''Anarchy Comics'' is a series of underground

comic book A comic book, also called comicbook, comic magazine or (in the United Kingdom and Ireland) simply comic, is a publication that consists of comics art in the form of sequential juxtaposed panels that represent individual scenes. Panels are of ...

s published by

Last Gasp Last Gasp or The Last Gasp may refer to * Last Gasp (publisher) * ''Last Gasp'' (''Inside No. 9''), a TV episode * '' The Last Gasp'', a 2007 album by Impaled * ''The Last Gasp'' (novel) * "Last Gasp" (song) {{dab ...

between 1978 and 1987, as part of the

underground comix Underground comix are small press or self-published comic books that are often socially relevant or satirical in nature. They differ from mainstream comics in depicting content forbidden to mainstream publications by the Comics Code Authority, ...

subculture of the era. Edited by

Jay Kinney Jay Kinney (born 1950) is an American author, editor, and former underground cartoonist. Kinney has been noted for "adding new dimensions to the political comic" in the underground comix press of the 1970s and '80s. Kinney was a member, along w ...

(#1-3) and

Paul Mavrides Paul Mavrides (born 1952) is an American artist, best known for his critique-laden comics, cartoons, paintings, graphics, performances and writings that encompass a disturbing yet humorous catalog of the social ills and shortcomings of human ...

(#4), regular contributors to ''Anarchy Comics'' included

Melinda Gebbie Melinda Gebbie (born 1937) is an American comics artist and writer, known for her participation in the underground comix movement. She is also known for creating the controversial work ''Fresca Zizis'' and her contributions to ''Wimmen's Comix ...

Clifford Harper Clifford Harper (born 13 July 1949 in Chiswick, West London) is a worker, illustrator, and militant anarchist. He wrote ''Anarchy: A Graphic Guide'' in 1987. He is a long-term contributor to ''The Guardian'' newspaper and many other publications. ...

, and

Spain Rodriguez Manuel Rodriguez (March 2, 1940 – November 28, 2012), better known as Spain or Spain Rodriguez, was an American underground cartoonist who created the character Trashman. His experiences on the road with the motorcycle club, the Road Vultures M ...

, as well as Kinney and Mavrides. (Kinney, Mavrides, and Rodriguez had been noted for "adding new dimensions to the political comic" in the

press of the 1970s and '80s.)

Publication history

A total of four issues of ''Anarchy Comics'' were published between 1978 and 1987, with individual issues appearing in 1978, 1979, 1981, and 1987. Each issue of ''Anarchy Comics'' was created by an international cast of anarchist or sympathetic contributors. Each issue included a mixture of fiction, history, commentary, and artwork, with wide ranges in style and format. Only the first issue remains in print. A collected edition titled ''Anarchy Comics: The Complete Collection'' () was published in December 2012 by PM Press.

Contributors

Each issue of ''Anarchy Comics'' showcased an international cast of artists who identified as anarchists or

nonsectarian Nonsectarian institutions are secular institutions or other organizations not affiliated with or restricted to a particular religious group. Academic sphere Examples of US universities that identify themselves as being nonsectarian include Adelp ...

socialists Socialism is a left-wing economic philosophy and movement encompassing a range of economic systems characterized by the dominance of social ownership of the means of production as opposed to private ownership. As a term, it describes the eco ...

. An example of this is

, a Marxist, who was considered of "sufficient libertarian bent" to be included.

List of contributors

The following is a list of each contributor in alphabetical order.

Themes

Anarchism

Overtly anarchist in its bent, all content included was based on anarchist philosophy and history. The humor of each anthology was satirical in nature, mocking both mainstream culture as well as traditional leftist ideas of revolution.

Punk rock

Roger Sabin Roger Sabin is an English writer about comics a medium used to express ideas with images, often combined with text or other visual information. It typically the form of a sequence of panels of images. Textual devices such as speech ba ...

, an English historian of comics and subculture, noted a number of connections between the comic and the Punk rock subculture of the '70s, suggesting that Jay Kinney "clearly hoped to pick up a share of the punk market with this very political comic." The covers of issues No.2 and No.3 both feature archetypal "punk" characters, and issue No. 2 features the short comic "Kultur Documents", a punk rock parody of Archie Comics. Sabin also analyzes "Too Real", Jay Kinney's short comic from the first issue, as being jointly inspired by a combination of

Situationist The Situationist International (SI) was an Proletarian internationalism, international organization of social revolutionaries made up of avant-garde artists, intellectuals, and Political philosophy, political theorists. It was prominent in Eu ...

and punk rock imagery. Sabin noted that many of the comics didn't have any relationship to Punk culture, but thought that the comic may have introduced radical ideas to a generation of new, young punks.

Issues

* **"Too Real" by Jay Kinney **"Nestor Makhno" by Spain Rodriguez (originally published in T.R.A.; 1976) **"Smarmy Comics" by Jay Kinney **"The Quilting Bee" by Melinda Gebbie **"Blood and Sky" by Spain Rodriguez **"Gilbert Shelton's Advanced International Motoring Tips" by Gilbert Shelton **"Liberty Through The Ages" by Epistolier and Volny, with translation by Berangere Lomont (originally published in ''L'Echo Des Savanes'' No.29; 1977) **"What's The Difference" by J.R. Burnham **"Owd Nancy's Petticoat" by Clifford Harper **"Safehouse" by Dohrn **"On Contradiction" by M. Tsetung **"Today's Rhetoric" by 'Spud' Silber **"Some Straight Talk About Anarchy" by Paul Mavrides * * *

References

External links

Anarchy Comics
distributed by AK Press.
Anarchy Comics: The Complete Collection
published by PM Press. {{Underground comix works 1978 comics debuts 1987 comics endings Anarchist comics Anarchist fiction Comics magazines published in the United States Last Gasp titles Underground comix