Logan Beert, a senior at Black Hills State University, showcased his artistic skills at a book signing at Henry’s Books Oct. 31. The book is a short comic called “Spatula!” Beert and his wife manned a small table with various artistic offerings from the featured author. Along with “Spatula!” his first book “Orange Creme” and a zine he created were on sale. He offered candy out of a papier-mâché eye to anyone who stopped in.
Beert is currently a student at BHSU and will graduate after he finishes student teaching next semester. However, teaching isn’t the only career goal he has in mind.
“I want to take it eventually into city planning, but I don’t exactly know where yet,” Beert said. “Me and my wife are really up in the air right now about where we want to go and what we want to do. I think it’ll become clear to us once we graduate.”
As an artist, he would like to be in a larger city—to attend comic conventions and grow his connections within the comic community.
“I’d like to be in a spot that’s closer to larger cities. Just because I think it would be fun to do [conventions] and that sort of thing, and get more connected in the broader comic community. It is hard to do that in Rapid City because it’s so expensive to go out to all those places and to be such a no-name, which is fine. You’re not going to make any money back, though.”
Beert has deep roots in art—especially comics. He has always been an artist, drawing to entertain himself and his friends. He became more serious about pursuing art and comics in high school.
“To be cliché, I’ve been drawing since I could first pick up a pencil. I mean, crayons are around the house, and you draw whatever. Comic books I’ve kind of always drawn. I used to make comics about creepers in middle school. Minecraft creepers specifically. But I never took it serious as a thing I wanted to pursue until high school, when I started going to the comic store and getting more involved into the artistic side of comics.”
Beert writes under the name “Hyloba.” The name comes from the scientific name for gibbons—his favorite of the lesser apes—“Hylobatid.”
“That came from high school, I had to do an art project. Painting a skateboard and part of the project was to create like a brand name for the skateboard thing. So, the name comes from the Latin or scientific name for gibbons.”
As Hyloba, he has written two comics: “Orange Creme” and “Spatula!” “Orange Creme” is an anthology of comics three years in the making, originally compiled for a zine that never emerged.
“Spatula!”, the book showcased at this event, is a more developed concept. Beert wanted to release something for the Halloween season. He claims most of his ideas come from an “idle mind.”
“Like most of my ideas, I was just sitting at work. My brain was doing nothing while waiting for customers. I was just doing dishes, and I was cleaning a spatula, and I noticed spatula kind of sounds like Dracula. Then it’s like, wait a minute, that’s a really good idea. And then I drew him on a little piece of receipt paper, and then it just went from there.”
The book itself comes in two variants: “V for Vampiric Violence” and “F for Family Fun.” Beert describes the delineation between the two as “the book I wanted to write and the book that would be appropriate for kids.” Both editions portray the screening of the fictional film “Spatula!” The “film” portrays a Fourth ofJuly celebration at Count Spatula’s mansion. The “V for Vampiric Violence” edition includes cannibalism and human combustion, while the “F for Family Fun” edition contains a much lighter story of escapades and subverted expectations. Both editions are sufficiently funny and show off both Beert’s impressive art skills and his dry wit.
Beert has been involved with Henry’s Books since their inception. He worked at Pure Bean Spearfish while it was still open and met the Henry’s team there. They were doing a promotional event, before the physical location had even materialized. He passed out fliers on campus for the store, and when they opened their doors, his first book, “Orange Creme,” was on the shelves.
The team has always been very supportive of his work. Henry’s is incredibly supportive of local artists, and they often have book release signings at their store. When he first started distributing “Orange Creme” with them, they asked if he would like to do a release event for that book. While he chose not to then, he let them know that he wanted to release another book around Halloween.
“Spatula!” is a visually captivating and pithy read. Beert spins a tale of blood and guts, just in time for the Halloween season. Anyone interested can find a copy at Henry’s Book or at Beert’s Etsy shop, under the name Hyloba.
“My influences are classic artists like Daniel Clowes and Charles Burns, Brian Bolland, but a lot of others like Caroline Cash, Jim Mahfood, Adrian Tomie, Shintaro Kago, a bunch of people. As for “Spatula!” specifically, it’s less particular comic artists―though I think reading Uzumaki while inking had an influence―and more movies and stuff, like horror comedies. Gremlins, Little Shop of Horrors and musicians like The Residents. I love the awkward feelings these things convey, child-like presentation, but unnerving. I’m looking for things that make me uncomfortable, to a degree, so that’s what I try to put out in the world.”
