The Unofficial Underground Comix thread... 14 14

[OtherEric]

On 7/17/2022 at 10:38 PM, wpbooks01 said:

Binky Brown

Skull Comics

Slow Death

Bijou #8

Deviant Slice

Subvert

Power Pak (I like Aline much better than Trina and the gang at Wimmens)

Freak Bros. 1

Grimwit

Man From Utopia

 

Since you mentioned Zap and Air Pirates you already have a bit of the big picture. My list is subject to change, and if I don't have a particular issue cited, I mean the whole run. Sorry I'm bad at following instructions. And I have had a copy of the Captain Crud pb since I was a kid and my Mom bought me a copy without looking at it too closely. Thanks Mom, and Hi!

 

Hope this gives you some ideas Other Eric. I admit I'm partial to horror and violence in my comix, and lots of hardcore sex when drawn the way that appeals to me. I have standards after all. Good luck!

Thank you, this is just what I was hoping for.  Half the list, I already have (Binky Brown, Skull, Bijou 8, Subvert, and Freak Bros. 1); of the others there were a couple titles on my radar (Slow Death, Grimwit), a couple I had heard of but didn't really have on my list (Deviant Slice, Man from Utopia), and one I hadn't heard of- Power Pak.  So enough that I do have that I feel like I'm doing something generally right, and the perfect mix of things to check out. 

[OtherEric]

A couple more in today:

[rjpb]

I don't know that anything is really essential, collect what you like. Even though I long collected Crumb, Spain, Kim Deitch, Shelton, Griffith, Robert Williams, Skip Williamson, Wilson, Rand Holmes and several other 1st gen UG artists, I never collected Corben, Bode, Irons and some other fan favorites, other than in anthologies with artists I did like. 

[OtherEric]

On 7/18/2022 at 4:41 PM, rjpb said:

I don't know that anything is really essential, collect what you like. Even though I long collected Crumb, Spain, Kim Deitch, Shelton, Griffith, Robert Williams, Skip Williamson, Wilson, Rand Holmes and several other 1st gen UG artists, I never collected Corben, Bode, Irons and some other fan favorites, other than in anthologies with artists I did like. 

I agree with the idea "collect what you like" completely; but I also think there's value in seeing what others consider the essential material.

[Jayman]

Corben.

[Jayman]

I really need to scan more of my underground’s in…

[Axe Elf]

On 7/18/2022 at 1:53 PM, OtherEric said:

A couple more in today:

 

I have GOT to get me one of those!

I see "Raoul Duke" is credited with the lettering on page 35.  I wonder...

[OtherEric]

On 7/18/2022 at 7:12 PM, Axe Elf said:

I have GOT to get me one of those!

I see "Raoul Duke" is credited with the lettering on page 35.  I wonder...

 

That was my reaction when I found out the book existed as well.

I posted the two pages by Stevens over in the Dave Stevens thread in copper if you want to see those.

[wpbooks01]

On 7/18/2022 at 4:41 PM, rjpb said:

I don't know that anything is really essential, collect what you like. Even though I long collected Crumb, Spain, Kim Deitch, Shelton, Griffith, Robert Williams, Skip Williamson, Wilson, Rand Holmes and several other 1st gen UG artists, I never collected Corben, Bode, Irons and some other fan favorites, other than in anthologies with artists I did like. 

Pretty much my point when I stated my interests. UG covers a lot of stuff, and much of it is dissimilar to everything else.

 

I recall buying Fear And Laughter off the rack when it came out. I never thought of it as UG, more like post-UG. It was published after Arcade and I always used that as the endpoint, if you will.  Of course just like content, that sort of thing is in the eye of the beholder! Silver Age into Bronze Age like....

[OtherEric]

On 7/18/2022 at 10:26 PM, wpbooks01 said:

I recall buying Fear And Laughter off the rack when it came out. I never thought of it as UG, more like post-UG. It was published after Arcade and I always used that as the endpoint, if you will.  Of course just like content, that sort of thing is in the eye of the beholder! Silver Age into Bronze Age like....

If it's on Comixjoint, I'll assume it's fair game here.  But agreed that late 70's books are much more on a case-by-case basis.

Edited to add:  I do need to track down Arcade #1 one of these days as well, I have the rest of the run.

Edited July 19, 2022 by OtherEric

[Jayman]

Always loved the horror themed ones…

[rjpb]

On 7/18/2022 at 10:26 PM, wpbooks01 said:

Pretty much my point when I stated my interests. UG covers a lot of stuff, and much of it is dissimilar to everything else.

