The Air Pirates were a group of cartoonists who created two issues of an underground comic called ''Air Pirates Funnies'' in 1971, leading to a famous lawsuit by

Walt Disney Productions The Walt Disney Company, commonly known as Disney (), is an American multinational mass media and entertainment conglomerate headquartered at the Walt Disney Studios complex in Burbank, California. Disney was originally founded on October 1 ...

. Founded by Dan O'Neill, the group also included Bobby London,

Shary Flenniken Shary Flenniken (born 1950) is an American editor-writer-illustrator and underground cartoonist. After joining the burgeoning underground comics movement in the early 1970s, she became a prominent contributor to '' National Lampoon'' and was on ...

, Gary Hallgren, and

Ted Richards Ted Richards (born 11 January 1983) is a former professional Australian rules footballer who played for the Essendon Football Club and the Sydney Swans in the Australian Football League (AFL). AFL career Richards was recruited from Xavier Col ...

. The original Air Pirates were a gang of Mickey Mouse antagonists of the 1930s; Dan O'Neill imagined Mickey Mouse to be a symbol of conformist hypocrisy in American culture, and therefore a ripe target for satire.

Overview

The lead stories in both issues of ''Air Pirates Funnies'' (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 ...

in July & August 1971), created by O'Neill, London, and Hallgren, focused on

Walt Disney Walter Elias Disney (; December 5, 1901December 15, 1966) was an American animator, film producer and entrepreneur. A pioneer of the American animation industry, he introduced several developments in the production of cartoons. As a film p ...

characters, most notably from

Floyd Gottfredson Arthur Floyd Gottfredson (May 5, 1905July 22, 1986) was an American cartoonist best known for his defining work on the ''Mickey Mouse'' comic strip, which he worked on from 1930 until his retirement in 1975. His contribution to Mickey Mouse comi ...

's Mickey Mouse newspaper strip, with the Disney characters engaging in adult behaviors such as sex and drug consumption. O'Neill insisted it would dilute the parody to change the names of the characters, so his adventurous mouse character was called "Mickey". Ted Richards took on the

Big Bad Wolf The Big Bad Wolf is a fictional wolf appearing in several cautionary tales that include some of '' Grimms' Fairy Tales.'' Versions of this character have appeared in numerous works, and it has become a generic archetype of a menacing predatory ...

and the Three Little Pigs, opening up a second wave of parody attacking Disney's appropriation of European (and American) folklore. In doing so, they infringed Disney's copyrights by using characters the company created without permission. On October 21, 1971, Disney filed a lawsuit against O'Neill, Hallgren, London and Richards (Flenniken had not contributed to the parody stories).

Air Pirates collective history

The nucleus of the ''Air Pirates'' collective began to form in late 1969-early 1970, when London met Richards at the office of the '' Berkeley Tribe'', an underground newspaper where both were staff cartoonists. (London later drew a highly fictionalized account of their experiences at the ''Tribe'' in his story "Why

Bobby Seale Robert George Seale (born October 22, 1936) is an American political activist and author. Seale is widely known for co-founding the Black Panther Party with fellow activist Huey P. Newton. Founded as the "Black Panther Party for Self-Defense", ...

is Not Black" in the Air Pirates' comic ''Merton of the Movement''.) In 1970 London and Richards attended the

Sky River Rock Festival The Sky River Rock Festival and Lighter Than Air Fair was a historic rock festival first held on a raspberry farm on the Skykomish River outside Sultan, Washington. The 1968 rock festival was held between August 31 to September 2. It was the fir ...

near

Portland, Oregon Portland (, ) is a port city in the Pacific Northwest and the list of cities in Oregon, largest city in the U.S. state of Oregon. Situated at the confluence of the Willamette River, Willamette and Columbia River, Columbia rivers, Portland is ...

, and met Flenniken and O'Neill at the media booth,RINGGENBERG, S.C
"Bobby London and the Air Pirates Follies,"
''Comix Art & Graffix Gallery'' (5-12-98). where Flenniken was producing a daily Sky River newsletter on a mimeograph machine. Before the festival was over the four of them produced a four-page tabloid comic, ''Sky River Funnies'', mostly drawn by London. O'Neill also met Seattle-based cartoonist Gary Hallgren at the festival. Meanwhile, O'Neill, who was producing the strip '' Odd Bodkins'' for 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 Michael H. de Young. The ...

'', but was fearful of losing his copyright over it, decided on an odd tactic to regain control of his strip: ''he'' would engage in copyright infringement, which he reasoned would force the newspaper to surrender the strip's copyright back to him for fear of being sued. O'Neill worked 28 Walt Disney characters, including Mickey Mouse and

Pluto Pluto (minor-planet designation: 134340 Pluto) is a dwarf planet in the Kuiper belt, a ring of bodies beyond the orbit of Neptune. It is the ninth-largest and tenth-most-massive known object to directly orbit the Sun. It is the largest ...

