Harry Driggs (November 3, 1935 — July 14, 2007) was an American artist, graphic designer, political activist, and underground cartoonist. Much of his comix work was published under the name R. Diggs. Driggs was a longtime resident of

San Francisco San Francisco (; Spanish language, Spanish for "Francis of Assisi, Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the List of Ca ...

, where he worked in

advertising Advertising is the practice and techniques employed to bring attention to a product or service. Advertising aims to put a product or service in the spotlight in hopes of drawing it attention from consumers. It is typically used to promote a ...

as a

graphic designer A graphic designer is a professional within the graphic design and graphic arts industry who assembles together images, typography, or motion graphics to create a piece of design. A graphic designer creates the graphics primarily for published, ...

and

art director Art director is the title for a variety of similar job functions in theater, advertising, marketing, publishing, fashion, film industry, film and television, the Internet, and video games. It is the charge of a sole art director to supervise and ...

Career

In June 1967 (during the so-called

Summer of Love The Summer of Love was a social phenomenon that occurred during the summer of 1967, when as many as 100,000 people, mostly young people sporting hippie fashions of dress and behavior, converged in San Francisco's neighborhood of Haight-Ashbury. ...

), Driggs created and self-published the pioneering underground comic ''The Life and Loves of Cleopatra'', an obscene 28-page narrative inspired by the

Elizabeth Taylor Dame Elizabeth Rosemond Taylor (February 27, 1932 – March 23, 2011) was a British-American actress. She began her career as a child actress in the early 1940s and was one of the most popular stars of classical Hollywood cinema in the 1950s. ...

film ''

Cleopatra Cleopatra VII Philopator ( grc-gre, Κλεοπάτρα Φιλοπάτωρ}, "Cleopatra the father-beloved"; 69 BC10 August 30 BC) was Queen of the Ptolemaic Kingdom of Egypt from 51 to 30 BC, and its last active ruler.She was also a ...

'', and which featured artwork that today would be seen as

child pornography Child pornography (also called CP, child sexual abuse material, CSAM, child porn, or kiddie porn) is pornography that unlawfully exploits children for sexual stimulation. It may be produced with the direct involvement or sexual assault of a chi ...

.Fox, M. Steven
"The Life and Loves of Cleopatra,"
ComixJoint (2013). Retrieved Dec. 9, 2022. The San Francisco

Diggers The Diggers were a group of religious and political dissidents in England, associated with agrarian socialism. Gerrard Winstanley and William Everard, amongst many others, were known as True Levellers in 1649, in reference to their split from ...

gave away the comic in their Free Store at the corner of Cole and Carl in

Haight-Ashbury Haight-Ashbury () is a district of San Francisco, California, named for the intersection of Haight and Ashbury streets. It is also called The Haight and The Upper Haight. The neighborhood is known as one of the main centers of the counterculture ...

. By this time, Driggs had left for

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

, where he joined the staff of the radical newspaper the ''

National Guardian ''The National Guardian'', later known as ''The Guardian'', was a left-wing independent weekly newspaper established in 1948 in New York City. The paper was founded by James Aronson, Cedric Belfrage and John T. McManus in connection with the 194 ...

''. When he returned to San Francisco in 1969 he authorized

Don Donahue Donald Richard Donahue (May 18, 1942 – October 27, 2010)Levin, Bob"Don Donahue 1942-2010: As Far as Hello,"''The Comics Journal'' website (Nov. 2, 2010). was a comic book publisher, operating under the name Apex Novelties, one of the instig ...

of the underground publisher Apex Novelties to release a new, smaller edition of ''The Life and Loves of Cleopatra'' under Driggs' pseudonym "R. Diggs". A third edition was self-published by Driggs in 1977, and

Rip Off Press Rip Off Press Corporation, Inc. is a comic book mail order retailer and Distribution (business), distributor, better known as the former publisher of adult-themed series like ''The Fabulous Furry Freak Brothers'' and ''Rip Off Comix'', as well as ...

put out a censored/reformatted fourth edition with new comix by Driggs in 1991. In the early 1970s, Driggs served as

commune A commune is an alternative term for an intentional community. Commune or comună or comune or other derivations may also refer to: Administrative-territorial entities * Commune (administrative division), a municipality or township ** Communes of ...

member and art director of the underground newspaper ''

Good Times ''Good Times'' is an American television sitcom that aired for six seasons on CBS, from February 8, 1974, to August 1, 1979. Created by Eric Monte and Mike Evans and developed by executive producer Norman Lear, it was television's first African ...

