REID CAIN, owner of Dr. Cain's Comics and arts renaissance man 

NEW TIMES Phew. What do you do aside from run Dr. Cain’s?

CAIN I’m in three bands. The first band I junctioned is a honkeytonk country western band called Red Eye Junction. We’ve been together for four years. I’m in a band called Magazine Dirty, which has a ’70s punk rock sound. I’m also in a band with my girlfriend called Tarweed Two, which is old-fashioned country Americana. I produce all of the records I put out. I paint and draw and do graphic design.

NEW TIMES PHEW! How did you get into comics?

CAIN Ah … yes. When I was 12, my mom used to stop at 7-11 if we “had a good week,” meaning if I was good. We’d stop to get a candy bar or ice cream. I saw this Crystar comic, which was a vehicle to sell toys like G.I. Joe. The cover art was just so ridiculous. I still have it in the store. I’ve always been into sequential art, and comics is something I share with some of my friends. I feel as if comics have grown up with me. They’re harder for kids to read now because they’re more complex.

NEW TIMES What is the most bizarre comic you’ve ever read?

CAIN Jim Woodring does Frank. I almost find it unreadable. It’s gross in the weirdest way. Man Hog? Ugh. It’s f***in’ nasty. It’s not filthy, just bizarre. At one point a pig cuts his own leg off and eats it because he’s stranded in the woods. I’ve tried three times. I guess I just don’t smoke enough weed to get it.

NEW TIMES Do you love Glen Starkey?

CAIN He’s my neighbor. I think he’s mad at me because I broke his wheelbarrow.

NEW TIMES What’s SWAP Magazine?

CAIN SWAP is really my girlfriend Hayley’s project, but I’ll plug it. It’ll be coming out the first week of January. We’re trying to do a zine about the local scene: arts, music, interviews with weird locals. Hopefully it will represent the weirder side of San Luis Obispo, people who aren’t part of the wine and cheese crowd. I think there’s an alternative culture here that’s disorganized. ∆