Underground comix
Encyclopedia
Underground comix are small press
or self-published comic books which are often socially relevant or satirical in nature. They differ from mainstream comics in depicting content forbidden to mainstream publications by the Comics Code Authority
, including explicit drug use, sexuality and violence. They were most popular in the United States
between 1968 and 1975, and in the United Kingdom
between 1973-74.
Robert Crumb
, Gilbert Shelton
and numerous other cartoonists created underground titles that were popular with the hippie
counterculture
scene. Punk
had its own comic artists like Gary Panter
. Long after their heyday underground comix gained prominence with films and television shows influenced by the movement and with mainstream comic books, but their legacy is most obvious with alternative comics
.
pornographic
comic books featuring unauthorized depictions of popular comic strip
characters engaging in sexual activities. Often referred to as Tijuana bible
s, these books are often considered the predecessors of the underground comix scene. Early underground comix appeared sporadically in the early and mid-1960s, but did not begin to appear frequently until after 1967. The first underground comix were personal works produced for friends of the artists, in addition to reprints of comic strip pages which first appeared in underground newspapers
.
The United States underground comics scene emerged in the 1960s, focusing on subjects dear to the counterculture: recreational drug use, politics, rock music
and free love
. These titles were termed "comix" in order to differentiate them from mainstream publications. The "X" also emphasized the X-rated
contents of the publications. Many of the common aspects of the underground comix scene were in response to the strong restrictions forced upon mainstream publications by the Comics Code Authority
, which refused publications featuring depictions of violence, sexuality, drug use and socially relevant content, all of which appeared in greater levels in underground comix. The underground comix scene had its strongest success in the United States between 1968 and 1975, with titles initially distributed primarily though head shop
s. Underground comix often featured covers intended to appeal to the drug culture, and imitated LSD-inspired posters to increase sales. Crumb stated that the appeal of underground comix was their lack of censorship: "People forget that that was what it was all about. That was why we did it. We didn't have anybody standing over us saying 'No, you can't draw this' or 'You can't show that'. We could do whatever we wanted."
American comix were strongly influenced by EC Comics
and especially magazines edited by Harvey Kurtzman
, including Mad
. Kurtzman's Help!
magazine featured the works of artists who would later become well known in the underground comix scene, including Crumb and Shelton. Other artists published work in college magazines before becoming known in the underground scene.
Perhaps the earliest of the underground comics was Jack Jackson
's God Nose, published in Texas in 1963. One guide lists two other underground comix from that year, Das Kampf and Robert Ronnie Branaman, and the first appearances of Wonder Wart-Hog
in Bacchanal #1-2. In 1964, Frank Stack
published a compilation of his comic strip The Adventures of Jesus under the name Foolbert Sturgeon. It has been credited as the first underground comic. Joel Beck began contributing a full-page comic each week to the underground newspaper, the Berkeley Barb
, and his full-length comic Lenny of Laredo was published in 1965.
In 1968, Crumb, in San Francisco
, California
, self-published his first solo comic, Zap Comix
. The title was financially successful, and from issue # 3 was published by The Print Mint. Zap developed a market for underground comix. Zap began to feature other cartoonists, and Crumb launched a series of solo titles, including Despair, Uneeda (both published by Print Mint in 1969), Big Ass Comics, R. Crumb's Comics and Stories, Motor City Comics (all published by Rip Off Press
in 1969), Home Grown Funnies (Kitchen Sink Press
, 1971) and Hytone Comix (Apex Novelties, 1971), in addition to founding the pornographic anthologies Jiz and Snatch (both Apex Novelties, 1969).
By the end of the 1960s, there was recognition of the movement by a major American museum when the Corcoran Gallery of Art
staged an exhibition, The Phonus Balonus Show (May 20-June 15, 1969). Curated by Bhob Stewart
for famed museum director Walter Hopps
, it included work by Crumb, Shelton, Vaughn Bodé
, Kim Deitch
, Jay Lynch
and others.
Crumb's best known underground features included Whiteman, Angelfood McSpade
, Fritz the Cat
and Mr. Natural
. Crumb also drew himself as a character, portraying himself as he was often perceived—a self-loathing, sex-obsessed intellectual. While Crumb's work was often praised for its social commentary, he was also criticized for the misogyny that appeared within his comics. Trina Robbins
stated "It's weird to me how willing people are to overlook the hideous darkness in Crumb's work... What the hell is funny about rape and murder?" Because of his popularity, many underground cartoonists tried to imitate Crumb's work. While Zap was the best known anthology of the scene, other anthologies appeared, including Bijou Funnies, a Chicago publication edited by Jay Lynch and heavily influenced by Mad. The San Francisco anthology Young Lust (Company & Sons, 1970), which parodied the 1950s romance genre, featured works by Bill Griffith and Art Spiegelman
. Another anthology, Bizarre Sex (Kitchen Sink, 1972), was influenced by science fiction
comics and included art by Denis Kitchen
and Richard "Grass" Green
, one of the few African-American comix creators.
Other important underground cartoonists of the era included Deitch, Rick Griffin
, George Metzger, Victor Moscoso
, S. Clay Wilson
and Manuel Rodriguez, aka Spain
. Skip Williamson
created his character Snappy Sammy Smoot
, appearing in several titles. Gilbert Shelton
became famous for his superhero parody Wonder Wart-Hog
(Millar, 1967), Feds 'n' Heds (self-published in 1968) and The Fabulous Furry Freak Brothers (Rip Off Press, 1971), a strip about a trio of "freaks" whose time is spent attempting to acquire drugs and avoid the police. Wilson's work is permeated by shocking violence and ugly sex; he contributed to Zap and published Bent (Print Mint, 1971), Pork (Co-Op Press, 1974) and The Checkered Demon (Last Gasp
, 1977). Spain worked for the East Village Other
before becoming known within the underground comix for Trashman
, Zodiac Mindwarp (East Village Other, 1967) and Subvert (Rip Off Press, 1970).
Horror
also became popular, with titles such as Skull (Rip Off Press, 1970), Bogeyman (San Francisco Comic Book Company, 1969), Fantagor (Richard Corben, 1970), Insect Fear (Print Mint, 1970), Up From the Deep (Rip Off Press, 1971), Death Rattle (Kitchen Sink, 1972), Gory Stories (Shroud, 1972), Deviant Slice (Print Mint, 1972) and Two Fisted Zombies (Last Gasp, 1973). Many of these were strongly influenced by 1950s EC Comics like Tales from the Crypt.
The male-dominated scene produced many blatantly misogynistic works, but female cartoonists were emerging. Melinda Gebbie
, Lynda Barry
, Aline Kominsky and Shary Flenniken
were featured in the anthologies Wimmen's Comix
(Last Gasp, 1972), Tits & Clits Comix
(Nanny Goat Productions, 1972), and It Aint Me Babe (Last Gasp, 1970).
(IT), and Oz
reprinted some American material. During a visit to London, Larry Hama
created original material for IT. The first UK comix mag was Cyclops, started by IT staff members. In a bid to alleviate its ongoing financial problems, IT brought out Nasty Tales (1971), which was soon prosecuted for obscenity. Despite appearing before the censorious Old Bailey
Judge Alan King-Hamilton
, the publishers were acquitted by the jury. In the wake of its own high-profile obscenity trial Oz launched cOZmic Comics in 1972, printing a mixture of new British underground strips and old American work.
When Oz closed down the following year the cOZmic was continued by fledgling media tycoon Felix Dennis
and his company, H. Bunch Associates, until 1975. The UK-based cartoonists included Chris Welch, Edward Barker
, Michael J. Weller
, Malcolm Livingstone, William Rankin (aka Wyndham Raine), Dave Gibbons
, Joe Petagno, Bryan Talbot
, and the team of Martin Sudden, Jay Jeff Jones and Brian Bolland
.
