Underground/Newave Comix: Post Your Obscure, Undocumented or Rarely Discussed 7 7

[CDNComix]

5 hours ago, OtherEric said:

Have never seen a copy of Brainstorm Comix #1, I've seen a few copies of the last issue but not at prices I really want to pay.

I believe it was that series that started it all for me with regard to the UKs. I am more of a dabbler though. BSC #1 is not that bad to find, you should be able to find several copies on eBay every year or try eBay.uk. I will keep an eye open for you if you want.

[OtherEric]

10 hours ago, CDNComix said:

I believe it was that series that started it all for me with regard to the UKs. I am more of a dabbler though. BSC #1 is not that bad to find, you should be able to find several copies on eBay every year or try eBay.uk. I will keep an eye open for you if you want.

Please do!  I don't want to dive too deep into the maze that is UK undergrounds, but I would like to finish the Brainstorm run someday.

[salamandersleaze]

The Incomplete Underground Comix Checklist and the Son of the Incomplete Underground Comix Checklist by Shelby Kirch, with a drawing by Jay Kennedy (1975 &1976)

pretty cool collectors paraphernalia. these were in the first print copy of Chicago mirror #1 that I got a couple months ago, with some handwritten waitlists as well that have some information on some comics... pretty good resource especially for seeing what was really obscure even then. many of the comics on the want list, if not all, are still pretty damn hard to get a hold of. definitely down to trade these if someone makes me an offer... not sure how obscure they are but I haven't been able to find any others online and im assuming that they were just distributed to other collectors in a pre internet fashion of essentially what we are doing here... also, have no idea who Shelby birch is! doing research after I post this... 

 

[CDNComix]

6 hours ago, salamandersleaze said:

have no idea who Shelby birch is! doing research after I post this... 

Shelby Kirch was a NY city cab driver and an early underground comix enthusiast. I consider him to have started one of the first underground "guides" with his checklists. there are earlier versions of both of these with 25 cent covers.

Imagine its the mid 70s, there is no internet or published collecting guides, but having to instead to rely comic shops, white pages, phone and mail for information or to find comix. Considering the time and situation, he did a remarkable job with his checklists. 

[comixbible]

Kirch's lists were, and still are, mind-blowing! Not only did he list Hell on Earth Comix, which is a ridiculously rare British underground, but he also listed One Time Komix, which is an even rarer Australian underground that I've been searching for for fifteen years. I couldn't understand how, in the '70s, a collector based in the U.S. even knew that those existed. I had asked him how he even learned of those titles and he told me that he had a network of comic collectors from different countries that he would send mail to. How the times have changed!

Edited May 15, 2021 by comixbible

[CDNComix]

The Great Marijuana Debate

Published by: Kitchen Sink Enterprises; Contributors: Peter Poplaski; Kim Deitch; Denis Kitchen; Jay Lynch; Date: 1972; Price: 10 cents; Page Count: 8 pages;

Size: mini (5.5 x 7.0); Kennedy #: 902; Print information: one printing; 400 copies;

The Great Marijuana Debate was created by Denis Kitchen and three well known buddies who circled the Kitchen Sink orbit from time to time in other underground publications. It is definitely uncommon in the marketplace beyond the fact it had cited print run of 400 copies.

I consider it to be one of higher quality production value, early minis because of its higher quality textured stock and actual litho print. High quality production, strong contributions from four underground pioneers that is laced with serious socio-political commentary on marijuana use and policies in the early 70s. Evidently Jay Kennedy thought so also with a guide stated price of $30 (1982). Oddly that’s what I would consider as being in the vicinity of today's fair market value ($50ish).

[OtherEric]

On 5/14/2021 at 3:24 AM, CDNComix said:

I believe it was that series that started it all for me with regard to the UKs. I am more of a dabbler though. BSC #1 is not that bad to find, you should be able to find several copies on eBay every year or try eBay.uk. I will keep an eye open for you if you want.

And thanks to your heads up, I now have a copy:

[CDNComix]

14 hours ago, OtherEric said:

And thanks to your heads up, I now have a copy

That's great news! Careful though. Posting UK undergrounds will surely attract UK underground collectors. I hear they are a bad lot in general l

[CDNComix]

Veeva La Mutation Copulation

Published by: Print Mint; Contributor: Lee Conklin; Date: 1971; Price: $2.50; Page Count: 52 pages;

Size: elephant (11.0 x 16.75); Kennedy #: not cited; Print information: one printing; 5000 copies; includes a limited edition of 20 s/n copies;

If you are into slightly ignored things that are also big and purple, then 1971 should hold a special place in your heart. That was the year a McDonald’s mascot named Grimace was born. Back then, he had four thieving arms and had an additional name - “Evil Grimace”. The poor fellow was re-launched many times over the years (dropped two arms, his criminal tendencies and the name “Evil”), until his unceremonious retirement from commercials in 1985.

