Wednesday, November 11, 2009

Bigfoot: This is all the "Proof" you need


If you are interested in Bigfoot and cryptozoology—and if you’re reading this, you probably are—I recently ran across a comic book series that some of you might want to check out. It’s called Proof and is published by Images Comics, and Proof could best be described as The X-Files meets Men in Black by way of Hellboy. It concerns a shadowy government agency called The Lodge that acts as a protective buffer between people and cryptids. According to the premise of the series and Proof writer Alexander Grecian, “A cryptid is a creature that’s never been captured or officially documented despite multiple eye-witness accounts and unsubstantiated evidence (like footprints and fuzzy photographs).” The main point of interest in Proof is the main character, John “Proof” Prufrock. Proof is a talking Bigfoot. In a suit. With a size 29 shoe. Working as a government agent. How cool is that?


Proof works with an ex-FBI agent as his partner, Ginger Brown, and together they encounter a Chupacabra, various fairies and gnomes, Thunderbirds, the Dover Demon, and dinosaurs in the ongoing series. The Lodge also keeps a wildlife habitat for endangered or dangerous cryptids. Sometimes they have to capture and relocate cryptids for their own protection, and for ours. But sometimes the monsters they encounter are human and not the cryptids, and those have to be dealt with as well.


Alexander Grecian's writing in Proof is sharp, clever and frequently darkly funny, and Riley Rossmo's artwork is a first-rate mix of loose lines, brush-like strokes, ink splatters, detailed precision, and rich atmosphere. Proof reads like a really good TV show. It is also available as three graphic novels that collect the series so far. And please note, Proof is intended for “mature audiences,” due to graphic violence and subject matter; not for kids. Though I would have liked it as a kid, but that’s another story. While it doesn’t exactly add to Bigfoot lore and knowledge, Proof is highly entertaining and worth picking up; especially if you, like me, are still missing The X-Files.


Tuesday, November 10, 2009

Bigfoot Lunch Club Salutes Veterans

In honor of Veterans Day, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers today announced it will waive day-use fees for veterans...and their families at the more than 2,400 Corps-operated recreation areas nationwide on Veterans Day, November 11.

In 1975 the US Army Corps of Engineers published "Environmental Atlas for Washington" Originally titled "Provisional U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Environmental Reconnaissance Inventory of the State of Washington". This monstrous book dedicates a very big and very serious full page to Bigfoot. In fact, the Sasquatch is listed as one of Washington's native species.



An excerpt from BigfootEncounters.com page gives a little more detail to the description of Sasquatch:
Though conceding that his existence is "hotly disputed," the Army Corps of Engineers has officially recognized Sasquatch, the elusive and supposed legendary creature of the Pacific Northwest mountains. Also known as Big Foot, Sasquatch is described in the just-published "Environmental Atlas for Washington" as standing as tall as 12 feet and weighing as much as half a ton, covered with long hair except for face and hands, and having "a distinctive human-like form." The atlas, which cost $200,000 to put out, offers a map pin pointing all known reports of Sasquatch sightings, and notes that a sample of reputed Sasquatch hair was analyzed by the FBI and found to belong to no known animal.



There is a 2nd edition copy (1975) of the Atlas, in the Clark College, Vancouver, WA, library. Above is an actual page from that edition.

You can read more details about the Veterans Day fee Waiver at the Corp of Engineers site here.


TOP 10 TUES: Bigfoot Quotes


1. “I think Bigfoot is blurry, that's the problem. It's not the photographer's fault.” Source: Stand-up comedian Mitch Hedburg

2. “I saw Bigfoot once. 1951, back in Sequoia National Park. Had a foot on him thirty-seven inches heel to toe.” Source: Movie: Close Encounters of the Third Kind

3. “Yo' momma's so hairy, Bigfoot takes pictures of her.” Source: The Grim Adventures of Billy & Mandy

4. "Your rhymes are fake like a Canal Street watch, You’re hearing me and you're like `Oh my god it's Sasquatch!`" Source: Beastie Boys

5. Mulder: (explaining cryptozoology) Animals that aren't supposed to exist like Sasquatch and the Ogopogo and the Abominable Snowman and-
Scully: (interrupting) Don't mind him. He'll go on forever”. Source: X-Files

6. "Given the scientific evidence that I have examined, I'm convinced there's a creature out there that is yet to be identified," Source: Jeff Meldrum in National Geographic

7. “…you're talking about a yeti or bigfoot or sasquatch. Well now, you'll be amazed when I tell you that I'm sure that they exist.” Jane Goodall on NPR

8. Prof. Hubert J. Farnsworth: Bunk! Bunk, I say! Bring me a bag full of Bigfoot's droppings or shut up!
Ranger Park: I have the droppings of someone who saw Bigfoot. Source: Futurama

9. Your wife's a Bigfoot, isn't she, Gus? Your wife is a Bigfoot, isn't she? Source: Edie Murphy, Delirious

10. “It smells like Bigfoot's d*ck!” Source: Movie Anchorman: Ron Burgundy



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