, into the strip. In late November 1970, the ''Chronicle'' fired O'Neill for the final time and discontinued the strip. After the Sky River Rock Festival, Flenniken, Richards, and Hallgren returned to Seattle, where Flenniken created graphics for the

Seattle Liberation Front The Seattle Liberation Front, or SLF, was a radical anti-Vietnam War movement, based in Seattle, Washington, in the United States. The group, founded by the University of Washington visiting philosophy professor and political activist Michael L ...

's brief-lived underground newspaper, '' Sabot''. London went back to San Francisco with O'Neil and started working with him, contributing a "basement" strip to ''Odd Bodkins''. In early 1971 O'Neill invited Flenniken, Richards, and Hallgren to San Francisco to form the Air Pirates collective. The Air Pirates lived together in a warehouse on Harrison Street in San Francisco,Donahue, Don and Susan Goodrick, editors. ''The Apex Treasury of Underground Comics'' (Links Books/Quick Fox, 1974), p. 153. where London and Flenniken began a relationship that turned into a short-lived marriage.Boyd, Robert
"The Shary Flenniken Interview,"
''The Comics Journal'' #146 (November 1991): "We were up here from 1973 'til '76. We broke up and Bobby went back to New York." Each of the cartoonists shared a common interest in the styles of past masters of the comic strip, and – unrelated to their assault on Disney – in creating their stories for Air Pirates projects each set out to imitate the style of an old-time cartoonist: *

's ''Trots and Bonnie'' imitated Clare Briggs and H. T. Webster * Gary Hallgren's ''Pollyanna Pals'' imitated Cliff Sterrett's ''

Polly and Her Pals ''Polly and Her Pals'' is an American comic strip, created by cartoonist Cliff Sterrett, which ran from December 4, 1912, until December 7, 1958. It is regarded as one of the most graphically innovative strips of the 20th century. It debuted as ...

'' * Bobby London's '' Dirty Duck'' imitated George Herriman's Krazy Kat *

' ''Dopin' Dan'' imitated

Mort Walker Addison Morton Walker (September 3, 1923 – January 27, 2018) was an American comic strip writer, best known for creating the newspaper comic strips ''Beetle Bailey'' in 1950 and ''Hi and Lois'' in 1954. He signed Addison to some of his strips. ...

's ''

Beetle Bailey ''Beetle Bailey'' is an American comic strip created by cartoonist Mort Walker, published since September 4, 1950. It is set on a fictional United States Army post. In the years just before Walker's death in 2018 (at age 94), it was among the old ...

'' After the Pirates were established, Willy Murphy, Larry Todd and Gary King started hanging around the collective and contributing to their projects, missing the original ''Air Pirates Funnies'' but appearing in later Air Pirates comics.

Disney lawsuit

Accurately telling the story of Disney's lawsuit against the Air Pirates is difficult, due to the conflicting memories of the litigants; however, it is fair to say that all through the lawsuit, O'Neill was defiant. He was so eager to be sued by Disney that he had copies of ''Air Pirates Funnies'' smuggled into a Disney board meeting by the son of a board member. On October 21, 1971, he got his wish as Disney filed a lawsuit against O'Neill, Hallgren, London and Richards (Flenniken had not contributed to the parody stories), alleging, among other things, copyright infringement, trademark infringement, and unfair competition. Disney later added Last Gasp publisher Ron Turner's name to the suit. The Pirates, in turn, claimed that the parody was

fair use Fair use is a doctrine in United States law that permits limited use of copyrighted material without having to first acquire permission from the copyright holder. Fair use is one of the limitations to copyright intended to balance the interests ...

. The initial decision by Judge Albert Charles Wollenberg in the U.S. District Court, delivered on July 7, 1972, went against the Air Pirates, and O'Neill's lawyers appealed to the

United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit The United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit (in case citations, 9th Cir.) is the U.S. federal court of appeals that has appellate jurisdiction over the U.S. district courts in the following federal judicial districts: * District ...

