Underground comix
Underground comics (or
comix) are self-published or small press
comic books that sprang up in the US in the late 1960s. The movement was centered in
San Francisco, but also included important artists and publishers in New York, Chicago and Austin, Texas. Prominent artists associated with this movement include
Vaughn Bode,
Robert Crumb,
Kim Deitch,
Justin Green,
Rick Griffin,
Bill Griffith,
Jay Kinney,
Jay Lynch,
Trina Robbins,
Spain Rodriguez,
Gilbert Shelton,
Art Spiegelman,
Robert Williams,
Skip Williamson and
S. Clay Wilson.
Mainstream comics are typically produced by a team (writer, penciler, inker, letterer, editor), while underground books were often done by a single person. Underground artists also contributed shorter works to thematic
anthology comic titles, such as
Funny Aminals (1972), edited by
Terry Zwigoff with work by Crumb, Griffith, Lynch, Spiegelman and
Shary Flenniken.
Underground comix reflect the concerns of the 1960s
counterculture: experimentation in all things, drug-altered states of mind, rejection of sexual taboos, ridicule of "the establishment." The spelling 'comix' was established to differentiate these publications from mainstream 'comics'. The notion of comic books outside the mainstream was suggested by
Harvey Kurtzman when he used the headline "Comics Go Underground" on the newspaper-format cover of
Mad 16 (October, 1954). The term 'underground comics' was created by writer-editor
Bhob Stewart during a panel discussion at the July 23, 1966, New York comics convention. On a panel with
Ted White and
Archie Goodwin, Stewart predicted the birth of a new type of comic book: "I want to say that just as mainstream movies prompted underground films, I think the same thing is going to happen with comics. You will have underground comics just as you have had underground films. This would be more like
James Joyce in comic book form. You can see the beginning of this in some of the cartoon panels that have been appearing in the
East Village Other."
The underground comix were largely distributed though a network of
head shops which also sold underground newspapers, psychedelic posters, and drug paraphernalia. In the mid-1970s, sales of drug paraphernalia was outlawed in many places, and the distribution network for these comics (and the underground newspapers) dried up. Although many of the underground artists continued to produce work, the underground comix movement is considered by most historians to have ended by 1980, to be replaced by a rise in independent, non-
Comics Code compliant publishing companies in the 1980s and the resulting increase in acceptance of adult-oriented comic books (see
alternative comics).
The term 'underground comics' is sometimes used more loosely to also include some contemporary alternative comics.
Air Pirates Funnies (
Dan O'Neill, others. Sparked a famous copyright lawsuit from
Disney)
Anarchy Comics (political comic edited by
Jay Kinney)
Arcade (anthology edited by
Bill Griffith and
Art Spiegelman)
Bijou Funnies (Chicago-based anthology,
Jay Lynch and others)
Binky Brown Meets the Holy Virgin Mary (
Justin Green)
Bogeyman (
Rory Hayes and others)
Cheech Wizard (Vaughn Bode)
*Comix Book - Marvel Comics attempt at 'mainstream' underground comics
*Coochie Cootie's Men's Comics (Robert Williams)
*Corn Fed (Kim Deitch)
*The Fabulous Furry Freak Brothers (Gilbert Shelton)
*Gothic Blimp Works - anthology produced by the East Village Other newspaper
*Hytone, Despair, Big Ass,
XYZ (Robert Crumb)
*It Ain't Me Babe (anthology edited by Trina Robbins)
*Skull Comix (EC style horror comix edited by Greg Irons)
*Tales from the Tube (Rick Griffin)
*Wimmen's Comix (anthology edited by the Wimmen's Comix Collective)
*Witzend (edited by Wallace Wood and Bill Pearson)
*Young Lust (romance comic satire edited by Jay Kinney)
*Zap Comix'' (
Robert Crumb,
Spain Rodriguez,
S. Clay Wilson,
Rick Griffin,
Robert Williams,
Victor Moscoso)
*
Fantagraphics*
Print Mint*
Rip Off Press*
Last Gasp*
Kitchen Sink*Patrick Rosenkranz;
Rebel Visions: the Underground Comix Revolution, 1963-1975;
Fantagraphics Books; ISBN 1-56097-464-8 (hardcover, 2002)
*Brian Tucker;"The Legacy of Underground Comix," an article about the Rosenkranz book plus a book by
Robert Williams, available online at http://x-traonline.org/vol6_2/comix_review.html
*
Help! (magazine)*
Underground press*
Tijuana bible*
1991 audio interview with Art Spiegelman, author of Maus, by Don Swaim (CBS Radio)*
Quarter Bin: Underground comics*
"A Visual Guide to Underground Comix Reprints" - A guide to distinguish reprints.
