What are the top ten rarest undergrounds?

[Bo_Hogg]

I would like to know what you think. God nose and zap 1 and 0 come to mind but I want to put this in the hand of some experts.

[50 Cent #II (1st)]

Rarest? Zap 1 and 0 would not be anywhere near the top. Some comix had a print run of in the 10's and Zap 1 (1st print) was approx. 3,500 and #0 was probably 5,000.

[dupont2005]

Well, we would have to decide where we draw the line between "Underground comix" and "Thing some guy photocopied and stapled together." I have this book called Vertical Smile that I might have been the only person to ever buy. Trying to see if I ever uploaded a pic of it, not sure if I could post it even if I did.

[EggsAckley]

many comix were printed in very small runs, sometimes 25, 50, 100 copies or less so in those terms are rarer than those printed in the thousands. However, many of those self published items, though "rare", are not highly collectible,

 

IMO, rare in terms of a real, collectible type comix would include some of the following (50 cent #II, please add as you will)

 

Tales From The Ozone #1

 

Feds N Heads, first print

 

Bijou #1, first print

 

Chicago Mirror #3

 

Snatch #1, first print

 

 

Oddball titles include:

 

Doomsday

 

Gas #1

 

Somewhere in Plasticville

 

Snuk

 

Shiva's Headband

 

Goose Lake Gags

 

Salt of the Earth's Comix

 

Powermowerman

 

Phucked up Funnies

 

 

and some really rare tabloids

 

Momma Daddie

 

Yarrowstalks #3

 

 

[50 Cent #II (1st)]

You ain't going to find any Momma Daddie's (only 3 known to exist, the print run was destroyed by the printer for being indecent but the publisher Don Donahue said he grabbed about 7 copies, but only knows of 3 copies). I should have something on video soon that mentions it by the artist.

 

[rjpb]

Thanks to our resident UG experts for posting. I have more questions along the lines of this topic.

 

Why is Tales from the Ozone #1 so rare, for a book with Shelton Crumb and Bode in it, it seems fantastically difficult to find?

 

Is the print run known for Feds & Heads 1st print?

 

Where would Morse's Funnies fit in the list - and should specialty items like that count?

 

While there are likely hundreds of self published undergrounds (mostly minis, and mostly since 1980) with prints runs of a couple hundred or less, some are collectible (especially with art by the likes of Kaz, Bagge, Panter, Clowes, Sala and others who became well known), though many are also easy to bootleg.

 

It's probably easier to break this up into catagories both by era ( Pre or post 1980 for example), and format (not just size, but whether the book was off-set printed with a color cover or not), and even content - since the differences between underground comics, sketch collections and underground/offbeat tabloids and magazines with underground comix in them gets blurred.

[Reverend]

In terms of North American publications, I'd wager that Hot Nuts by George Hansen is one of the rarest underground comix being that there is only one complete, covered copy.

 

Then there are dozens of unbelievably rare comix that had very limited (i.e., regional) distribution. Take Trash Comix (look it up in Kennedy), for example. I've been searching for that one, high and low, for years. I don't know of a single collector who has one and have even been offered $1,000 should one turn up. The same goes for John Thompson's first comix, Eyez (1967, General Printing).

 

Kaptain Amerika Komix, Kosmik! Komiks, Running Dog . . . find any of those, I dare you!

 

If you're going to widen your horizon to the British underground, now you're talking about print runs of between 10 to 50 copies, even stuff with a higher-than-average production value, such as Brian Bolland's Suddenly at 2-o-Clock in the Morning. Beyond frustrating.