 

I recall buying Fear And Laughter off the rack when it came out. I never thought of it as UG, more like post-UG. It was published after Arcade and I always used that as the endpoint, if you will.  Of course just like content, that sort of thing is in the eye of the beholder! Silver Age into Bronze Age like....

I still think of late 70s books from companies like Last Gasp and Print Mint as underground comix, especially as you mainly found them in head shops and hippie book stores as comic shops were only just becoming common place and many didn't carry undergrounds. I do recall not much coming out after around '75 until the changes in distribution in the early 80s lead to an increase in indy/alternative comics, some of which were by the 1st generation UG creators and/or published by the UG publishers of old. 

I tend to think of the creators that largely got their start/exposure in Raw and Weirdo as 2nd generation UG creators, and the support Fantagraphics gave a lot of these creators towards the end of the decade as an extension of the ug comix of the 60s and 70s, so I think of Raw #1 (1980) as being the start of the new era, and everything before that as the "stoned age" of undergrounds as I called them in a thread I started here nearly 20 years ago, but still mentally classified the next era as "undergrounds" in spirit, though the dividing line between those books and "independent comics" gets increasingly blurred. Then you have the whole self published and photocopy, and later "small press" phenomenons  starting in the late 70s that further complicate things. 

 

Edited July 19, 2022 by rjpb

[oldmilwaukee6er]

On 7/19/2022 at 12:57 PM, Jayman said:

Always loved the horror themed ones…

This book sells well in Wisconsin not surprisingly... we do serial killers up Nort 

[oldmilwaukee6er]

My ten in no order, a tougher exercise than anticipated... incl first 2 set per OP

Zap 0

Air Pirates 1

Zap 1

Slow Death 1

Mr Natural 1

Fed n Heads or Freak Bros 1

San Francisco 1

Insect Fear 1 or Subvert 1

American Splendor 1

Harold Hedd 2

 

[Jayman]

On 7/20/2022 at 6:09 AM, oldmilwaukee6er said:

On 7/19/2022 at 1:57 PM, Jayman said:

This book sells well in Wisconsin not surprisingly... we do serial killers up Nort 

I purchased this directly from Denis Kitchen and he informed me that he had a nice stack of them for sale. Unfortunately, he stated that all his warehouse copied had rusty staples in various degrees. I asked him to please send me one with the least amount of rust, and he did.

[Morganmi]

 Underground Comics was the rebellion against the Comic Code Authority and censorship in general. 

Sorta like rock and roll in comic book form rebelling against the square establishment of the 50's and 60's but also generally getting less potent and more main stream as the comic code authority lost relevancy and free thought in comics became more acceptable again. 

That's why it's the first wave that usually contains most important innovations in any movement and underground comics are no different in this respect making the early most groundbreaking stuff the most sought after which is not to say there isn't great stuff after.

Preaching to the choir I know but hopefully anyone reading this and wondering why we all think Undergrounds are important might get a  better understanding from this about them. 

Anyway enough prattling, time for some pics of the Heritage Auction purchase that came in the other day and couple books I got a few months ago that I don't think I posted before. 

Edited July 20, 2022 by Morganmi

[OtherEric]

On 7/20/2022 at 3:31 AM, oldmilwaukee6er said:

My ten in no order, a tougher exercise than anticipated... incl first 2 set per OP

Zap 0

Air Pirates 1

Zap 1

Slow Death 1

Mr Natural 1

Fed n Heads or Freak Bros 1

San Francisco 1

Insect Fear 1 or Subvert 1

American Splendor 1

Harold Hedd 2

 

Thank you.  I've got 7 of the books, would need 5, they're all on my list somewhere... although American Splendor 1 and San Francisco 1 will both be crazy hard to find.

[deadleg]

On 7/18/2022 at 8:22 PM, Jayman said:

Corben.

Man this cover is just so rad. Really want a nice high grade copy.

[deadleg]

On 7/18/2022 at 10:12 PM, Axe Elf said:

I have GOT to get me one of those!

I see "Raoul Duke" is credited with the lettering on page 35.  I wonder...

I had originally got a copy of this book not only for Hunter S. Thompson esque story, but also for the early Dave Stevens artwork.

[wpbooks01]

I recall there also being early Dave Stevens artwork in Quack.