Reprints were popular with publishers because underground artists had no claims on their work. The basis for this was that material originally printed in publications that belonged to the Underground Press Syndicate was available to reprint for free by other UPS members. This permission was exploited by some underground comix publishers, bulking up or entirely filling their own magazines with work whose creators didn’t receive any payment even when those publishers made a profit. The last UK comix series of note was Brainstorm Comix (1975), which featured only original British strips.
, Don Donahue
(Apex Novelties), Shary Flenniken
, Justin Green, Bill Griffith & Diane Noomin
, Rory Hayes, Jay Kinney
, Bobby London
, Ted Richards, Trina Robbins
, Joe Schenkman
, and Art Spiegelman
.
Film and television began to reflect the influence of underground comix in the 1970s, starting with the release of Ralph Bakshi
's film adaptation of Crumb's Fritz the Cat
, the first animated film to receive an X rating
from the MPAA
. Further adult-oriented animated film
s influenced by underground comix followed, including The Nine Lives of Fritz the Cat
and Down and Dirty Duck. The influence of underground comix has also been attributed to films such as The Lord of the Rings
(1978) and Forbidden Zone
(1980). The popularity of Monty Python's Flying Circus
, which featured the animation of Help! contributor Terry Gilliam
, has also been attributed to the prominence of the underground comix scene.
Mainstream publications such as Playboy
and National Lampoon began to publish comics and art similar to that of underground comix. The underground movement also prompted older professional comic book artists to try their hand in the alternate press. Wally Wood
published witzend
in 1966, soon passing the title on to artist-editor Bill Pearson. In 1969, Wood created Heroes, Inc. Presents Cannon
, intended for distribution to armed forces bases. Steve Ditko
gave full vent to his Ayn Rand
-inspired philosophy in Mr. A
and Avenging World (1973). Flo Steinberg
, Stan Lee's former secretary at Marvel Comics
, published Big Apple Comix
, featuring the work of artists she knew from Marvel.
Critics of the underground comix scene claimed that the publications were socially irresponsible, and glorified violence, sex and drug use. In 1973, the Supreme Court ruled that local communities could decide their own First Amendment standards with reference to obscenity. In the mid-1970s, sale of drug paraphernalia was outlawed in many places, and the distribution network for these comics (and the underground newspapers) dried up, leaving mail order as the only commercial outlet for underground titles. While the American underground comix scene was beginning to decline, British underground comix came into prominence between 1973 and 1974, but soon faced the same kind of criticism that American underground comix received.
In 1974, Marvel launched Comix Book
, requesting that underground artists submit significantly less explicit work appropriate for newsstands sales. A number of underground artists agreed to contribute work, including Art Spiegelman, Trina Robbins and S. Clay Wilson. However, Comix Book did not sell well and lasted only five issues. In 1976, Marvel achieved success with Howard the Duck
, a satirical comic aimed at adult audiences that was inspired by the underground comix scene. While it did not depict the explicit content that was often featured in underground comix, it was more socially relevant than anything Marvel had previously published.
By this time, some artists, including Spiegelman, felt that the underground comix scene had become less creative than it had been in the past. According to Spiegelman, "What had seemed like a revolution simply deflated into a lifestyle. Underground comics were stereotyped as dealing only with Sex, Dope and Cheap Thrills. They got stuffed back into the closet, along with bong pipes and love beads, as Things Started To Get Uglier."
Autobiographical comics began to come into prominence in 1976, with the premiere of Harvey Pekar
's self-published comic American Splendor
, which featured art by several cartoonists, including Crumb.
In the late 1970s, Marvel and DC Comics
agreed to sell their comics on a no-return basis with large discounts to comic book retailers; this led to later deals that helped underground publishers. During this period, underground titles focusing on feminist
and Gay Liberation
themes began to appear, as well as comics associated with the environmental movement
. British underground cartoonists also created political titles, but they did not sell as well as American political comics.
Artists influenced by the underground comix scene, who were unable to get work published by better known underground publications, began self-publishing their own small press, photocopied comic books, known as minicomic
s. The punk subculture
began to influence underground comix.
In response to attempts by mainstream publishers to appeal to adult audiences, alternative comics
emerged, focusing on many of the same themes as underground comix, as well as publishing experimental work. Artists formally in the underground comix scene began to associate themselves with alternative comics, including Barry, Crumb, Deitch, Griffith and Justin Green. In the 1980s, sexual comix came into prominence, integrating sex into storylines rather than utilizing sexual explicitness for shock value. The first of these features was Omaha the Cat Dancer
, which made its first appearance in an issue of the underground publication Bizarre Sex. Inspired by Fritz the Cat, Omaha the Cat Dancer focused on an anthropomorphic
feline stripper. Other comix with a sexual focus included Melody, based on the life story of Sylvie Rancourt and Cherry Poptart
, a comedic sex comic featuring art similar in style to that of Archie Comics
.
In 1985, Griffith's comic strip Zippy the Pinhead
was syndicated as a daily feature. It originally appeared in underground titles before being syndicated. Between 1980 and 1991 Spiegelman's graphic novel Maus
was serialized in Raw
, and published in two volumes n 1986 and 1991. It was followed by an exhibition at the Museum of Modern Art
and a Pulitzer Prize
for Spiegelman in 1992. The novel originated from a three-page story first published in an underground comic, Funny Aminals (cq), (Apex Novelties, 1972).
Alternative cartoonist
Peter Bagge
was strongly influenced by underground comics, and was reciprocally admired by Crumb, whom Bagge edited Weirdo magazine for in the 1980s; he could considered part of a "second generation" of underground-type cartoonists, including such notables as Mike Diana
, Johnny Ryan
, Bob Fingerman, Danny Hellman
, Julie Doucet
, Jim Woodring
, Ivan Brunetti
, Gary Leib
, Doug Allen
, and Ed Piskor
. Many of these artists were published by Fantagraphics Books
, which was founded in 1977 and through the 1980s and 90s became a major publisher of alternative and underground cartoonists' work.
As of the 2010s, reprints of early underground comix continue to sell alongside modern underground publications.
editor Jay Kennedy
, his personal underground comix collection was acquired by the Billy Ireland Cartoon Library & Museum
in Ohio.
The University of California, Berkeley
's Bancroft Library
has a large underground comix collection, especially related to Bay Area publications; much of it was built by a deposit account at Gary Arlington's San Francisco Comic Book Store. The collection also includes titles from New York, Los Angeles, and elsewhere.
Small press
Small press is a term often used to describe publishers with annual sales below a certain level. Commonly, in the United States, this is set at $50 million, after returns and discounts...
or self-published comic books which are often socially relevant or satirical in nature. They differ from mainstream comics in depicting content forbidden to mainstream publications by the Comics Code Authority
Comics Code Authority
The Comics Code Authority was a body created as part of the Comics Magazine Association of America, as a tool for the comics-publishing industry to self-regulate the content of comic books in the United States. Member publishers submitted comic books to the CCA, which screened them for adherence to...
, including explicit drug use, sexuality and violence. They were most popular in the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
between 1968 and 1975, and in the United Kingdom
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
between 1973-74.
Robert Crumb
Robert Crumb
Robert Dennis Crumb —known as Robert Crumb and R. Crumb—is an American artist, illustrator, and musician recognized for the distinctive style of his drawings and his critical, satirical, subversive view of the American mainstream.Crumb was a founder of the underground comix movement and is regarded...
