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Underground comics (or '''comix''') are small press or self-published Comic Books that began to appear in the US in the late 1960s. The comix community was centered in San Francisco , but also included important artists and publishers in New York , Chicago and Austin, Texas . Prominent artists associated with this movement include Vaughn Bode , Robert Crumb , Kim Deitch , Jim Franklin , Justin Green , Rick Griffin , Bill Griffith , Jack "Jaxon" Jackson , Jay Kinney , Jay Lynch , Dan O'Neill , Ted Richards , Trina Robbins , Spain Rodriguez , Gilbert Shelton , Art Spiegelman , Foolbert Sturgeon , Robert Williams , Skip Williamson and S. Clay Wilson . Underground comix reflect the concerns of the 1960s in comic book form. You can see the beginning of this in some of the cartoon panels that have been appearing in the '' East Village Other ''." Mainstream comics are typically produced by a team (writer, penciler, inker, letterer, editor), while underground books were often done by a single person. As it can take very long for a single artist to produce a full-length work, many underground artists contributed shorter works to Anthology Comic titles. A well-known example is the comic ''Funny Aminals'' (1972), edited by Terry Zwigoff with short pieces by Crumb, Griffith, Lynch, Spiegelman and Shary Flenniken . Underground comix were largely distributed though a network of Head Shop s which also sold Underground Newspapers , Psychedelic Poster s, and Drug Paraphernalia . In the mid-1970s, sales of drug paraphernalia was outlawed in many places, and the distribution network for these comics (and the underground newspapers) dried up. Although many of the underground artists continued to produce work, the underground comix movement is considered by most historians to have ended by 1980, to be replaced by a rise in independent, non- Comics Code compliant publishing companies in the 1980s and the resulting increase in acceptance of adult-oriented comic books (see Alternative Comics ). The most popular underground comics have been reprinted many times and can be obtained relatively easily. Many other comix were produced in a single, small print run, and are now rare. Records of comix produced are less complete than those for mainstream comics. A 1982 book, ''The Official Underground and Newave Comix Price Guide'' by Jay Kennedy , is one of only a few relatively complete and authoritative reference works on comix. A small but growing number of university libraries have comics collections, in which underground comics often play a key role. The term "underground comics" is sometimes used more loosely to also include some contemporary Alternative Comics . NOTABLE UNDERGROUND COMIX
PUBLISHERS FURTHER READING
REFERENCES ''A History of Underground Comics'', Mark James Estren (Straight Arrow Books/Simon and Schuster, 1974) ''Comix, Comics and Graphic Novels'', Roger Sabin (Phaidon, 2001) ''Comix: The Underground Revolution'', Dez Skinn (Collins & Brown, 2004) SEE ALSO LISTEN TO EXTERNAL LINKS
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