Going underground
Going underground |
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Page 24 of 36  Rock 'n' Roll Madness (1973), featuring a vaguely Stooges-esque band (Ah'm from outta space, baby, smash mah face!'), by Greg Irons The most high-profile comix trial in Britain was that concerning Nasty Tales in 1973, when the editors appeared at the Old Bailey accused of obscenity. After some earnest legal discussions of such gems as Crumb's 'Grand Opening of the of the Great Intercontinental Fuck-In and Orgy Riot', the court surprised everybody by letting off the accused with a caution. This happy result probably pre-empted any more trials on a similar scale, and was promptly celebrated in a further issue of Nasty Tales which gleefully reprinted the 'Riot' cartoon. Nevertheless, the resulting decline in the British underground was almost as serious as that in America. Nasty Tales was effectively killed by the trial, while the Cozmics ran out of steam in 1975: the publications that they were designed to rekindle did not fare any better. IT stopped in 1973, though there were sporadic attempts at resuscitation, while Oz bit the dust in the same year. Other comix creators and publishers began to self-censor their stronger content (those that refused to compromise, like Ghura and Matthews, had great difficulty getting their titles distributed). A revival of sorts occurred post-1975, by the Brainstorm line, but, by then, the British underground was already past its best.  Sin City (1973), Tales of Urban Paranoia!!', by Dave Gibbons.  Cover, Brainstorm Comix (1975), promising a 'Journey into Delirium' (with 'Chester Hackenbush', visible bottom left), by Bryan Talbot |