, Gilbert Shelton
Gilbert Shelton
Gilbert Shelton is an American cartoonist and underground comix artist. He is the creator of The Fabulous Furry Freak Brothers, Fat Freddy's Cat, Wonder Wart-Hog, Philbert Desanex, Not Quite Dead, and the cover art to The Grateful Dead's 1978 album Shakedown Street.He graduated from Lamar High...
and numerous other cartoonists created underground titles that were popular with the hippie
Hippie
The hippie subculture was originally a youth movement that arose in the United States during the mid-1960s and spread to other countries around the world. The etymology of the term 'hippie' is from hipster, and was initially used to describe beatniks who had moved into San Francisco's...
counterculture
Counterculture
Counterculture is a sociological term used to describe the values and norms of behavior of a cultural group, or subculture, that run counter to those of the social mainstream of the day, the cultural equivalent of political opposition. Counterculture can also be described as a group whose behavior...
scene. Punk
Punk subculture
The punk subculture includes a diverse array of ideologies, and forms of expression, including fashion, visual art, dance, literature, and film, which grew out of punk rock.-History:...
had its own comic artists like Gary Panter
Gary Panter
Gary Panter is an illustrator, painter, designer and part-time musician. Panter's work is representative of the post-underground, new wave comics movement that began with the end of Arcade: The Comics Revue and the initiation of RAW, one of the second generation in American underground comix...
. Long after their heyday underground comix gained prominence with films and television shows influenced by the movement and with mainstream comic books, but their legacy is most obvious with alternative comics
Alternative comics
Alternative comics defines a range of American comics that have appeared since the 1980s, following the underground comix movement of the late 1960s and early 1970s. Alternative comics present an alternative to "mainstream" superhero comics which in the past have dominated the US comic book industry...
.
Early history (1967-1972)
Between the late 1920s and late 1940s, anonymous artists produced counterfeitCounterfeit
To counterfeit means to illegally imitate something. Counterfeit products are often produced with the intent to take advantage of the superior value of the imitated product...
pornographic
Pornography
Pornography or porn is the explicit portrayal of sexual subject matter for the purposes of sexual arousal and erotic satisfaction.Pornography may use any of a variety of media, ranging from books, magazines, postcards, photos, sculpture, drawing, painting, animation, sound recording, film, video,...
comic books featuring unauthorized depictions of popular comic strip
Comic strip
A comic strip is a sequence of drawings arranged in interrelated panels to display brief humor or form a narrative, often serialized, with text in balloons and captions....
characters engaging in sexual activities. Often referred to as Tijuana bible
Tijuana bible
Tijuana bibles were pornographic comic books produced in the United States from the 1920s to the early 1960s. Their popularity peaked during the Great Depression era...
s, these books are often considered the predecessors of the underground comix scene. Early underground comix appeared sporadically in the early and mid-1960s, but did not begin to appear frequently until after 1967. The first underground comix were personal works produced for friends of the artists, in addition to reprints of comic strip pages which first appeared in underground newspapers
Underground press
The underground press were the independently published and distributed underground papers associated with the counterculture of the late 1960s and early 1970s in the United States, Canada, United Kingdom, and other western nations....
.
The United States underground comics scene emerged in the 1960s, focusing on subjects dear to the counterculture: recreational drug use, politics, rock music
Rock music
Rock music is a genre of popular music that developed during and after the 1960s, particularly in the United Kingdom and the United States. It has its roots in 1940s and 1950s rock and roll, itself heavily influenced by rhythm and blues and country music...
and free love
Free love
The term free love has been used to describe a social movement that rejects marriage, which is seen as a form of social bondage. The Free Love movement’s initial goal was to separate the state from sexual matters such as marriage, birth control, and adultery...
. These titles were termed "comix" in order to differentiate them from mainstream publications. The "X" also emphasized the X-rated
X-rated
In some countries, X is or has been a motion picture rating reserved for the most explicit films. Films rated X are intended only for viewing by adults, usually legally defined as people over the age of 17.-United Kingdom:...
contents of the publications. Many of the common aspects of the underground comix scene were in response to the strong restrictions forced upon mainstream publications by the Comics Code Authority
Comics Code Authority
The Comics Code Authority was a body created as part of the Comics Magazine Association of America, as a tool for the comics-publishing industry to self-regulate the content of comic books in the United States. Member publishers submitted comic books to the CCA, which screened them for adherence to...
, which refused publications featuring depictions of violence, sexuality, drug use and socially relevant content, all of which appeared in greater levels in underground comix. The underground comix scene had its strongest success in the United States between 1968 and 1975, with titles initially distributed primarily though head shop
Head shop
A head shop is a retail outlet specializing in drug paraphernalia used for consumption of cannabis, other recreational drugs, legal highs, legal party powders and New Age herbs, as well as counterculture art, magazines, music, clothing, and home decor; some head shops also sell oddities, such as...
s. Underground comix often featured covers intended to appeal to the drug culture, and imitated LSD-inspired posters to increase sales. Crumb stated that the appeal of underground comix was their lack of censorship: "People forget that that was what it was all about. That was why we did it. We didn't have anybody standing over us saying 'No, you can't draw this' or 'You can't show that'. We could do whatever we wanted."
American comix were strongly influenced by EC Comics
EC Comics
Entertaining Comics, more commonly known as EC Comics, was an American publisher of comic books specializing in horror fiction, crime fiction, satire, military fiction and science fiction from the 1940s through the mid-1950s, notably the Tales from the Crypt series...
and especially magazines edited by Harvey Kurtzman
Harvey Kurtzman
Harvey Kurtzman was an American cartoonist and the editor of several comic books and magazines. Kurtzman often signed his name H. Kurtz, followed by a stick figure Harvey Kurtzman (October 3, 1924, Brooklyn, New York – February 21, 1993) was an American cartoonist and the editor of several comic...
, including Mad
Mad (magazine)
Mad is an American humor magazine founded by editor Harvey Kurtzman and publisher William Gaines in 1952. Launched as a comic book before it became a magazine, it was widely imitated and influential, impacting not only satirical media but the entire cultural landscape of the 20th century.The last...
. Kurtzman's Help!
Help! (magazine)
Help! was an American magazine published by James Warren. It wasHarvey Kurtzman's longest-running magazine project after leaving Mad and EC Publications, and during its five years of operation it was always chronically underfunded, yet innovative...
magazine featured the works of artists who would later become well known in the underground comix scene, including Crumb and Shelton. Other artists published work in college magazines before becoming known in the underground scene.
Perhaps the earliest of the underground comics was Jack Jackson
Jaxon
Jaxon was the pen name of Jack Jackson , an American cartoonist. Many consider him the first underground comix artist. He co-founded the seminal Rip Off Press.-Career:Jack Jackson was born in 1941 in Pandora, Texas...
's God Nose, published in Texas in 1963. One guide lists two other underground comix from that year, Das Kampf and Robert Ronnie Branaman, and the first appearances of Wonder Wart-Hog
Wonder Wart-Hog
Wonder Wart-Hog is an underground comic book character, a porcine parody of Superman, created by Gilbert Shelton and Tony Bell.His secret identity is the mild-mannered reporter Philbert Desanex...
in Bacchanal #1-2. In 1964, Frank Stack
Frank Stack
Frank Huntington Stack is an American underground cartoonist. Working under the name Foolbert Sturgeon to avoid persecution for his work while living in the bible belt, Stack published what is considered by many to be the first underground comic book, The Adventures of Jesus, in 1962.He graduated...
published a compilation of his comic strip The Adventures of Jesus under the name Foolbert Sturgeon. It has been credited as the first underground comic. Joel Beck began contributing a full-page comic each week to the underground newspaper, the Berkeley Barb
Berkeley Barb
The Berkeley Barb was a weekly underground newspaper that was published in Berkeley, California, from 1965 to 1980. It was one of the first and most influential of the counterculture newspapers of the late 1960s, covering such subjects as the anti-war and civil-rights movements as well as the...