In the same year, Print Mint published a very large paperback show casing the early rock concert poster (14 Bill Graham Presents posters) and ink sketch art of Lee Conklin. It is definitely not a comic and is more psychedelic than underground.

But I am surprised Kennedy did not cite this one, because of its tie-in with an important underground publisher, like his citing pf Rip-Off Press’s publication of a children’s story – Pet Elephant. His guide lists several other art portfolio publications by non-underground artists. But why ignore this one?

To its credit, Dan Fogel included Veeva La Mutation Copulation in his guide and is the only source (that I could find) which identifies the limited edition. I do not know who borrowed from whom, but Fogel and most on-line sources state a page count of 48. In fact, it has a total of 52 pages which should include the 4 cover pages, as per convention.

Finding an example in a decent condition at an affordable price could pose a challenge. Strong examples very rarely appear on the market. The less than perfect copy shown here is better than most other copies that I have seen. Nearly all suffer from conditions like breaking spine tics, rubbed off ink and issues with the glued binding.

You get the sense that colour saturated ink was designed to pop off. I do suspect that some of the imperfections found on my copy (and on others) originated during its printing. Some of the print voids and edge fades look to be caused a missing composite colour in the print, rather than physically rubbed off ink.

Edited June 1, 2021 by CDNComix

[CDNComix]

Amy and Jordan at Beach Lake (first and second printing)

Published by: self-published; Contributor: Mark Beyer; Date: 1980; 1983; Price: no cover price; Page Count: 12 pages;

Size: mini; (3 7/16 x 4.0); (3 5/8 x 4.25); Kennedy #: 69; second printing not cited post publicationof guide (1982); Print information: first printing of 500 copies; second signed printing, number of copies unknown;

Avert your gaze, if you are not into: minis, newave, art brut or later printings. Anyone remaining and reading this?

When I first began collecting undergrounds, I was like most and tended to only focus on standard sized underground comix that had colour covers. But when things were slow in this area, I began to track down some of the newave minis cited by Kennedy and in the other guides and eventually developed a strong appreciation for this sub-group.

If you presently share my early dismissive attitude towards newave minis, I suggest that you consider the work of Raw magazine protégé and man mystery, Mark Beyer. Who knows, maybe you will find that books like Amy and Jordan at Beach Lake, do have a place in your heart and collection.

In the images below, the paler slightly smaller, first printing is always on top relative to the second printing.

Edited June 6, 2021 by CDNComix

[CDNComix]

Cholo #1

Published by: self-published; possibly with the assistance of Gary Arlington’s San Francisco Comic Company (SFCC); Contributors: Roger Brand; and others; Date: 1980; Price: $2.50; Page Count: 44 single sided pages;

Size: magazine; (8.5 x 11.0); Kennedy #: 451; Print information: one printing; number of copies unknown;

Someone recently messaged me about another Roger Brand effort that (not listed in the Kennedy guide) in a previous posting (Mission District - page 11 of this thread) and that they were interested in a similar publication that was listed in the guide – Cholo #1.

Like Mission District, Cholo #1:

1. Mainly features Brand using his “Del Fuego” pseudonym in a series of one pagers printed on multi-coloured stock. Unlike Mission District, Cholo has and really suffers from the "others", Brand used in the book. A third of the book's page are decidated to amatuers and most of it should have stayed on the drawing board (or kitchen table).
2. Published in a strange format: bound front to back with 3 brass fasteners on the right instead of the left. It easy to mistake the back cover for the front (Kennedy made this mistake). When the book is opened, the one sided pages are formatted to appear as similar pairs – blank/blank, turn page, art page/art page. There's another cover on the inside (see pink image below).

Also be aware that there are at least two other issues of Cholo (not guide listed) that look very similar to the first issue, so it's important when trying to locate a copy to look at the back cover (guy/dog, issue number, cover price) which is really the front cover in Brand's world.

Edited June 13, 2021 by CDNComix

[CDNComix]

Beyond the 4rth O-Zone

Published by: self-published; Contributor: Drew Foster; Date: 1978; Price: ncp; Page Count: 24 pages;

Size: magazine; (8.5 x 11.0); Kennedy #: not cited; Print information: one printing; 1000 copies;

One of the handful (if that many) of true underground comix with colour covers that the Fogel guide documented post-Kennedy. Kind of makes me wonder what would be the point of publishing (or buying) another later underground guide, if it only had a few more entries than the original publication.