[50 Cent #II (1st)]

many comix were printed in very small runs, sometimes 25, 50, 100 copies or less so in those terms are rarer than those printed in the thousands. However, many of those self published items, though "rare", are not highly collectible,

 

IMO, rare in terms of a real, collectible type comix would include some of the following (50 cent #II, please add as you will)

 

Tales From The Ozone #1

 

Feds N Heads, first print

 

Bijou #1, first print

 

Chicago Mirror #3

 

Snatch #1, first print

 

 

Eggs, just picked up one on your list (only other copy I've seen sold 3 years ago) for about $10!!! :o :o :o

[rjpb]

many comix were printed in very small runs, sometimes 25, 50, 100 copies or less so in those terms are rarer than those printed in the thousands. However, many of those self published items, though "rare", are not highly collectible,

 

IMO, rare in terms of a real, collectible type comix would include some of the following (50 cent #II, please add as you will)

 

Tales From The Ozone #1

 

Feds N Heads, first print

 

Bijou #1, first print

 

Chicago Mirror #3

 

Snatch #1, first print

 

 

Eggs, just picked up one on your list (only other copy I've seen sold 3 years ago) for about $10!!! :o :o :o

 

Which one?

[50 Cent #II (1st)]

 

Per Jay Lynch "Yeah. That is pretty rare. The printer was late...and the whole ish was about the Yippie fest at the Democratic National Convention in Chicago. Except that the printer didn't get the mag printed until weeks after it was over and everyone went home. I only had 100 copies that I sold on the streets. I felt like a goof selling last month's news. So I wound up not paying the printer, and he destroyed the rest of the copies...if he ever actually printed any more than that initial 100 in the first place." (Think I read that the print run was supposed to be around 800 copies.)

[50 Cent #II (1st)]

You ain't going to find any Momma Daddie's (only 3 known to exist, the print run was destroyed by the printer for being indecent but the publisher Don Donahue said he grabbed about 7 copies, but only knows of 3 copies). I should have something on video soon that mentions it by the artist.

 

NSFW

 

[rjpb]

Very nice!

[50 Cent #II (1st)]

 

Per Jay Lynch "Yeah. That is pretty rare. The printer was late...and the whole ish was about the Yippie fest at the Democratic National Convention in Chicago. Except that the printer didn't get the mag printed until weeks after it was over and everyone went home. I only had 100 copies that I sold on the streets. I felt like a goof selling last month's news. So I wound up not paying the printer, and he destroyed the rest of the copies...if he ever actually printed any more than that initial 100 in the first place." (Think I read that the print run was supposed to be around 800 copies.)

 

So this item arrived today. Paid for advertised Priority Mail, but received the SOFT PAPER envelope Media Mail. Would normally be upset, but I did get a pretty decent copy of Chicago Mirror #3 (rust on lower staple) for about $10.

[Cimm]

Just got this one in from Reverend! Thanks, Victor!

 

[Jayman]

Nice copy!

[the blob]

were UGs viewed as potentially collectibe in the late 60's/early 70's? by then comics had some collectability, pulps had been collected for 50 years, dime novels before that...were they being sold purely as entertainment (in which case, you really do need to be stoned to appreciate some of them) or also as a pop culture collectible? were they keeping track of print-runs for a reason or is this information dredged up 5-10 years later?

[EggsAckley]

Most mainstream undergrounds were printed in quantites between 1000 and 10000. Many underground minis (most self printed) had runs of 100 or under. Some had runs of 25 or less, talk about scarce. But compare those numbers to Marvels & DC who had print runs in the ten of thousands. Plus look who mostly bought undergrounds, not your typical collector who took care of their books.

 

I bought the undergrounds when they came out. It was difficult to keep them in nice shape (I tried) since they were constantly being passed around.

 

Jay Kennedy did an incredible amount of research in his 1982 guide which included print runs whenever possible.

[dupont2005]

I think my grandpa may have been an underground reader. Or were some of these more commercially successful than I thought? I remember seeing Cheech Wizard and Mr. Natural images somewhere when I was a kid.

[EggsAckley]

Crumb images were ripped off constantly. There was a plumber here in Sarasota than had a Mr. Natural painted on all of his service vans. Never saw a Cheech Wizard though.

 

Grandpa, huh, now I feel old.

[rjpb]

If you are old enough to have actually purchased undergrounds at a head shop - you are old.