, and his full-length comic Lenny of Laredo was published in 1965.
In 1968, Crumb, in San Francisco
San Francisco, California
San Francisco , officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the financial, cultural, and transportation center of the San Francisco Bay Area, a region of 7.15 million people which includes San Jose and Oakland...
, California
California
California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...
, self-published his first solo comic, Zap Comix
Zap Comix
Zap Comix is the best-known and one of the most popular of the underground comics that emerged as part of the youth counterculture of the late 1960s. While not believed to be the first underground comic to have been published, Zap is considered to mark the beginning of the "underground comix"...
. The title was financially successful, and from issue # 3 was published by The Print Mint. Zap developed a market for underground comix. Zap began to feature other cartoonists, and Crumb launched a series of solo titles, including Despair, Uneeda (both published by Print Mint in 1969), Big Ass Comics, R. Crumb's Comics and Stories, Motor City Comics (all published by Rip Off Press
Rip Off Press
Rip Off Press, Inc. is a seminal publishing company that specializes in adult-themed literature and graphic novels, mostly in a specific comic book format known as underground comix.-Overview:...
in 1969), Home Grown Funnies (Kitchen Sink Press
Kitchen Sink Press
Kitchen Sink Press was a comic book publishing company founded by Denis Kitchen in 1970. Kitchen owned and operated Kitchen Sink Press until 1999. Kitchen Sink Press was a pioneering publisher of underground comics, and was also responsible for numerous republications of classic comic strips in...
, 1971) and Hytone Comix (Apex Novelties, 1971), in addition to founding the pornographic anthologies Jiz and Snatch (both Apex Novelties, 1969).
By the end of the 1960s, there was recognition of the movement by a major American museum when the Corcoran Gallery of Art
Corcoran Gallery of Art
The Corcoran Gallery of Art is the largest privately supported cultural institution in Washington, DC. The museum's main focus is American art. The permanent collection includes works by Rembrandt, Eugène Delacroix, Edgar Degas, Thomas Gainsborough, John Singer Sargent, Claude Monet, Pablo...
staged an exhibition, The Phonus Balonus Show (May 20-June 15, 1969). Curated by Bhob Stewart
Bhob Stewart
Bhob Stewart is an American writer, editor, artist and film maker who has written for a variety of publications over a span of five decades. His articles and reviews have appeared in TV Guide, Publishers Weekly and other publications, along with online contributions to Allmovie, the Collecting...
for famed museum director Walter Hopps
Walter Hopps
Walter Hopps was an American museum director and curator of contemporary art. His obituary in the Washington Post described him as a "sort of a gonzo museum director -- elusive, unpredictable, outlandish in his range, jagged in his vision, heedless of rules."Hopps was born in Eagle Rock, Los...
, it included work by Crumb, Shelton, Vaughn Bodé
Vaughn Bodé
Vaughn Bodē was an artist involved in underground comics, graphic design and graffiti. He is perhaps best known for his comic strip character Cheech Wizard and artwork depicting voluptuous women. His works are noted for their psychedelic look and feel...
, Kim Deitch
Kim Deitch
-Sources:* at Lambiek's Comiclopedia-External links:* Ford, Jeffrey. *Heller, Steven. **...
, Jay Lynch
Jay Lynch
Jay Lynch is an American cartoonist who played a key role in the underground comix movement with his Bijou Funnies and other titles. His work is sometimes signed Jayzey Lynch. He has contributed to Mad, and in 2008, he expanded into the children's book field.-Early life and career:Born in Orange,...
and others.
Crumb's best known underground features included Whiteman, Angelfood McSpade
Angelfood McSpade
Angelfood McSpade is a comic book character created and drawn by the 1960s counter culture and underground comix artist Robert Crumb. The character first appeared in the second issue of Zap Comix .-Characterisation:...
, Fritz the Cat
Fritz the Cat
Fritz the Cat is a comic strip created by Robert Crumb. Set in a "supercity" of anthropomorphic animals, the strip focuses on Fritz, a feline con artist who frequently goes on wild adventures that sometimes involve sexcapades. Crumb began drawing this character in homemade comic books when he was a...
and Mr. Natural
Mr. Natural (comics)
Mr. Natural is a comic book character created and drawn by 1960s counterculture and underground comix artist Robert Crumb. The character first appeared in the premiere issue of Yarrowstalks .-Characterization:...
. Crumb also drew himself as a character, portraying himself as he was often perceived—a self-loathing, sex-obsessed intellectual. While Crumb's work was often praised for its social commentary, he was also criticized for the misogyny that appeared within his comics. Trina Robbins
Trina Robbins
Trina Robbins is an American comics artist and writer. She was an early and influential participant in the underground comix movement, and one of the few female artists in underground comix when she started. Both as a cartoonist and historian, Robbins has long been involved in creating outlets for...
stated "It's weird to me how willing people are to overlook the hideous darkness in Crumb's work... What the hell is funny about rape and murder?" Because of his popularity, many underground cartoonists tried to imitate Crumb's work. While Zap was the best known anthology of the scene, other anthologies appeared, including Bijou Funnies, a Chicago publication edited by Jay Lynch and heavily influenced by Mad. The San Francisco anthology Young Lust (Company & Sons, 1970), which parodied the 1950s romance genre, featured works by Bill Griffith and Art Spiegelman
Art Spiegelman
Art Spiegelman is an American comics artist, editor, and advocate for the medium of comics, best known for his Pulitzer Prize-winning comic book memoir, Maus. His works are published with his name in lowercase: art spiegelman.-Biography:Spiegelman was born in Stockholm, Sweden, to Polish Jews...
. Another anthology, Bizarre Sex (Kitchen Sink, 1972), was influenced by science fiction
Science fiction
Science fiction is a genre of fiction dealing with imaginary but more or less plausible content such as future settings, futuristic science and technology, space travel, aliens, and paranormal abilities...
comics and included art by Denis Kitchen
Denis Kitchen
Denis Kitchen is an American underground cartoonist, publisher, author, and agent from Wisconsin, and the founder of the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund.-Early life:...
and Richard "Grass" Green
Grass Green
Richard Eugene "Grass" Green was an African American cartoonist notable for being the first black participant in both the 1960s fan art movement and the 1970s underground comics movement...
, one of the few African-American comix creators.
Other important underground cartoonists of the era included Deitch, Rick Griffin
Rick Griffin
Richard Alden Griffin was an American artist and one of the leading designers of psychedelic posters in the 1960s. As a contributor to the underground comix movement, his work appeared regularly in Zap Comix. Griffin was closely identified with the Grateful Dead, designing some of their best known...
, George Metzger, Victor Moscoso
Victor Moscoso
Victor Moscoso is an artist best known for producing psychedelic rock posters/advertisements and underground comix in San Francisco during the 1960s and '70s....
, S. Clay Wilson
S. Clay Wilson
S. Clay Wilson is an American underground cartoonist and central figure in the underground comix movement. Wilson is known for aggressively violent and sexually explicit panoramas of "lowlife," often depicting the wild escapades of pirates and bikers. He was an early contributor to Zap Comix,...
and Manuel Rodriguez, aka Spain
Spain Rodriguez
Manuel Rodriguez , better known as Spain or Spain Rodriguez, is an American underground cartoonist who created the character Trashman. His experiences on the road with the biker gang, the Road Vultures, provided inspiration for his work, as did his left-wing politics.-Biography:Born in Buffalo, New...
