Tribute To bOOm

"McWintock!"  A Western remake starring Elmer Fudd and Betty Boop!

That's an early example of the wonderful whimsy of the artwork of friend and one-time collaborator hugobOOm, or just bOOm, as he signed himself, who died this past May of a sudden illness.

Kim Lennon, as kindly as possible, let me know here about his death, and Web-Ed at Chicago Spanking Review had gone to a ferocious amount of trouble to get some details.  bOOm had been a regular contributor of cartoons and more at CSR for fifteen years. 

bOOm and I met at the turn of the century, when the Internet was fairly new, at one of the Yahoo Groups named "Arild's MovieSpanking."  That may be how it began, but movies were hardly ever discussed.  It was, however, a fine forum for a bunch of us frustrated Spankophile artists, a social platform to at last to share our speciality interests, writing, and artwork with an appreciative group of like-minded souls, and to discover that this so-called fetish was shared, not with a bunch of sick, slavering sadists, but humorous, intelligent, kind-hearted, decent folk!

bOOm certainly was all that, and he, along with Phil "Overbarrel," Endart, Angus Old, Dan Rivera, Darth, and others, including yours truly, made a rollicking time of it. One of us would present a cartoon, a short story, or part of a series, and then everyone was welcome to join in talking about it.  There was sometimes constructive criticism as well as breathless praise, and often a delightful Groucho Marx-esque exchange of puns and wordplay would break out.

Yank, another Arild's member, now sadly gone as well, actually was a retired cop!  His frequently-used protest slogan was "Down With Panties!"

When the group had been going for a year, bOOm suggested an anniversary party,  a "Spankademy Awards" ceremony with all the artists collaborating.

He wrote a sketch for his lovely ginger creation, O.T. Katie and my own Wolfie Avatar to perform.  I supplied my parts as directed, and the 3D background was from our German pal Angus.

bOOm and I never became as close as Phil, Springrose, and I did, but he was a wonderful creator, and,  more importantly, a wonderful human being, the like of which we can ill-afford to be losing now.