Hysteria in Remission
This blast from the past still has the power to disturb and impress. Before he became popular as an imagist artist, Williams was one of a seminal crew of cartoonists in the 1960s and '70s who created underground "comix." This new genre was a reaction against mainstream comic books, long neutered of challenging material by the Comics Code Authority, a mid-1950s comics industry oversight body established to prevent Congress from regulating the content of kids' comic books. Besides demonstrating that comics can and should deal with serious subjects like sex and drugs, comix experimented with the design of comic book pages and the limits of linear storytelling. However, their primary emphasis was on grossing out inhibited readers and thus liberating their imaginations. Williams knew he didn't fit in with the abstract expressionists of the "fine art" gallery world. But when he saw a copy of the underground Zap Comix in 1967, he knew he'd found a creative home. This collection begins with samples of Williams's college cartoons and early illustrations for karate and custom car magazines, but most of the art is from the pages of Zap, Snatch, Dr. Wirtham's Comics & Stories and other counterculture publications. Williams is an excellent draftsman with a stunning mastery of technique, though his subject matter can be monotonous as he searches for new outrages to depict. And if these images don't seem relevant today, consider a four-page depiction of outrageously escalating brutality that concludes, "Violence Is Always Right If You're The Winner!"Copyright 2002 Reed Business Information, Inc.