. Skip Williamson
Skip Williamson
Skip Williamson is an American underground cartoonist and central figure in the underground comix movement.Williamson is known for being the most political and satirical cartoonist of the underground comix movement.- Childhood :...
created his character Snappy Sammy Smoot
Snappy Sammy Smoot
Snappy Sammy Smoot is a comic book character created and drawn by Skip Williamson. The character appeared in his own comic strips in a number of 1960s underground comix.-Characterization:...
, appearing in several titles. Gilbert Shelton
Gilbert Shelton
Gilbert Shelton is an American cartoonist and underground comix artist. He is the creator of The Fabulous Furry Freak Brothers, Fat Freddy's Cat, Wonder Wart-Hog, Philbert Desanex, Not Quite Dead, and the cover art to The Grateful Dead's 1978 album Shakedown Street.He graduated from Lamar High...
became famous for his superhero parody Wonder Wart-Hog
Wonder Wart-Hog
Wonder Wart-Hog is an underground comic book character, a porcine parody of Superman, created by Gilbert Shelton and Tony Bell.His secret identity is the mild-mannered reporter Philbert Desanex...
(Millar, 1967), Feds 'n' Heds (self-published in 1968) and The Fabulous Furry Freak Brothers (Rip Off Press, 1971), a strip about a trio of "freaks" whose time is spent attempting to acquire drugs and avoid the police. Wilson's work is permeated by shocking violence and ugly sex; he contributed to Zap and published Bent (Print Mint, 1971), Pork (Co-Op Press, 1974) and The Checkered Demon (Last Gasp
Last Gasp
Last Gasp is a book and underground comix publisher and distributor based in San Francisco, California.- History :Founded in 1970 by Ron Turner to publish the ecologically-themed comics magazine Slow Death Funnies, followed by the all-female anthology It Ain't Me Babe, Last Gasp soon became a major...
, 1977). Spain worked for the East Village Other
East Village Other
The East Village Other , was an American underground newspaper in New York City, New York, published biweekly during the 1960s. EVO was among the first countercultural newspapers to emerge, following the Los Angeles Free Press, which had begun publishing a few months earlier...
before becoming known within the underground comix for Trashman
Trashman (comic)
Trashman is a fictional character, a superhero created and drawn by Spain who appeared regularly in underground comix and magazines from 1968 through 1985.,Trashman's first appearance was as a full page serial comic strip in the New York City underground newspaper the East Village Other...
, Zodiac Mindwarp (East Village Other, 1967) and Subvert (Rip Off Press, 1970).
Horror
Horror fiction
Horror fiction also Horror fantasy is a philosophy of literature, which is intended to, or has the capacity to frighten its readers, inducing feelings of horror and terror. It creates an eerie atmosphere. Horror can be either supernatural or non-supernatural...
also became popular, with titles such as Skull (Rip Off Press, 1970), Bogeyman (San Francisco Comic Book Company, 1969), Fantagor (Richard Corben, 1970), Insect Fear (Print Mint, 1970), Up From the Deep (Rip Off Press, 1971), Death Rattle (Kitchen Sink, 1972), Gory Stories (Shroud, 1972), Deviant Slice (Print Mint, 1972) and Two Fisted Zombies (Last Gasp, 1973). Many of these were strongly influenced by 1950s EC Comics like Tales from the Crypt.
The male-dominated scene produced many blatantly misogynistic works, but female cartoonists were emerging. Melinda Gebbie
Melinda Gebbie
Melinda Gebbie is an American comics artist and writer, probably best known for Lost Girls, the three-volume graphic novel she produced in collaboration with writer Alan Moore, published by Top Shelf.-Biography:...
, Lynda Barry
Lynda Barry
Lynda Barry is an American cartoonist and author. One of the most successful non-mainstream American cartoonists, Barry is perhaps best known for her weekly comic strip Ernie Pook's Comeek. Barry's cartoons often view family life from the perspective of pre-teen girls from the wrong side of the...
, Aline Kominsky and Shary Flenniken
Shary Flenniken
Shary Flenniken is an American editor-writer-illustrator and underground cartoonist. After joining the burgeoning underground comics movement in the early 1970s, she became a prominent contributor to National Lampoon and was one of the editors of the magazine for two years...
were featured in the anthologies Wimmen's Comix
Wimmen's Comix
Wimmen's Comix, later titled Wimmin's Comix, was an influential all-female underground comics anthology published from 1972 to 1992. Though it covered a wide range of genre and subject matter, Wimmen's Comix focused more than other anthologies of the time on feminist concerns, homosexuality, sex...
(Last Gasp, 1972), Tits & Clits Comix
Tits & Clits Comix
Tits & Clits Comix was an all-female underground comics anthology put together by Joyce Farmer and Lyn Chevely, published from 1972 to 1987...
(Nanny Goat Productions, 1972), and It Aint Me Babe (Last Gasp, 1970).
London
In London, British cartoonists were introduced in the underground publications International TimesInternational Times
International Times was an underground newspaper founded in London in 1966. Editors included Hoppy, David Mairowitz, Pete Stansill, Barry Miles, Jim Haynes and playwright Tom McGrath...
(IT), and Oz
Oz (magazine)
Oz was first published as a satirical humour magazine between 1963 and 1969 in Sydney, Australia and, in its second and better known incarnation, became a "psychedelic hippy" magazine from 1967 to 1973 in London...
reprinted some American material. During a visit to London, Larry Hama
Larry Hama
Larry Hama is an American comic book writer, artist, actor and musician who has worked in the fields of entertainment and publishing since the 1960s....
created original material for IT. The first UK comix mag was Cyclops, started by IT staff members. In a bid to alleviate its ongoing financial problems, IT brought out Nasty Tales (1971), which was soon prosecuted for obscenity. Despite appearing before the censorious Old Bailey
Old Bailey
The Central Criminal Court in England and Wales, commonly known as the Old Bailey from the street in which it stands, is a court building in central London, one of a number of buildings housing the Crown Court...
Judge Alan King-Hamilton
Alan King-Hamilton
Myer Alan Barry King-Hamilton QC was a British barrister and judge who was best known for hearing numerous high-profile cases at the Old Bailey during the 1960s and 1970s...
, the publishers were acquitted by the jury. In the wake of its own high-profile obscenity trial Oz launched cOZmic Comics in 1972, printing a mixture of new British underground strips and old American work.
When Oz closed down the following year the cOZmic was continued by fledgling media tycoon Felix Dennis
Felix Dennis
Felix Dennis is a British magazine publisher, poet, and philanthropist. His privately owned company, Dennis Publishing, pioneered computer and hobbyist magazine publishing in the United Kingdom...
and his company, H. Bunch Associates, until 1975. The UK-based cartoonists included Chris Welch, Edward Barker
Edward Barker (cartoonist)
John Edward Barker was an English cartoonist, best known for his work in International Times and The Observer in the late 1960s and early 1970s, including the comic strip "The Largactilites" . He was described as "the wittiest and most idiosyncratic cartoonist to emerge from the British...
, Michael J. Weller
Michael J. Weller
Michael John Weller was born in south London in 1946.Weller designed USA sleeve for David Bowie's The Man Who Sold the World LP , re-released . As "Captain Stelling" Weller wrote and drew The Firm - an early British artist's publication inspired by American underground comic book innovations...
, Malcolm Livingstone, William Rankin (aka Wyndham Raine), Dave Gibbons
Dave Gibbons
Dave Gibbons is an English comic book artist, writer and sometime letterer. He is best known for his collaborations with writer Alan Moore, which include the miniseries Watchmen and the Superman story "For the Man Who Has Everything"...
, Joe Petagno, Bryan Talbot
Bryan Talbot
Bryan Talbot is a British comic book artist and writer, born in Wigan, Lancashire, in 1952. He is best known as the creator of The Adventures of Luther Arkwright and its sequel Heart of Empire.-Career:...