'', where he recruited fellow underground artists

Trina Robbins Trina Robbins (born Trina Perlson; August 17, 1938, in Brooklyn, New York) is an American cartoonist. She was an early participant in the underground comix movement, and one of the first female artists in that movement. In the 1980s, Robbins beca ...

and

Guy Colwell Guy Colwell (born March 28, 1945) is an American painter and occasional underground cartoonist. Although not African-American himself, Colwell's comics often portray blacks in strong roles in stories of life on the streets. His " Figurative Soci ...

to draw for the paper. Throughout the 1970s, Driggs' strips and

political cartoons A political cartoon, a form of editorial cartoon, is a cartoon graphic with caricatures of public figures, expressing the artist's opinion. An artist who writes and draws such images is known as an editorial cartoonist. They typically combine ...

were distributed to underground and

student publication A student publication is a media outlet such as a newspaper, magazine, television show, or radio station produced by students at an educational institution. These publications typically cover local and school-related news, but they may also repor ...

s via the

Rip Off Press Syndicate Rip Off Press Corporation, Inc. is a comic book mail order retailer and Distribution (business), distributor, better known as the former publisher of adult-themed series like ''The Fabulous Furry Freak Brothers'' and ''Rip Off Comix'', as well as ...

. Two volumes of his political cartoons were published by

in 1977 and 1979, under the title ''Great Diggs''. In the 1970s and '80s, Driggs contributed comix stories to such

anthologies In book publishing Publishing is the activity of making information, literature, music, software and other content available to the public for sale or for free. Traditionally, the term refers to the creation and distribution of printed work ...

as ''

Rip Off Comix ''Rip Off Comix'' was an underground comix anthology published between 1977 and 1991 by Rip Off Press. As time passed, the sensibility of the anthology changed from underground to alternative comics. The anthology was originally a byproduct of th ...

'' and ''

Anarchy Comics ''Anarchy Comics'' is a series of underground comic books published by Last Gasp between 1978 and 1987, as part of the underground comix subculture of the era. Edited by Jay Kinney (#1-3) and Paul Mavrides (#4), regular contributors to ''Anarchy C ...

'', as well as to a number of

Leonard Rifas Leonard Rifas (b. April 16, 1951) is an American cartoonist, critic, editor, and publisher associated with underground comix, comics journalism, left-wing politics, and the anti-nuclear movement. He is notable for his contributions to the form of ...

' projects, including ''Itchy Planet'', ''Corporate Crime'', and ''Energy Comics''. In 1991, Rip Off Press published ''Greatest Diggs of All Time'', collecting material from his post-1978 work. In the 1980s, Driggs joined the newly formed

Green Party A green party is a formally organized political party based on the principles of green politics, such as social justice, environmentalism and nonviolence. Greens believe that these issues are inherently related to one another as a foundation ...

, for which he designed posters, newsletters, and other materials, and did design work for local non-profits. In the late 1980s, he designed the leafy graphic logo for the San Francisco Greens, which later became the

Green Party of California The Green Party of California (GPCA) is a California political party. The party is led by a coordinating committee, and decisions are ultimately made by general assemblies. The GPCA is affiliated with the Green Party of the United States (GPUS). ...

."In Memoriam: Harry Driggs, November 3, 1935 - July 14, 2007,"
Green Party of California website. Retrieved December 29, 2017. In the latter part of his career, Driggs operated "as a fine art painter and sculptor, specializing in portraits, nudes, and figurative ceramics."

Bibliography

* ''The Life and Loves of Cleopatra'' ( The Communications Company, June 1967) — by Harry Driggs and Maurice Lacey ** redrawn and published by

Apex Novelties The apex is the highest point of something. The word may also refer to: Arts and media Fictional entities * Apex (comics), a teenaged super villainess in the Marvel Universe * Ape-X, a super-intelligent ape in the Squadron Supreme universe *Apex ...

, Nov. 1969 — credited to R. Diggs ** republished by Driggs, 1977 ** censored version with new material published by

, 1991"The Life and Loves of Cleopatra (1991). Rip Off Press, 1991 Series,"
Grand Comics Database. Retrieved Dec. 8, 2022. * ''Great Diggs of '77: a Cartoonists View of 1977 from the Pages of the Rip Off Comix Syndicate, the

Berkeley Barb The ''Berkeley Barb'' was a weekly underground newspaper published in Berkeley, California, during the years 1965 to 1980. It was one of the first and most influential of the counterculture newspapers, covering such subjects as the anti-war movem ...

and the Ag-Biz Tiller'' (64 pp., 1977) —

* ''Great Diggs II: a Cartoonist's View of World Events, Compiled from the Pages of the Rip Off Comix Syndicate'' (36 pp., 1979) — political cartoons * ''Greatest Diggs of All Time'' (Rip Off Press, 1991) — collecting material from ''

'', ''Itchy Planet'', ''TRA'' oward Revolutionary ArtVol. 3 No. 1, ''

'', ''Corporate Crime'', ''Energy Comics'', and ''

Strip AIDS USA ''Strip AIDS'' and ''Strip AIDS U.S.A.'' are comics anthology volumes published in 1987 in the UK, and 1988 in the US (respectively). They combined short comics with educational and sometimes comedic themes, to educate readers about HIV disease an ...

''.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Driggs, Harry 1935 births 2007 deaths American cartoonists American graphic designers American political activists People from San Francisco