Vaughn Bodé

I haven't read any of Vaughn Bodé's work, but hearing the guy speak is pretty interesting.



There are two more parts to this on youtube.

(Thanks to Hurk for the link).

Claude Funston

By Bill Griffith, from Short Order Comix issue 1, 1973.

Whip Tip Tales

By S.Clay Wilson, 1969. The story originally appeared in San Francisco Comic Book No.1.

Wonder Wart-Hog

From "ZAM", 1974, which was a Zap 'jam' Comic. This story is mainly by Gilbert Shelton.

Is There Life After Levittown?

By Bill Griffith (from Lemme Outa Here!, 1978).

High Rollin'

By Robert Armstrong (from Arcade issue 6, 1976).

Opening Tonight

At the Cartoon Art Museum, San Francisco, www.cartoonart.org. More info here.

Jay Lynch & Robert Crumb meet Chester Gould...

... in this strip by Lynch & Ed Piskor.

Feeding Time

A 1970 (or thereabouts) underground comic strip by Spain Rodriguez. Read the rest of it on Hairy Green Eyeball.

Rebel Visions: a cartoon appreciation

Joseph Remnant's cartoon appreciation of Rebel Visions: The Underground Comix Revolution 1963-1975 by Patrick Rosenkranz, as published in the July 2008 issue of Arthur magazine.

(From FLOG! Blog).

Spain Rodriguez, Gilbert Shelton, Art Spiegelman at the ICA.

This is a treat. The three alt.comics legends are giving a talk together at the ICA this Sunday as part of the Comica festival. Hopefully they'll tell few stories about the underground comix days... a period of history that seems ever more exciting as I read about it.

I've been a fan of Spain's work for a long time, there's really no one else like him in comics. There's a physicality in his work, an edge of "realness" that few cartoonists achieve. When there's violence, you know it's based on experience... it's not the fantasy violence seen in superhero comics. Anyone wishing to check out his stuff might want to look at:


This classic underground adventure strip includes characters based on Robert Crumb and Spain himself. It's also full of hilarious, raunchy humour. Fight the oppressor!


Some of Spain's best autobiographical and historical strips are collected in this book, including three of his great Road Vultures stories, and the classic "Chicago '68".


Zap Comix issues 13 & 15 feature more great autobiographical strips from Spain's Road Vulture days. While Zap 14 features the great historical strip "The Churl".


Every strip Spain draws is "political", but political issues are dealt with directly in "One Nation Under God" from Weirdo no.28 and "Faith-Based Terrorism" in Mineshaft no.20. Neither of these strips appear anywhere else (that I know of).

Spain has also appeared in pretty much every issue of Blab!, contributing some of the best work he's ever done (see "The Fighting Poets" (#9), and "Carny"(#10) for example). Hopefully these stories will be collected together in their own volume some day.


And of course there's the new book "Che". I wasn't sure if this would be an illustrated biography in the same vein as Mairowitz and Crumb's Kafka book, but I'm pleased to say it's a whole new 100 pages of comics, both written and drawn by Spain. Yeah!

And finally, for those who can't make it to the ICA on Sunday, here's an interview with Spain, conducted by Jon Ascher in 1998.

S. Clay Wilson in intensive care

From Journalista.
The underground-comix legend, hospitalized over the weekend with severe head trauma of unknown origin, is in stable but horrible condition. More information here.

On order.... The Comics Journal #293

Before Johnny Ryan, before Mike Diana, before Dan Clowes and Pete Bagge, before even Robert Crumb began exploring his id in his comic book stories, there was S.Clay Wilson, the dark heart of underground comix.
Wilson appeared on the early underground comix scene with a totally original style, reminiscent of densely packed medieval woodcuts, and soon created some of the most outrageously unrestrained comics ever drawn. His freewheeling stories about pirates, demons, dykes, zombies, & bikers, influenced the whole direction that underground comics (and hence alternative comics) then took. Yet there is no collection of his comics work still in print!

Even more outrageous and powerful are his paintings, and these you CAN see, in this totally eye popping book from Ten Speed Press.



Anyone wishing to check out his comics work would do well to pick up Zap Comix issues 2 & 5, and Weirdo issues 14, 15 & 19 (the "Meadows" trilogy).

...and here's a couple of odd strips I found online - no idea what comics they're from, but it looks like early work.





And here's an excerpt from Bob Levin's interview with Wilson in the new Comics Journal.
It's good to hear mention of a new issue of Zap Comix!