, and the team of Martin Sudden, Jay Jeff Jones and Brian Bolland
Brian Bolland
Brian Bolland is a British comics artist, known for his meticulous, detailed linework and eye-catching compositions. Best known in the UK as one of the definitive Judge Dredd artists for British comics anthology 2000 AD, he spearheaded the 'British Invasion' of the American comics industry, and in...
.
Reprints were popular with publishers because underground artists had no claims on their work. The basis for this was that material originally printed in publications that belonged to the Underground Press Syndicate was available to reprint for free by other UPS members. This permission was exploited by some underground comix publishers, bulking up or entirely filling their own magazines with work whose creators didn’t receive any payment even when those publishers made a profit. The last UK comix series of note was Brainstorm Comix (1975), which featured only original British strips.
Recognition and controversy (1972-1982)
San Francisco had always been an epicenter of the underground comix movement; Crumb and many other underground cartoonists lived in the city's Haight-Ashbury neighborhood in the mid-to-late 1960s. By 1972–1973, the city's Mission District was "underground headquarters": living and operating out of The Mission in that period were Gary Arlington (the San Francisco Comic Book Company), Roger Brand, Kim DeitchKim Deitch
-Sources:* at Lambiek's Comiclopedia-External links:* Ford, Jeffrey. *Heller, Steven. **...
, Don Donahue
Don Donahue
Don Donahue was a comic book publisher, operating under the name Apex Novelties, one of the instigators of the underground comix movement in the 1960s....
(Apex Novelties), Shary Flenniken
Shary Flenniken
Shary Flenniken is an American editor-writer-illustrator and underground cartoonist. After joining the burgeoning underground comics movement in the early 1970s, she became a prominent contributor to National Lampoon and was one of the editors of the magazine for two years...
, Justin Green, Bill Griffith & Diane Noomin
Diane Noomin
Diane Noomin is an American comics artist associated with the underground comics movement, best known for her character Didi Glitz. She is the editor of the anthology series Twisted Sisters, and one of the original contributors to Wimmen's Comix. She has also done theatrical work, creating a stage...
, Rory Hayes, Jay Kinney
Jay Kinney
Jay Kinney is an American author, editor, and former underground cartoonist. A member, along with Skip Williamson, Jay Lynch and R. Crumb, of the original Bijou Funnies crew, Kinney also edited Young Lust, a satire of romance comics, in the early 1970s with Bill Griffith...
, Bobby London
Bobby London
Bobby London is an American underground comix and mainstream comics artist.-Biography:London created his underground newspaper comic strip Merton, in his native New York in 1969 and the raunchy Dirty Duck strip in 1971...
, Ted Richards, Trina Robbins
Trina Robbins
Trina Robbins is an American comics artist and writer. She was an early and influential participant in the underground comix movement, and one of the few female artists in underground comix when she started. Both as a cartoonist and historian, Robbins has long been involved in creating outlets for...
, Joe Schenkman
Joe Schenkman
Joe Schenkman is an American publisher and underground cartoonist. Schenkman was part of underground cartooning's original wave, active in the late 1960s as a regular contributor to Rat Subterranean News, Gothic Blimp Works and the East Village Other in New York City. In San Francisco in the early...
, and Art Spiegelman
Art Spiegelman
Art Spiegelman is an American comics artist, editor, and advocate for the medium of comics, best known for his Pulitzer Prize-winning comic book memoir, Maus. His works are published with his name in lowercase: art spiegelman.-Biography:Spiegelman was born in Stockholm, Sweden, to Polish Jews...
.
Film and television began to reflect the influence of underground comix in the 1970s, starting with the release of Ralph Bakshi
Ralph Bakshi
Ralph Bakshi is an Israeli-American director of animated and live-action films. In the 1970s, he established an alternative to mainstream animation through independent and adult-oriented productions. Between 1972 and 1992, he directed nine theatrically released feature films, five of which he wrote...
's film adaptation of Crumb's Fritz the Cat
Fritz the Cat (film)
Fritz the Cat is a 1972 American animated comedy film written and directed by Ralph Bakshi as his feature film debut. Based on the comic strip of the same name by Robert Crumb, the film was the first animated feature film to receive an X rating in the United States...
, the first animated film to receive an X rating
X-rated
In some countries, X is or has been a motion picture rating reserved for the most explicit films. Films rated X are intended only for viewing by adults, usually legally defined as people over the age of 17.-United Kingdom:...
from the MPAA
Motion Picture Association of America
The Motion Picture Association of America, Inc. , originally the Motion Picture Producers and Distributors of America , was founded in 1922 and is designed to advance the business interests of its members...
. Further adult-oriented animated film
Adult animation
Adult animation is a term used to describe animation that is targeted at adults. Animated films and television shows may be considered adult for a number of reasons. Some productions are noted for experimental storytelling and animation techniques, or sophisticated storytelling...
s influenced by underground comix followed, including The Nine Lives of Fritz the Cat
The Nine Lives of Fritz the Cat
The Nine Lives of Fritz the Cat is a 1974 animated film directed by Robert Taylor. It is an adult animation featuring a series of drug-induced vignettes both related and unrelated to life in the 1970s. Starring Skip Hinnant as the voice of the titular feline protagonist, the film is a sequel to...
and Down and Dirty Duck. The influence of underground comix has also been attributed to films such as The Lord of the Rings
The Lord of the Rings (1978 film)
J.R.R. Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings is a 1978 American fantasy film directed by Ralph Bakshi. It contains both animation and live action footage which is rotoscoped to give it a more consistent look throughout the length of the movie. It is an adaptation of the first half of the high fantasy...
(1978) and Forbidden Zone
Forbidden Zone
Forbidden Zone is a 1982 musical comedy film based upon the stage performances of the Mystic Knights of the Oingo Boingo. The film stars Hervé Villechaize, Susan Tyrrell and members of the Mystic Knights of the Oingo Boingo, and features appearances by Warhol Superstar Viva, Joe Spinell and The...
(1980). The popularity of Monty Python's Flying Circus
Monty Python's Flying Circus
Monty Python’s Flying Circus is a BBC TV sketch comedy series. The shows were composed of surreality, risqué or innuendo-laden humour, sight gags and observational sketches without punchlines...
, which featured the animation of Help! contributor Terry Gilliam
Terry Gilliam
Terrence Vance "Terry" Gilliam is an American-born British screenwriter, film director, animator, actor and member of the Monty Python comedy troupe. Gilliam is also known for directing several films, including Brazil , The Adventures of Baron Munchausen , The Fisher King , and 12 Monkeys...
, has also been attributed to the prominence of the underground comix scene.
Mainstream publications such as Playboy
Playboy
Playboy is an American men's magazine that features photographs of nude women as well as journalism and fiction. It was founded in Chicago in 1953 by Hugh Hefner and his associates, and funded in part by a $1,000 loan from Hefner's mother. The magazine has grown into Playboy Enterprises, Inc., with...
and National Lampoon began to publish comics and art similar to that of underground comix. The underground movement also prompted older professional comic book artists to try their hand in the alternate press. Wally Wood
Wally Wood
Wallace Allan Wood was an American comic book writer, artist and independent publisher, best known for his work in EC Comics and Mad. He was one of Mads founding cartoonists in 1952. Although much of his early professional artwork is signed Wallace Wood, he became known as Wally Wood, a name he...
published witzend
Witzend
witzend, published on an irregular schedule spanning decades, was an underground comic showcasing contributions by comic book professionals, leading illustrators and new artists. witzend was launched in 1966 by the writer-artist Wallace Wood, who handed the reins to Bill Pearson from 1968–1985...
in 1966, soon passing the title on to artist-editor Bill Pearson. In 1969, Wood created Heroes, Inc. Presents Cannon
Heroes, Inc. Presents Cannon
Heroes, Inc. Presents Cannon is a two-issue comic book series that represents one of the earliest independent comics. The first issue was self-published by prominent writer-artist Wally Wood in 1969, with a second issue published by CPL Gang Publications in 1976.This comic-book series is unrelated...
