Most people equate underground "comix" with unbridled sex, perversity and drug use. With titles like Jiz, Felch, and Tits & Clits, there's not much to argue about. However, it is necessary to add that most of these demented geniuses were heavily influenced by the comics of their youth, specifically the horror comics of the 1950s lead by Bill Gaines' EC Comics line. If you saw the recent posts here at MMW on Skull Comics you'd know what I mean.
Other underground comix creators emulated the 50s horror comics, albeit with considerably more graphic violence, sex and gore, which is not to say that the 50s comics weren't gruesome themselves, but the undergrounds took it to the limit.
One of the more restrained titles was Two-Fisted Zombies. Opting for a more conventional storyline, the example shown here elects to use a fair amount of violence and nudity, but the overall tone of the story is more in the traditional style of "above-ground" comic books. It even emulates an EC title, Two-Fisted Tales.
Presented here is Two-Fisted Zombies #5, created by Rick (art) and Tom (words) Veitch, and published by San Francisco's Last Gasp Eco-Funnies in 1973. Listed as "Two-Fisted Zombies #5", it is actually "Two-Fisted Zombies #1 as All New Underground Comix #5" as described on the title page. Shown here in its original art form (14" x 17" Bristol Board), "Death's World -- A World of Terror!", is a tale of a post-apocalyptic, dystopian Earth. With artwork influenced by the late, great Jack Kirby, it is just one of many examples of the modern comic book mutated by the hands of underground comix creators, with an added tip of the water pipe to the horror comics of the 1950s.
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| Color cover. |
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| Back cover. |
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