Underground Comics
| Synonyms: | comix, underground comix |
| See also: | Fandom and the Underground, zine, doujinshi, fancomic, Independent Comics |
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Underground comics or Comix as they are also known, began in the 1960s as a response to the Comics Code Authority, which began in the 1950s. Many of them were small press and self-published and dealt with issues and subjects not featured in mainstream comics including graphic violence, explicit depictions of sex, and drug use (hence the "X" in "comiX"). Many underground comics have a parodic nature influenced by MAD Magazine, often parodying mainstream comics.
History[1]
United States
Underground comix in the United States grew out of the tradition of the "Tijuana Bibles" of the decades between the 1920s and 1940s; small paperback comic books produced anonymously and featuring popular comic strip heroes (and sometimes real-life celebrities) in pornographic scenarios. Another influence was EC Comics which published horror fiction, crime fiction, satire, military fiction, dark fantasy, and science fiction from the 1940s through the mid-1950s. EC was also known as being unusually progressive, focusing on such themes as racial equality, anti-war advocacy, nuclear disarmament, and environmentalism. As a result of the Comics Code, however, EC ceased publishing all of its lines by 1956, with the exception of MAD, their most popular book.
Former MAD editor, Harvey Kurtzman began publishing Help! magazine in the early sixties, providing work for later underground comix notables such as Robert Crumb, while others were cutting their teeth on college newspapers. Frank Stack (as Foolbert Sturgeon) published the a zine compiling his comic, The Adventures of Jesus, recognized as the first underground comic in 1962 and Gilbert Shelton (another Help! graduate) published his Wonder Wart-Hog comic strip in a college humor magazine that same year. Others followed and by 1967, underground comics were appearing regularly in the various underground newspapers of the time.
Centre of much of the counter-culture movement, San Francisco also became the hub for the "Golden Age" of underground comix (1968-1972) and the home of a number of major publishers: Apex Novelties, San Francisco Comic Book Company and Rip Off Press. It was in San Francisco that Robert Crumb published his first solo comic, Zap Comix, which was so popular it essentially created the underground comix market and paved the way for a number of other Crumb comics (Despair, Uneeda, Big Ass Comics, R. Crumb's Comics and Stories, Motor City Comics, Home Grown Funnies, Hytone Comix and the explicit titles Jiz and Snatch). Non-Crumb comics included Bijou Funnies, Young Lust (a parody of the 1950s romance comics), Bizarre Sex (influenced by science fiction), The Fabulous Furry Freak Brothers comic strip (by Gilbert Shelton) and a wide range of horror comics inspired by EC Comics' popular line, Tales from the Crypt.
Much of the work produced by these (almost exclusively male) writers and artists was considered misogynistic, with its themes of drugs, sex and violence. Crumb especially was singled out for his obsession with rape and murder; his influence was particularly strong among the underground comix movement due to his success. A backlash appeared in the form of a number of "feminist" titles: It Ain't Me, Babe (the first all-female comic, published 1970), Wimmen's Comix and Tits & Clits Comix.
By the mid-1970s, the success of underground comix, with their lack of censorship, attracted the attention of the mainstream. Playboy and National Lampoon began publishing work in the underground comix style and older comic book artists began experimenting with the style, while others published their own books (Mr. A and Avenging World by Steve Ditko and Big Apple Comix published by Flo Steinberg and featuring art by Marvel artists). Crumb's Fritz the Cat was made into a movie by Ralph Bakshi (who went on to release an animated film of the first half of Lord of the Rings in 1978), the first cartoon to receive an X rating; after their unsuccessful Comix Book line (with underground artists submitting toned-down work), Marvel Comics had more luck with their underground-influenced Howard the Duck. And as is the case when something underground becomes mainstream, the original movement waned and declined, finally petering out in the early 1980s and being replaced by alternative/independent comics
United Kingdom
The underground comix movement in the U.K. started later than in the U.S., with the International Times founded in 1966 and the London version of Australian underground magazine Oz (founded in 1963) founded in 1967. International Times staff published Cyclops, the first UK comix magazine and London Oz, and following an obscenity trial, launched cOZmic Comics in 1972, printing a mixture of new British underground strips and old American work. While the U.S. movement was waning in the late 1970s, U.K. comix were at the height of their popularity, publishing the work of many cartoonists who would go on to mainstream success. Like the U.S. comix, there were issues with misogynistic content and obscenity lawsuits, with U.K. customs seizing "obscene" material being shipped into or out of the country.
The underground comix movement of the U.K. waned in the 1990s, however one publisher remains active. Knockabout Comics (formerly Hassle Free Press) was founded in 1975 and has published noted works such as Shelton's The Fabulous Furry Freak Brothers, Wonder Warthog and Not Quite Dead; Crumb's My Troubles With Women, R. Crumb Draws the Blues, R. Crumb's America and volumes 3 and 4 of The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen comic by Alan Moore and Kevin O'Neill.
Fandom
Both underground comix and fanzines emerged as part of the underground press movement and as a result there is significant stylistic crossover during the 1960s and 1970s; both were produced by small publishers or self-published at home; both had a relatively small run per issue and both had run ins with the law with regards to "homosexual themes", "obscenity" and "promotion of drug use". Comix also had their own fans, with many zines providing reviews or reports of material as well as cosplay (see below), fanart and (presumably) fanfiction.
Fritz the Cat is said to be an early influence on the furry fandom.
Zines
- Power Star: The Imagination Anthology - article on Wonder Wart-Hog, Issue 81 (1994)
- Crypt of Cthulhu - "R. Crumb and H. Lovecraft" by Peter Cannon [essay], Issue 92 (1996)
- Tales from the Litterbox by Sherri Hawke, Sandi Hawke, Bill Hupe, Michelle Hupe, Melody Rondeau, and Zapf - a parody Beauty and the Beast zine with Vincent displaying a marked similarity to Fritz the Cat. (1983)
| Examples Wanted: Editors are encouraged to add more examples or a wider variety of examples. |
Gallery
Cosplayers based on Gilbert Shelton's The Fabulous Furry Freak Brothers at the 1982 WorldCon
Resources
- https://www.lambiek.net/comics/underground.htm
- Down Under: A History of the Underground Comix by Richard Small from unterHelios 2, 1972