, intended for distribution to armed forces bases. Steve Ditko
Steve Ditko
Stephen J. "Steve" Ditko is an American comic book artist and writer best known as the artist co-creator, with Stan Lee, of the Marvel Comics heroes Spider-Man and Doctor Strange....
gave full vent to his Ayn Rand
Ayn Rand
Ayn Rand was a Russian-American novelist, philosopher, playwright, and screenwriter. She is known for her two best-selling novels The Fountainhead and Atlas Shrugged and for developing a philosophical system she called Objectivism....
-inspired philosophy in Mr. A
Mr. A
Mr. A is a fictional comic book hero created by Steve Ditko. Unlike most of his work, the character of Mr. A and the Mr. A stories remain the property of Ditko, all of which were written and illustrated by himself. The character first appeared in Witzend #3, 1967. Mr. A's name comes from "A is A",...
and Avenging World (1973). Flo Steinberg
Flo Steinberg
Florence "Flo" Steinberg is an American publisher of one of the first independent comic books, the underground/alternative comics hybrid Big Apple Comix, in 1975...
, Stan Lee's former secretary at Marvel Comics
Marvel Comics
Marvel Worldwide, Inc., commonly referred to as Marvel Comics and formerly Marvel Publishing, Inc. and Marvel Comics Group, is an American company that publishes comic books and related media...
, published Big Apple Comix
Big Apple Comix
Big Apple Comix is an early independent comic book published by Flo Steinberg in 1975. An historically important link between underground comix and what would later be called alternative comics, this 36-page, 6 3/4" x 9 3/4" hybrid with glossy color covers and black-and-white interiors contains 11...
, featuring the work of artists she knew from Marvel.
Critics of the underground comix scene claimed that the publications were socially irresponsible, and glorified violence, sex and drug use. In 1973, the Supreme Court ruled that local communities could decide their own First Amendment standards with reference to obscenity. In the mid-1970s, sale of drug paraphernalia was outlawed in many places, and the distribution network for these comics (and the underground newspapers) dried up, leaving mail order as the only commercial outlet for underground titles. While the American underground comix scene was beginning to decline, British underground comix came into prominence between 1973 and 1974, but soon faced the same kind of criticism that American underground comix received.
In 1974, Marvel launched Comix Book
Comix Book
Comix Book was an underground comic book series published from 1974–1976, originally by Marvel Comics. It was the first underground comic to be published by a mainstream publisher. Edited by Denis Kitchen, Comix Book featured work by such underground luminaries as Justin Green, Kim Deitch, Trina...
, requesting that underground artists submit significantly less explicit work appropriate for newsstands sales. A number of underground artists agreed to contribute work, including Art Spiegelman, Trina Robbins and S. Clay Wilson. However, Comix Book did not sell well and lasted only five issues. In 1976, Marvel achieved success with Howard the Duck
Howard the Duck
Howard the Duck is a comic book character in the Marvel Comics universe created by writer Steve Gerber and artist Val Mayerik. The character first appeared in Adventure into Fear #19 and several subsequent series have chronicled the misadventures of the ill-tempered, anthropomorphic, "funny...
, a satirical comic aimed at adult audiences that was inspired by the underground comix scene. While it did not depict the explicit content that was often featured in underground comix, it was more socially relevant than anything Marvel had previously published.
By this time, some artists, including Spiegelman, felt that the underground comix scene had become less creative than it had been in the past. According to Spiegelman, "What had seemed like a revolution simply deflated into a lifestyle. Underground comics were stereotyped as dealing only with Sex, Dope and Cheap Thrills. They got stuffed back into the closet, along with bong pipes and love beads, as Things Started To Get Uglier."
Autobiographical comics began to come into prominence in 1976, with the premiere of Harvey Pekar
Harvey Pekar
Harvey Lawrence Pekar was an American underground comic book writer, music critic and media personality, best known for his autobiographical American Splendor comic series. In 2003, the series inspired a critically acclaimed film adaptation of the same name.Pekar described American Splendor as "an...
's self-published comic American Splendor
American Splendor
American Splendor is a series of autobiographical comic books written by the late Harvey Pekar and drawn by a variety of artists. The first issue was published in 1976 and the most recent in September 2008, with publication occurring at irregular intervals...
, which featured art by several cartoonists, including Crumb.
In the late 1970s, Marvel and DC Comics
DC Comics
DC Comics, Inc. is one of the largest and most successful companies operating in the market for American comic books and related media. It is the publishing unit of DC Entertainment a company of Warner Bros. Entertainment, which itself is owned by Time Warner...
agreed to sell their comics on a no-return basis with large discounts to comic book retailers; this led to later deals that helped underground publishers. During this period, underground titles focusing on feminist
Feminist movement
The feminist movement refers to a series of campaigns for reforms on issues such as reproductive rights, domestic violence, maternity leave, equal pay, women's suffrage, sexual harassment and sexual violence...
and Gay Liberation
Gay Liberation
Gay liberation is the name used to describe the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender movement of the late 1960s and early to mid 1970s in North America, Western Europe, and Australia and New Zealand...
themes began to appear, as well as comics associated with the environmental movement
Environmental movement
The environmental movement, a term that includes the conservation and green politics, is a diverse scientific, social, and political movement for addressing environmental issues....
. British underground cartoonists also created political titles, but they did not sell as well as American political comics.
Artists influenced by the underground comix scene, who were unable to get work published by better known underground publications, began self-publishing their own small press, photocopied comic books, known as minicomic
Minicomic
A minicomic is a creator-published comic book, often photocopied and stapled or with a handmade binding. In the United Kingdom and Europe the term "small press comic" is equivalent with minicomic reserved for those publications measuring A6 or less...
s. The punk subculture
Punk subculture
The punk subculture includes a diverse array of ideologies, and forms of expression, including fashion, visual art, dance, literature, and film, which grew out of punk rock.-History:...
began to influence underground comix.
1982-present
In 1982, the distribution of underground comix changed through the emergence of specialty stores.In response to attempts by mainstream publishers to appeal to adult audiences, alternative comics
Alternative comics
Alternative comics defines a range of American comics that have appeared since the 1980s, following the underground comix movement of the late 1960s and early 1970s. Alternative comics present an alternative to "mainstream" superhero comics which in the past have dominated the US comic book industry...
emerged, focusing on many of the same themes as underground comix, as well as publishing experimental work. Artists formally in the underground comix scene began to associate themselves with alternative comics, including Barry, Crumb, Deitch, Griffith and Justin Green. In the 1980s, sexual comix came into prominence, integrating sex into storylines rather than utilizing sexual explicitness for shock value. The first of these features was Omaha the Cat Dancer
Omaha the Cat Dancer
"Omaha" the Cat Dancer is an erotic comic strip created by artist Reed Waller and writer Kate Worley. Set in the fictional Mipple City, Minnesota in a universe populated by anthropomorphic funny animal characters, the strip is a soap opera which focuses on Omaha, a feline exotic dancer, and her...
, which made its first appearance in an issue of the underground publication Bizarre Sex. Inspired by Fritz the Cat, Omaha the Cat Dancer focused on an anthropomorphic
Anthropomorphism
Anthropomorphism is any attribution of human characteristics to animals, non-living things, phenomena, material states, objects or abstract concepts, such as organizations, governments, spirits or deities. The term was coined in the mid 1700s...
feline stripper. Other comix with a sexual focus included Melody, based on the life story of Sylvie Rancourt and Cherry Poptart
Cherry (comics)
Cherry is an adult comic book with a protagonist of the same name, written and drawn by Larry Welz.-History:First published in 1982 the comic series was originally called Cherry Poptart, but the title was changed to Cherry beginning with Issue #3 following litigation or threats of litigation by...
