Going underground
Going underground |
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Page 29 of 36  The Trials of Nasty Tales (Bloom, 1979). Art: Save Gibbons. A comic produced to celebrate the acquittal of Hasty Tales in the courts. The political comix that appeared in this late period were fresher in tone than the strictly comedy titles, and tended to be tied to particular causes or ideologies -which is not to say that they couldn't also be funny. There had been precedents, of course. The women's comix, for example, had pioneered a new direction in the early 1970s, and were now followed by other, similarly committed, titles. In the same way that Women's Liberation had been an inspiration to creators, so now Gay Lib was performing the same function. It was true that titles with gay characters and themes had appeared throughout the 1970s, popular examples being Harold Hedd (Georgia Straight, 1972) by Rand Holmes and Barefootz (Kitchen Sink, 1975) by Howard Cruse, but the official 'coming out' for the subgenre did not happen till later. Lesbian titles led the way. They were as much an offshoot of the women's comix as an expression of something new, and included Roberta Gregory's Dynamite Damsels (self-published, 1976) and Mary Wings' Dyke Shorts (self-published, 1978). Finally there was the establishment of the Gay Comix anthology (Kitchen Sink) in 1980, which brought together the best of the gay and lesbian crowd. Edited by Howard Cruse, whose 'cute and cuddly' art often masked much darker themes, it featured outstanding work by Holmes, Gregory and Lee Marrs, as well as by less well-known names like Robert Triptow.  Poster, Fritz the Cat (Warners, 1972), the first animated X film, adapted from Crumb.  Page from The Brant Hew Monty Python Papperbok (Methuen, 1972), written and drawn by Terry Gilliam, the talent responsible for the animated sequences in all the Monty Python films and TV shows. |