OPEN CITY No. 38, Jan. 18–23, 1968 — Bukowski at Moyamensing Prison, Larry Hama, Draft Dodging, Courtney Taylor Public Enemy No. 1

An issue of the Los Angeles underground weekly in the full broadsheet format, featuring Charles Bukowski's "Notes of a Dirty Old Man." The column opens in Philadelphia, 1942, with Bukowski alone in a clean room listening to Brahms' 2nd movement and smoking a cheap cigar, when two men knock and show him an F.B.I. badge — there are photos of men killed in service of the Bureau on the walls, and one of them is his Uncle John. He is taken in, confused and half-drunk, unable to account for what he may have done. The agents haul him to Moyamensing Prison, where his cellmate is Courtney Taylor, public enemy number one, a charming con man and dice hustler who killed two men, schools Bukowski in crooked dice games, and holds court with the cook for extra food. The prisoners are starving while the warden and cook eat well; Taylor manages the angle on everything. Eventually the F.B.I. determines Bukowski innocent of deliberate draft dodging, runs him through the induction center, and a psychiatrist asks him whether he is willing to go to war — he says yes, is handed a folded piece of paper, and walks out. He unfolds it: it reads that he hides an extreme sensitivity under a poker face. He laughs, thinks of Taylor, and that is how he won the war.

Both the front and back covers are given over to "Displacement," a psychedelic comic strip printed in two-color with purple ink, making this one of the more visually distinctive issues in the run. It was created by Larry Hama, best known to American comic book readers as a writer and editor for Marvel Comics, where he wrote the licensed comic book series G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero, based on the Hasbro toyline.

Also featured is a report on radio censorship. Large tabloid format, 17" x 11".
Provenance: Mailing label on front cover addressed to John Bryan Sr., father of Open City editor John Bryan, and a newspaper man himself.

This copy is in nice shape with an even fold. The color is vibrant but the white paper shows a little aging. Some light browning along the edges,