The Collective Unconscience Of Odd Bodkins
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''The Collective of Odd Bodkins'' is a 1973 collection of the newspaper comic strip ''Odd Bodkins'' by American cartoonist
Dan O'Neill Dan O'Neill (born April 21, 1942) is an American underground cartoonist, creator of the syndicated comic strip ''Odd Bodkins'' and founder of the underground comics collective the Air Pirates. Education O'Neill attended the University of Sa ...
. The strips contained in the book were originally syndicated by the ''
San Francisco Chronicle The ''San Francisco Chronicle'' is a newspaper serving primarily the San Francisco Bay Area of Northern California. It was founded in 1865 as ''The Daily Dramatic Chronicle'' by teenage brothers Charles de Young and M. H. de Young, Michael H. de ...
'' between 1969 and 1970, when the strip was terminated.


Description

''Odd Bodkins'' was highly philosophical in tone, and the book contains the strip's most idiosyncratic storylines. As an example of ''Odd Bodkins content, a large part of the collection is an extended sequence in which the protagonists Fred and Hugh discover that the world is being terraformed by the brass horseman General Injuns in preparation for a Martian invasion. After revealing their knowledge, they are pursued by the General and various other characters symbolizing
The Establishment ''The Establishment'' is a term used to describe a dominant social group , group or elite that controls a polity or an organization. It may comprise a closed social group that selects its own members, or entrenched elite structures in specific ...
, fleeing on Hugh's intelligent
Norton Norton may refer to: Places Norton, meaning 'north settlement' in Old English, is a common place name. Places named Norton include: Canada *Rural Municipality of Norton No. 69, Saskatchewan *Norton Parish, New Brunswick **Norton, New Brunswick, a ...
motorcycle. They then encounter the ghost of
Abraham Lincoln Abraham Lincoln ( ; February 12, 1809 – April 15, 1865) was an American lawyer, politician, and statesman who served as the 16th president of the United States from 1861 until his assassination in 1865. Lincoln led the nation thro ...
, referred to in the strip as Five Dollar Bill O'Brady, who reveals that Martians orchestrated his assassination. The group gives Norton the motorcycle a 'magic cookie' (an occasional plot device in the strip, probably symbolizing
LSD Lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD), also known colloquially as acid, is a potent psychedelic drug. Effects typically include intensified thoughts, emotions, and sensory perception. At sufficiently high dosages LSD manifests primarily mental, vi ...
) which allows the vehicle to leave Earth's orbit. After crash-landing on Mars, Fred, Hugh and Bill are hypnotized and lectured on political theory by the Martians, which Fred eventually rejects. They are then placed in a giant hourglass and die, landing in
Hell In religion and folklore, hell is a location in the afterlife in which evil souls are subjected to punitive suffering, most often through torture, as eternal punishment after death. Religions with a linear divine history often depict hell ...
, which is controlled by a caricature of
Mickey Mouse Mickey Mouse is an animated cartoon Character (arts), character co-created in 1928 by Walt Disney and Ub Iwerks. The longtime mascot of The Walt Disney Company, Mickey is an Anthropomorphism, anthropomorphic mouse who typically wears red sho ...
named Virgo the Rat. They eventually escape after suffering such torments as eating tapioca for 10,000 years and being tormented by giant floating cat heads.


Sources

*O'Neill, Dan. ''The Collective Unconscience of Odd Bodkins''. (Glide Publications, 1973). ()


References


External links


Dan O'Neill Lambiek page
{{comic-strip-stub American comics