, a comedic sex comic featuring art similar in style to that of Archie Comics
Archie Comics
Archie Comics is an American comic book publisher headquartered in the Village of Mamaroneck, Town of Mamaroneck, New York, known for its many series featuring the fictional teenagers Archie Andrews, Betty Cooper, Veronica Lodge, Reggie Mantle and Jughead Jones. The characters were created by...
.
In 1985, Griffith's comic strip Zippy the Pinhead
Zippy the Pinhead
Zippy is an American comic strip created by Bill Griffith. The character of Zippy the Pinhead initially appeared in underground publications during the 1970s...
was syndicated as a daily feature. It originally appeared in underground titles before being syndicated. Between 1980 and 1991 Spiegelman's graphic novel Maus
Maus
Maus: A Survivor's Tale, by Art Spiegelman, is a biography of the author's father, Vladek Spiegelman, a Polish Jew and Holocaust survivor. It alternates between descriptions of Vladek's life in Poland before and during the Second World War and Vladek's later life in the Rego Park neighborhood of...
was serialized in Raw
RAW (magazine)
RAW was a comics anthology edited by Art Spiegelman and Françoise Mouly and published by Mouly from 1980 to 1991. It was a flagship publication of the 1980s alternative comics movement, serving as a more intellectual counterpoint to Robert Crumb's visceral Weirdo, which followed squarely in the...
, and published in two volumes n 1986 and 1991. It was followed by an exhibition at the Museum of Modern Art
Museum of Modern Art
The Museum of Modern Art is an art museum in Midtown Manhattan in New York City, on 53rd Street, between Fifth and Sixth Avenues. It has been important in developing and collecting modernist art, and is often identified as the most influential museum of modern art in the world...
and a Pulitzer Prize
Pulitzer Prize
The Pulitzer Prize is a U.S. award for achievements in newspaper and online journalism, literature and musical composition. It was established by American publisher Joseph Pulitzer and is administered by Columbia University in New York City...
for Spiegelman in 1992. The novel originated from a three-page story first published in an underground comic, Funny Aminals (cq), (Apex Novelties, 1972).
Alternative cartoonist
Alternative comics
Alternative comics defines a range of American comics that have appeared since the 1980s, following the underground comix movement of the late 1960s and early 1970s. Alternative comics present an alternative to "mainstream" superhero comics which in the past have dominated the US comic book industry...
Peter Bagge
Peter Bagge
Peter Bagge is an American cartoonist. He is the creator of Buddy Bradley, Hate, Neat Stuff, Martini Baton, and Sweatshop, Apocalypse Nerd and Other Lives. His stories often use black humor and exaggerated cartooning to dramatize the reduced expectations of middle-class American youth...
was strongly influenced by underground comics, and was reciprocally admired by Crumb, whom Bagge edited Weirdo magazine for in the 1980s; he could considered part of a "second generation" of underground-type cartoonists, including such notables as Mike Diana
Mike Diana
Michael Christopher "Mike" Diana is an underground cartoonist who became the first artist ever to receive a criminal conviction for obscenity for artwork in the United States.-Early life:...
, Johnny Ryan
Johnny Ryan
John F. Ryan IV is an American alternative comics creator. He is best known for Angry Youth Comix, a comic book published by Fantagraphics, and for "Blecky Yuckerella", a comic strip which originated in the alternative newspaper the Portland Mercury and now appears on Ryan's website...
, Bob Fingerman, Danny Hellman
Danny Hellman
Danny Hellman is an American freelance illustrator and cartoonist nicknamed Dirty Danny. Since 1989, his illustrations have appeared in publications including Time, Fortune, Sports Illustrated, The Wall Street Journal and others, and his comic book work has appeared in DC Comics...
, Julie Doucet
Julie Doucet
Julie Doucet is a Canadian former underground cartoonist and artist, best known for her autobiographical works such as Dirty Plotte and My New York Diary...
, Jim Woodring
Jim Woodring
Jim Woodring is a Seattle-based cartoonist, comic book author, artist and toy designer. He also produces fine art works in a variety of other media, including painting and charcoal....
, Ivan Brunetti
Ivan Brunetti
Ivan Brunetti is an American cartoonist and comics scholar based in Chicago, Illinois.Noted for combining blackly humorous taboo-laden subject matter with simplified and exaggerated cartoon drawing styles, Brunetti's best known comic work is collected in his largely autobiographical series Schizo,...
, Gary Leib
Gary Leib
Gary Leib is an American underground cartoonist, animator, and musician. Best known for the comic book Idiotland , Leib's work has also appeared in The New Yorker, The New York Times, Musician Magazine, The New York Observer, RAW, BLAB! and as weekly...
, Doug Allen
Doug Allen
Doug Allen is an American underground cartoonist, illustrator, and musician. Best known for his long-running comic strip Steven, Allen has over the years collaborated with long-time friend Gary Leib on music, animation, fine art, and comics, including the two-man Fantagraphics anthology...
, and Ed Piskor
Ed Piskor
Ed Piskor is an alternative comics artist operating out of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. He is a former student of The Kubert School and is best known for his artistic collaborations with underground comics pioneers Harvey Pekar of American Splendor fame, and Jay Lynch who illustrates Garbage Pail Kids...
. Many of these artists were published by Fantagraphics Books
Fantagraphics Books
Fantagraphics Books is an American publisher of alternative comics, classic comic strip anthologies, magazines, graphic novels, and the adult-oriented Eros Comix imprint...
, which was founded in 1977 and through the 1980s and 90s became a major publisher of alternative and underground cartoonists' work.
As of the 2010s, reprints of early underground comix continue to sell alongside modern underground publications.
Archives
After the death of King Features SyndicateKing Features Syndicate
King Features Syndicate, a print syndication company owned by The Hearst Corporation, distributes about 150 comic strips, newspaper columns, editorial cartoons, puzzles and games to nearly 5000 newspapers worldwide...
editor Jay Kennedy
Jay Kennedy
Jay Malcolm Kennedy was an American editor and writer. He joined King Features Syndicate in 1988 as deputy comics editor and became comics editor one year later. He began as King Features' editor-in-chief in 1997....
, his personal underground comix collection was acquired by the Billy Ireland Cartoon Library & Museum
Billy Ireland Cartoon Library & Museum
The Billy Ireland Cartoon Library & Museum, a research library of American comic art, is affiliated with the Ohio State University library system in Columbus, Ohio...
in Ohio.
The University of California, Berkeley
University of California, Berkeley
The University of California, Berkeley , is a teaching and research university established in 1868 and located in Berkeley, California, USA...
's Bancroft Library
Bancroft Library
The Bancroft Library is the primary special collections library of the University of California, Berkeley. It was acquired as a gift/purchase from its founder, Hubert Howe Bancroft, with the proviso that it retain the name Bancroft Library in perpetuity...
has a large underground comix collection, especially related to Bay Area publications; much of it was built by a deposit account at Gary Arlington's San Francisco Comic Book Store. The collection also includes titles from New York, Los Angeles, and elsewhere.
External links
- Moore Collection of Underground Comix - A special collection of the library of California Polytechnic State University (Cal Poly)
- Lynn R. Hansen Underground Comics Collection - A special collection of the library of Washington State University
- UG Comix Info and "A Visual Guide to Underground Comix Reprints". WebCitation archive, main page.
- UT Texas Ranger Archives