This past week we covered some works of the underground
comics movement. This period in
comics happened during the 1960’s, and was a direct result of the turmoil and civil unrest happening
in the United States at the time.
In several college campuses around the nation comic strips began to be
published in their school newspapers.
From there they grew to small publications that were selling in at lot
of head shops and small comic book stores. Uncensored and unapologetic are two of the best ways to
describe the movement which took the freedom of expression to a whole other
level, and put out many things that were taboo topics for many people in the
U.S.
We looked at the work of one particular and infamous
underground comic book artist named Robert Crumb. The word offensive might come to mind upon first glance of
panels of Crumb’s artwork. But I
think that is a small part. Yes,
it is offensive and crazy looking, but after understanding a bit more about the
artist’s personality we begin to see why his work is how it is. It is almost as if his work is a stark
contrast to the impression he gives off.
He is a reserved, quiet, even dork-like seeming person, with a friendly
disposition. But in his comics he
reveals demented visions of sexual depravity mixed with witty humor and
remarks. One thing I will say is
that he was honest. He put into
his work, however disturbed the images were, honest representations from his
imagination. Even so, my favorite
of all his comics or other artworks was his series of old blues artists. Old blues music was a big influence on
his throughout his life, and on a personal note I’ve always wanted to create a
series of works were I incorporate old salsa musicians which was a huge
influence in my upbringing.
I found an example of a modern comic that owes a lot to the
underground comic movement is Aaron McGruder’s Boondocks. It started also as a college newspaper
publication at the University of Maryland, and it deals with a lot of social
issues, some of which are still around from way before the underground comics
movement in the 1960’s. If it
wasn’t for the people that put those works out back in those days, and risked
political persecution, many of the works we might consider wild nowadays may
have a had a harder time becoming published and accepted.
