hsut@pur-ee.UUCP (Yuk Hsu) (09/10/85)
It's been awhile since we've seen articles on underground comix. I found the recent survey articles in Comics Journal interesting but somewhat sketchy since Dale Luciano is trying to cover every single underground artist he knows. Is anyone on the net into underground stuff (e.g. RAW, Weirdo)? What's worth looking into out there? How does the underground scene as a whole compare with the relatively mainstream alternative publications (e.g. Eclipse's Strange Days)? Maybe Moriarty or Jerry Boyajian will care to share their views (hey, they read *everything* :-) )? Bill Hsu pur-ee!hsut
moriarty@fluke.UUCP (The Napoleon of Crime) (09/16/85)
Hmmm... well, to tell you the truth, I haven't touched an underground comics
since HONKEYTONK SUE or REID FLEMING, and in my opinion they're not really
underground. No, wait, I read OMAHA THE CAT DANCER, which was one of the
worst things I can imagine. Other than that, I have Foolbert's Sturgeon's
THE NEW ADVENTURES OF JESUS (a laugh riot) and WONDER WARTHOG AND THE NERDS
OF NOVEMBER (even better) -- but these are both in book format. I thought
the original Harold Hedds great, but the new one which just came out was a
pale copy of the early ones -- nowhere near the "anus-clenching adventure"
of the earlier ones.
May be some others I have but can't remember remember (did SUPER JESUS or
BARNYARD OF FEAR or COMMIES FROM MARS (great title) ever get a second issue?
I hope not...).
"Beware! Your brain may no longer be the boss."
Moriarty, aka Jeff Meyer
ARPA: fluke!moriarty@uw-beaver.ARPA
UUCP: {uw-beaver, sun, allegra, sb6, lbl-csam}!fluke!moriarty
<*> DISCLAIMER: Do what you want with me, but leave my employers alone! <*>boyajian@akov68.DEC (JERRY BOYAJIAN) (09/27/85)
> From: pur-ee!hsut (Bill Hsu) > Is anyone on the net into underground stuff (e.g. RAW, Weirdo)? > What's worth looking into out there? How does the underground scene > as a whole compare with the relatively mainstream alternative > publications (e.g. Eclipse's Strange Days)? > Maybe Moriarty or Jerry Boyajian will care to share their views > (hey, they read *everything* :-) )? Well, actually, no, I don't read *every*thing. There's actually quite a bit that I don't read. At a guess, I'd say that there is a third to half of DC and Marvel that I don't read, and I don't read any of the Star Comics, Archie Comics, Americomics (except POWER PLAYS and DRAGONFLY), et alia. But let's get on to the subject at hand. I've never gotten that much into undergrounds. Back in the 60's and early 70's, undergrounds were *the* alternative comics press, where artists could work without the oppression of the Comics Code. Many of the undergrounds were such mostly so that the creators would retain ownership rights to their concepts, and others existed in order to talk frankly about subjects forbidden by the code --- namely drugs and sex. Unfortunately, some of the undergrounders just wanted to be as crude as possible. The underground movement suffered some set-backs during the 70's, mostly due to the anti-pornography movements. Many of the outlets for sales of undergrounds were coerced into stopping such sales. The uderground movement was pretty pathetic by the time Mike Friedrich's STAR*REACH appeared in the mid-70's, heralding the advent of the "ground-level" comics. "Ground-level" was used to indicate comics done by the same professionals as the mainstream comics, but without the Code. It was this ground-level movement that meta- morphosed into the Independents of today. Anyways, some of the undergrounds of the past that I've been fond of have been: Jack Katz's THE FIRST KINGDOM George Metzger's MOONDOG Foolbert Sturgeon's NEW ADVENTURES OF JESUS Gilbert Shelton's WONDER WARTHOG and FABULOUS FURRY FREAK BROTHERS DAN O'NEILL'S COMICS AND STORIES AIR PIRATES FUNNIES (porno take-offs on Disney material --- Disney sued and won, so these comics (2 or 3 issues) are extremely rare and valuable). SLOW DEATH and SKULL (which featured gruesome horror material) Vaughan Bode's JUNKWAFFEL and CHEECH WIZARD Larry Todd's DR. ATOMIC and assorted one-shot deals by various artists, such as Metzger's AIRSHIPS OF MU DISCOVER ATLANTIS, THE LOST CONTINENT or somebody-or-other's (I forget the name) BARBARIAN KILLER FUNNIES. Some of these are still running (such as FIRST KINGDOM and FREAK BROTHERS) or have been reprinted in recent years (Rip Off Press occasionally drops out a trade paperback reprint collection of Freak Brothers, Wonder Warthog, Jesus, etc.). Some of the more recent undergrounds I've been following are: Jaxon's COMANCHE MOON and LOS TEJANOS historical comics. Larry Gonick's CARTOON HISTORY OF THE UNIVERSE (funny, but very good and simple history of our world and civilizations. Very educational.) Rand Holmes' HAROLD HEAD (which started in the early 70's but he didn't do any for about 10 years until last year's "Hitler's Cocaine" story.) If you want, I'll see if I can find the time to do up a list of the under- grounds that I have, and maybe give a brief comment about each one. The trouble these days is that it's getting hard to decide if something's under- ground or Independent. Jeff mentioned REID FLEMING, which I tend to think of as Independent, but could be considered underground. Who knows? --- jayembee (Jerry Boyajian, DEC, Acton-Nagog, MA) UUCP: {decvax|ihnp4|allegra|ucbvax|...}!decwrl!dec-rhea!dec-akov68!boyajian ARPA: boyajian%akov68.DEC@DECWRL.ARPA