comix

comix

by

Thomas Haroldson

Lawrence Lipton noted recently in the Los Angeles Free Press that: “1969 will see an elimination process in the Alternative or Underground Press newspapers.”

He went on to point out that many newspapers will meet their demise mainly because rigid, “doctrinaire” underground newspaper editors are unable “to discern the trends of the changing scene.”

Unfortunately, I doubt that many editors will heed Lipton’s warning. This is not to say,however, that the presept “Alternative Press” will disappear overnight. It is quite possible that underground newspapers, like Socialist bookstores, will go on forever. And like Socialist bookstores, will probably continue to believe right to the end that they are still “communicating” with the public.

But the real action, today, is under the underground. The phenomenal Success of the Marvel Comics Group (Spider-man, The Fantastic Ijour, etc.) clearly indicates that many young people have quietly defected from the ranks of UPS publications.

Spider-man, alone, is followed by five million college-age readers who take a fanatic interest in their hero’s problems. The level of communication is so high, and reader involvement so complete, that Marvel Comics receives over one thousand letters a day.

It is somewhat paradoxical that students find more of their life and times in a cofnic book than they do in an underground paper, but this is the case. The Jworld of Spider-man is their world. His everyday problems are their own. When he speaks to them (in a language that INS would understand), they listen.

The neurotic Spider-man and the : paranoid Hulk, along with their; equally screwed-up super colleagues,. have successfully pumped1 imagination and humor back into! Pepperland. The Gray Meanies of the New Left (whether they realize it or not) have been superseded.

In other words, hip comic books, not underground newspapers, have become the true Alternative Press.

Spider-man opposes the war in Vietnam, and takes part in black militant campus demonstrations, but his fife doesn’t end there. Like his student readers, he must find someway to cope with the mundane periods that stretch from one emotional peak to the next. It’s one thing to man the barricades, and quite another to look for a job.

Spider-man has all the usual student hang-ups and then some. Once when he needed money he was forced to sell his beloved motorcycle. In understandable disgust he considered forming a superhero union to improve his wages. As Abbie Hoffman said, “The problem is not what to do in the revolution, but what to do in-between the revolution.”

But money is the least of Spider-man’s problems. As Norman Mark pointed out in a recent article:

“The people of his hometown, New York, do not trust him ... the newspapers hate him and he simply cannot cope with his uniform which is constantly being torn in the line of duty and he has to stop and mend it himself .... Also, his outfit is not drip-dry and he is continually jumping into a damp suit, which gives him colds. He has trouble with his widowed Aunt May, who suffers a heart attack in nearly every issue.”,

Since Marvel reaches fifty million people a year, it is somewhat surprising (if not disappointing) that so few underground publications have recognized this new trend in communications. In fact, only one newspaper (The East Village Other) has made a serious effort to feature comic strips on a regular basis.

But EVO has been slow to realize that a modern comic strip must be more than a series of visual gags.. However, EVO’s popular strip, Trashman, Agent of the Sixth International, is slowly being drawn into the Spider-man’s web. He is even beginning to talk like his' spidery counterpart.

In a recent issue, after an orgy of sadistic killing, Trashman said: “It’s sure good to get out of that place. Wutta mess! All that maiming and killing!/ Sometimes I wonder if it’s worth it. Just constantly being exposed to that shit gets to be a drag and what’s worse I’m sure it’s bound to have a derogatory effect on my psyche. I mean, like, Holy Cow./ Oh well, I guess someone has to do it.”

Admittedly, ol’ Trash is putting Spider-man on, but at least he’s not ignoring him. This is more than can be said for the ossified underground editors who fail to see the major contribution that comics could make to their newspapers.

Many young cartoonists, who probably grew weary of waiting for the underground to catch up with the times, have gone out and set up their own publications. R. Crumb, one of EVO’s all-time favorites, has been the main force behind the spectacular growth of new funky comjf newspapers and magazines (Gothic Blimp Works, Yellow Dog, Zap Comix), and some of his characters, such as Mr. Natural and Fritz the Cat, have become almost as well known as Spider-mhn.

But cartoonists aren’t the only creative people who have been

ignored by the underground press. Short story writers, for example, are seldom, if ever, given a chance to publish their work. Charles Bukowski’s great stories, .that appeared weekly in Open City, are the only first-rate works of fiction to reach the underground. Even the

stories of Richard Brautigan, which helped create what Lipton calls the “scene,” must appear elsewhere.

And hip dramatists, who are capable of turning out plays such as “The Brig,” “The Beard,” and “MacBird,” are forced to find independent book publishers in order to reach the public. Artists and serious photographers have fared little better. However, one photographer in New York recently solved the problem by publishing a large, beautiful newspaper composed entirely of his photographs.

While it is true that cartoonists, writers, dramatists, artists, and photographers can function independently, it is unfortunate that UPS publications have been so unreceptive to their talents. Even rock music, which once formed the heart of many underground papers, has been forced into other publishing fields. What is so — unfortunate about all this is that the underground press has lost a vast young readership by blindly following its hard-line insular policies.

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COMIX CONT'D

Even Fidel Castro has recognized that “political literature itself should be renewed because repeating the same old cliches, phraseology and verbiage that has been repeated for 35 years wins over no-one, convinces no one at all.”

Underground editors should follow Spider-man’s advice: “Keep thy webs untangled.”