Comix Reading List #12-#15: Underground Comix Online Part I

 12. VIPER (Rip Off Press, 1985) Internet Archive

A great opportunity to explore our transgressive comix history can be found on the Internet Archive. There are hundreds of underground comix from world famous to regional amateurs. This one turned out to be a good first choice. Edited by Erick Gilbert of the French version of Viper, this Rip Off Press version has a wide selection of international and US cartoonists. Kicked off by a highly unusual cover effort from Carol Lay, continuing with UK legend Mike Matthews' scatalogical excretions to an early English-language appearance of Spanish cartoonist Max.

13-15. CAPTAIN GUTS 1-3 (Print Mint, 1969-71) Internet Archive

It's not surprising Larry Welz gained fame for Cherry Poptart (still being published on kickstarter, btw) rather than this character! Even by underground standards, a superhero powered by beer and with the stereotypical racism and misogyny of a hard working blue collar white guy of the 60s is a hard sell (not to mention his superpowered hard on). The outrageous second issue with "Captain Guts Meets Black Power" rises above these fairly average efforts with Captain Guts battling Ambrosia Sweetmeat, while definitely ringing the bell of the title of this blog.

Comix Reading List #5-#11: Hoopla, Fantagraphics, and more!

 5. TIME UNDER TENSION by M.S. Harkness (Fantagraphics Books) Hoopla

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It's been awhile since I read these, however I remember liking this one quite a bit. This strain of introspective, character development heavy autobiographical story is probably overdone today. Nobody does it better than M.S. Harkness, though.

6. YOU AND A BIKE AND A ROAD by Eleanor Davis (Fantagraphics Books) Hoopla

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Loved the overall minimalism of the writing and art, also very rare for an autobiographical book to have any sort of dramatic tension without it feeling manufactured. Eleanor Davis is an influence on some of my favorite cartoonists, and I can see why.

7. CARAVAGGIO: THE PALETTE AND THE SWORD: BOOK 1 by Milo Manara (Fantagraphics Books) Hoopla

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I remember not liking the episodic story of Caravaggio's early struggles, it falls apart from "and then this happened"-itis. Beautiful art from Manara, of course, very unusual staging and nudity actually essential to the plot. Maybe it would be stronger reading both Book 1and 2 together.

8. BIZARRO COMICS: THE DELUXE EDITION (DC Comics) Hoopla

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Alternative cartoonists take on DC licensed superheroes to varied results. Mostly if you like a certain cartoonist you will want to check out their take on tired old retreads. Kyle Baker steals the show with the infamous (and oft-reprinted) "Letitia Lerner, Superman's Babysitter".

9. THE MARVEL COMICS COVERS OF JACK KIRBY: VOLUME 1 1961-1964 (Dark Horse Comics) Hoopla

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Dark Horse jumps on the Marvel reprint bandwagon with this nice collection of remastered Jack Kirby covers. Aesthetically, I would have preferred photos of the actual covers rather than these reprocessed versions from Marvel Masterworks. Penty of fun to look through, in any case.

10. ALL MY BICYCLES by Powerpaola (Fantagraphics Books) Hoopla

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I read this as research for my review of La Poderosa #1 on Broken Frontier, as I embarrassingly hadn't read any of her work before. This is a wonderfully constructed autobiography through bicycles owned by the author. What a great idea! The ethereal, non-linear story and art set this above most other autobiographical graphic novels.

11. A TREASURY OF XXth CENTURY MURDER: LOVER' LANE by Rick Geary (NBM Graphic Novels) Hoopla

I'm not going to lie, I read all of Rick Geary's books through the library not only because I'm cheap but I'd have to open my own library to house all of them! Geary has been around since the 70s and he's been doing these murder books for decades now. I haven't read all of them, but would highly recommend any of them. His detailed, yet cartoony, art is perfect for these period pieces and the intricate storytelling some of them require.

Comix Reading List #4: Cranium Frenzy #1

 4. CRANIUM FRENZY #1 by Steve Willis (Proof of Concept Edition) 2025 (Phoenix Productions) online store

Phoenix Productions

Tom Fellrath of Phoenix Productions announced on February 4, 2025 video that he was collecting all forty issues of CRANIUM FRENZY by Steve Willis into four omnibus editions of, I'm guessing, several hundred b/w pages each. I already own every issue in physical format, except for #9 published right after I dropped out of the Obscuro comix scene, as Steve reprinted the early issues in the 90s. The last thirty issues were released in a flurry of creativity from 2022-24 after a two decade intermission.

This particular book is a free digital edition of the scans for the 1981 CRANIUM FRENZY #1 taken from Steve's photocopy masters (he didn't keep his original back then). There's a mission statement from Tom as an introduction, and a very valuable five pages of notes from Steve on the issue. The contents are pretty much the same freewheeling absurdity you expect from Willis, even at this early days stage of his comix output.

Best of luck to Tom Fellrath, he's going to need it!

Here's Tom's video introduction to this publishing project: