Underground Classics: The Transformation of Comics into Comix
It’s no longer much of a novelty to see mainstream comics artists’ work in museums and galleries, and now underground comics, the 1960s bastard offspring of comics and the counterculture, are the focus of a traveling exhibition that this book complements. The 50-plus artists represented include seminal figures from the movement’s earliest days, like Robert Crumb and Gilbert Shelton; second-generation undergrounders like Art Spiegelman and Charles Burns, who would make their biggest mark in the later alternative-comics scene; and 1980s figures working in the underground spirit, such as Drew Friedman and Howard Cruse. Three innovative mainstream comics artists whose freewheeling approach was influential on the movement—Will Eisner, Harvey Kurtzman, and Will Elder—are represented with pages they did for underground zines. Viewing the well-reproduced original drawings reveals a level of craft that belies the underground scene’s scruffy image. It may seem ironic that works by these often-vulgar anti-establishment artists have wound up on gallery walls, but these well-chosen examples, augmented by a handful of informative essays, make a strong case for their legitimacy. --Gordon Flagg