at the local newspaper, The Thanet Times, which published several of his topical one-panel "pocket cartoons" until 1997.
Zit Monthly
Between 1992 and 1994 Weller drew comics for Zit Monthly, a rival magazine to the more widespread Viz. He drew some features about wacky characters like 'The Lad With No Bones', 'Billy Megs and his Elephant Legs' (who couldn't do much due to his elephant legs) and 'The Sparks Twins' (a celebrity comic based on the pop band The Sparks).
'Sparks Twins'.
Klam, Acne and Gutted
In 1993 Weller also drew for the short-lived British comic magazines Klam, Acne and Gutted, which also mimicked Viz. Klam mostly featured comics drawn by the magazine's editor and publisher Lee James Turnock. Most paid badly and their content, much like Viz, was very crass and vulgar. After a while Weller grew out of these puerile publications and looked back on them as crude, embarrassing and juvenile attempts at comedy, even though his own work tried to be a little classier by refraining from using vulgar language at one point.
2012 cartoon celebrating the Residents' 40th anniversary. From left to right (top row): four stage costumes of Residents musicians, Bunny Boy and the Beatle shrimp from 'Meet the Residents'. From left to right (lower row): Santa Dog, a Mole (from 'Mark of the Mole), Jello Jack the Boneless Boy (from 'Freak Show'), a green-faced character (above Jello Jack) (from 'Not Available'), a Chub (from 'Mark of the Mole') and 'Duck Stab'.
The Residents
One of Weller's favorite musical acts is the U.S. avant-garde band and conceptual act the Residents. The group is infamous for their bizarre, macabre but often funny experimental music, while the identities of the band members remain mysterious. In 1990 they released the album 'Freak Show' (1990), which spawned a 1992 comic book adaptation, 'The Residents' Freak Show' (Dark Horse Comics), in which Kyle Baker, Brian Bolland, John Bolton, Charles Burns, Matt Howarth, Dave McKean, Pore No Graphics, Edwin "Savage Pencil" Pouncey and Richard Sala all visualized one of the songs into a comic strip. Les Dorscheid provided colouring. Burns illustrated the book cover. A limited hard-cover special was made too, sold with a 13-minute CD titled 'Blowoff', inspired by songs from 'Freak Show'. Two years later a 'Freak Show' CD-rom followed, with a cover illustrated by Richard Sala. In 1995 The Residents released another CD-rom, 'Bad Day on the Midway' (1995). The project was originally proposed as a TV series script in collaboration with David Lynch, but eventually these plans fell through. The CD-rom features visual designs by cartoonists like Leigh Barbier, Steve Cerio, Ronald M. Davis, Georganne Deen, Poe Dismuke, Bill Domonokos, Doug Fraser, Peter Kuper, Dave McKean, Pore No Graphics, Jonathon Rosen and Richard Sala - who visualized the song 'Oscar's Story'. A companion book was released the same year, followed by a soundtrack album the next year and a novel in 2012.
'Bunny Boy Comic'.
The Residents' Bunny Boy
In 2008 the Residents' production department - the Cryptic Corporation - started a 66-part video series titled 'Bunny Boy', which fans could follow online, including on YouTube. The story revolved around a character named Bunny Boy, who makes videos from the comfort of his room in an attempt to find his brother Harvey, who went missing on the Greek island Patmos. Fans could send in questions, remarks and suggestions to help him out and influence the plot of the story. Weller also contributed to this interactive project. He was thrilled to be even directly referenced in the 48th episode. When the saga concluded, Weller had been so immersed in the story that he asked the Cryptic Corporation permission to adapt it into a comic book. The Residents were flattered, but dubious whether this was worth the effort, since it probably wouldn't sell much copies. However, Weller saw it as a golden opportunity to combine his two passions: comics and The Residents. After more persuading he offered to finance the whole book from his own pocket, printing and shipping included. They eventually gave in, because they "basically had nothing to lose", but did ask to send in a script. The Residents' frontman noticed his enthusiasm and therefore translated the script into "Bunnyese", the language of the character. Through continuous feedback the comic started to develop and was eventually released as 'The Residents Present... The Bunny Boy Comic 1' (2010). Weller printed and shipped 200 copies to Ralph America for online purchase and another 200 to accompany the band during their European 'Talking Light' tour in 2010. All copies sold out!
'Bunny Boy Comic'.
For Weller the whole experience was particularly uplifting since it was his first comics entry in years. He remains a close correspondent and trustee of the Residents to this day. The artist once sent them a framed copy of a cartoon to celebrate their 40th anniversary. The band placed it prominently in the background of several episodes of a Residents web series titled 'In My Room'. Weller's artwork was also used inside the sleeve of the Residents album 'Arkansas' (2009).
Cartoon depicting Homer Flynn and Hardy Fox of the Cryptic Corporation.