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Path: utzoo!watmath!clyde!burl!ulysses!ucbvax!decwrl!boyajian@akov68.DEC (JERRY BOYAJIAN)
From: boyajian@akov68.DEC (JERRY BOYAJIAN)
Newsgroups: net.comics
Subject: re: Underground request
Message-ID: <598@decwrl.UUCP>
Date: Fri, 27-Sep-85 08:27:13 EDT
Article-I.D.: decwrl.598
Posted: Fri Sep 27 08:27:13 1985
Date-Received: Sat, 28-Sep-85 08:43:40 EDT
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> 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)

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