The “1,000 copies” also comes from the FUGG, but I suspect that the full story has yet to be documented. If in fact, 1,000 were produced back in 1978, then something must have happened to the bulk of this material, before it could be sold in the marketplace because examples almost never (to date) appear in the on-line market.

[CDNComix]

Cleve-Age

Published by: self-published; Contributors: Tom Ciocia; Gary Dumm; Date: 1977; Price: ncp; Page Count: 24 pages; 10 single sided art pages;
Size: large landscape; (14.75 x 9.0); Kennedy #: not cited; Print information: one printing; 50 copies (blue and green cover); 5 copies (red and green cover);

A couple of years back, a friend spotted an example on eBay (which is still unsold) and reached out to me. I am grateful that he did, even though it is not technically an underground, it is a wonderful handmade, 10 page, non-mainstream comic strip collaboration between an Ohio sculptor (Tom Ciocia) and comic artist Gary Dumm (American Splendor and Flaming Baloney) in support of a gallery event featuring Ciocia's scuptures.

I contacted Gary for more information about Cleve-Age and this is what he had to say:

“That book of cartoon art tells the story of the Cleves, how they got here and what happened to them when they did. It was created by writer/ceramicist Tom Ciocia and myself in conjunction with a joint show that we had at a gallery in (near) Little Italy to celebrate Tom’s creation of his unique ceramic sculptural creations. Tom even made use of a couple of “failed” Cleves that he rolled over with a tire before firing the clay, that he called “Splats.” The cover was a limited edition silkscreen that I did. And there was also a larger image silkscreen that I did of the Cleves floating in front of the Cleveland Museum of Art. Tom made up the Cleves and their story (with a small amount of assistance in development from me) for the book. But the concept of ceramic creatures (or creatures that were out of synch with our time-frame - that is, they moved so slowly that they appeared to be sculptures!) was totally Tom’s.”

Both variants use a woven polymer material (seems to become brittle over time) that are overprinted with a green silkscreen design. The 5 copy run of red and green cover was a test trial that was dropped in favour of blue and green cover version.
 

Edited June 27, 2021 by CDNComix

[CDNComix]

Festival Comix #1 and #2 (purple cover/pink guts variant)

Published by: Thru Black Holes Comix; Contributors: Michael Roden (#1 and #2); Michael Dowers (#1 and #2); Robert Armstrong (#1); XNO (#1); Bob X (#1); Brad Foster (#2); Date: 1984; 1985; Price: 50 cents; Page Count: 8 pages;

Size: mini; (4.25 x 5.50); Kennedy #: published post guide; Print information: one printing; 200 copies of #1; 150 copies of #2 (2 colour variants; pink cover/purple guts; purple cover/pink guts);

Festival Comix is representative of what I like to call Michael Roden’s “second period” of the early and mid 80s. It marks a period where Roden began to collaborate more frequently with other newave artists within their titles and his own TBHC imprint.
 

[oldmilwaukee6er]

On 5/15/2021 at 6:55 AM, CDNComix said:

 

Imagine its the mid 70s, there is no internet or published collecting guides, but having to instead to rely comic shops, white pages, phone and mail for information or to find comix. Considering the time and situation, he did a remarkable job with his checklists. 

So true. This is even true for picking comics in the early 1990s. Driving up to Chicago from my little farmtown, hitting bookstore after bookstore, looking in the phone book, calling stores for hours / directions, asking for recommendations on where to stop... ultimately finding stuff. 

Anyways thanks for keeping this thread going. 

[CDNComix]

6 hours ago, oldmilwaukee6er said:

So true. This is even true for picking comics in the early 1990s. Driving up to Chicago from my little farmtown, hitting bookstore after bookstore, looking in the phone book, calling stores for hours / directions, asking for recommendations on where to stop... ultimately finding stuff. 

Anyways thanks for keeping this thread going. 

Sounds like a series of fun adventures!

And thank you for partcipating in the old headcomix wiki and Guy's current underground thread. After exploring the comixjoint website when I first started (it's been 8 years!) collecting, both of those websites were the gasoline on the collecting fire.

[Diamonddave]

Probably the most well known INDY book. 

[oldmilwaukee6er]

14 hours ago, Diamonddave said:

Probably the most well known INDY book. 

Beautiful copy!! 

[mrwoogieman]

Pulled this one out of a dollar bin a couple weeks ago. Never saw it before!

 

[CDNComix]

On 7/19/2021 at 9:50 PM, mrwoogieman said:

Never saw it before!

Thanks for the post. It's a pretty well known bronze age independent/alternative series. In fact there's a really good summary of Star*Reach and its influence on the bronze age and then modern comics in a decent overview book called the Star*Reach Companion. If it is an interest to you: https://www.amazon.com/Star-Reach-Companion-Richard-Arndt/dp/1605490512