. O'Neill suggested the other Pirates settle, and leave him to defend the case alone. Hallgren and Turner settled with Disney, but London and Richards decided to continue fighting. To raise money for the Air Pirates Defense Fund, O'Neill and other underground cartoonists sold original artwork – predominantly of Disney characters – at comic book conventions. During the legal proceedings and in violation of the temporary restraining order, the Air Pirates published some of the material intended for the third issue of ''Air Pirates Funnies'' in the comic ''The Tortoise and the Hare'' (Last Gasp, 1971), of which nearly 10,000 issues were soon confiscated under a court order. In 1975, Disney won a $200,000 preliminary judgement and another restraining order, which O'Neill defied by continuing to draw Disney parodies. The case dragged on for several years. Finally, in 1978, the Ninth Circuit ruled against the Air Pirates 3-0 for copyright infringement, although they dismissed the trademark infringement claims. In 1979 the Supreme Court refused to hear an appeal. O'Neill later claimed that his plan in the Disney lawsuit was to lose, appeal, lose again, continue drawing his parodies, and eventually to force the courts to either allow him to continue or send him to jail. O'Neill's four-page Mickey Mouse story ''Communiqué #1 from the M.L.F.'' (Mouse Liberation Front) appeared in the magazine '' CoEvolution Quarterly'' #21 in 1979. Disney asked the court to hold O'Neill in contempt of court and have him prosecuted criminally, along with Stewart Brand, publisher of ''CoEvolution Quarterly''. By mid-1979, O'Neill recruited diverse artists for a "secret" artist's organization, The Mouse Liberation Front. An M.L.F. art show was displayed in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Un ...

Philadelphia Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania#Municipalities, largest city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the List of United States cities by population, sixth-largest city i ...

and

San Diego San Diego ( , ; ) is a city on the Pacific Ocean coast of Southern California located immediately adjacent to the Mexico–United States border. With a 2020 population of 1,386,932, it is the eighth most populous city in the United State ...

. With the help of sympathetic Disney employees, O'Neill delivered ''The M.L.F. Communiqué #2'' in person to the Disney studios, where he posed drawing Mickey Mouse at an animation table and allegedly smoked a

joint A joint or articulation (or articular surface) is the connection made between bones, ossicles, or other hard structures in the body which link an animal's skeletal system into a functional whole.Saladin, Ken. Anatomy & Physiology. 7th ed. McGraw- ...

in Walt Disney's office. In 1980, weighing the unrecoverable $190,000 in damages and $2,000,000 in legal fees against O'Neill's continuing disregard for the court's decisions, Disney settled the case, dropping the contempt charges and promising not to enforce the judgment as long as the Pirates no longer infringed Disney's copyrights. New York Law School professor Edward Samuels said of O'Neill after the judgment, "I was flabbergasted. He told me he had won the case. 'No, Dan,' I told him, 'You lost.' 'No, I won.' 'No, you lost.' To Dan O'Neill, not going to jail constituted victory." Samuels said of the Air Pirates, "They set parody back twenty years." O'Neill was interviewed about the ordeal in the 1988

documentary film A documentary film or documentary is a non-fictional motion-picture intended to "document reality, primarily for the purposes of instruction, education or maintaining a historical record". Bill Nichols has characterized the documentary in te ...

'' Comic Book Confidential''. Comic Book Confidential - Rolling Stone
/ref>

Publications

* ''Air Pirates Funnies'' #1–2 (Last Gasp "Hell Comics" imprint, July–August 1971) * ''The Tortoise and the Hare'' (Last Gasp, 1971) – includes material intended for ''Air Pirates Funnies'' #3 * ''Air Pirates Funnies Tabloid'' (Air Pirates Collective, July 1972) During the height of the Air Pirates "moment" (1971–1973), members of the collective were featured in other solo titles or anthologies: * ''Dan O'Neill's Comics and Stories'' (3 issues, Company & Sons, 1971) – Dan O'Neill * '' Dirty Duck'' (Company & Sons, Dec. 1971) – Bobby London * ''Dopin' Dan'' #1–3 (Last Gasp, May 1972–October 1973) – Ted Richards * ''Merton of the Movement'' (Last Gasp "Cocoanut Comix" imprint, Oct. 1972) – anthology featuring London, Richards, Gary Hallgren, and Shary Flenniken * ''Left Field Funnies'' (

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 ...

, late 1972) – including work by London, Gary King, and Willy Murphy

References

Notes

Sources

* Levin, Bob.
The Pirates and the Mouse: Disney's War Against the Counterculture
'. (2003) Fantagraphics Books.

External links

Disney's War Against the Counterculture
(article by Levin based on his book)

– excerpt from judgment
RiP! A Remix Manifesto (Chapter 8)
O'Neill talks about Air Pirates in the Brett Gaylor's documentary
Messing with the Mouse: Copyright, Parody and the Countercultural Wars in Walt Disney v. the Air Pirates
– 2005 Master's thesis with the Air Pirates case as a centerpiece {{Underground comix cartoonists Underground cartoonists Underground comix Comics groups and collectives Culture jamming Disney parodies American parodists American satirists American erotic artists Parody comics 1971 comics debuts Erotic comics Adult comics Satirical comics