#2148497 - 01/20/08 10:35 AM
Collecting Undergrounds: Starting out
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Fandango
Carpal Tunnel
Up 20 words per minute since I signed up
Registered: 04/09/04
Posts: 1373
Loc: UK
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Underground comics (or comix as they are termed within the UG collecting community) don’t get a great deal of coverage here on the boards and I suspect that those who may have considered snapping a few of these counterculture books are put off by the comparative lack of available information for the genre when compared to more mainstream comic collecting channels. As a consequence, I thought I’d start a thread sharing what little I’ve managed to glean in the 2 years I’ve actively been collecting these books, inviting others to participate in the hope of generating a little interest\disclosure in this history rich, oft neglected area of hobby.
For those of you who are interested in learning a little more about the origins of the underground comix movement, lambiek.net offers a terrific (illustrated) synopsis here:
http://lambiek.net/comics/underground.htm
My interest in undergrounds was peaked quite by chance after coming back into the hobby after an extended absence of 15 years or so; shortly after joining the boards I busied myself researching a list of must own, influential books and stumbled across the name Robert Crumb. Like many, I’d seen and enjoyed Terry Zwigoff’s documentary on Crumb and found myself wanting to own a few of his books (quickly placing Zap #0 firmly at the top of my wants list):
To shorthand the many lessons I leaned as a UG collecting newbie, and as those who have any degree of familiarity with UG’s will testify, there are a number of invaluable collecting resources without which it’s very difficult to purchase comix with any degree of confidence:
The Official Underground and Newave Comix Price Guide by Jay Kennedy
Published in the summer of 1982, Kennedy is quite simply the Bible of underground comix. Detailed information about the various printings; short essays by Jay Lynch, Denis Kitchen, S. Clay Wilson and others make Kennedy a massively useful resource if one treats it as a reference book and not a price guide.
One can still pick up copies of Kennedy in both hard and softcover format from Amazon and Ebay; I’ve seen them go for anything between $10 and $100, but if you find yourself a tight copy for around $50 you’ll be doing well.
Fogel's Underground Comix Price Guide
Published by Hippy Comix Inc in 2006, Fogel's Underground Comix Price Guide is the first new Underground and Adult comix price guide since Kennedy. Though nothing like as comprehensively detailed as Kennedy, Fogel’s guide provides an interesting (if not wholey accurate) look at prices from over 1800 titles and 5000 individual issues between 1962-2006. Not a huge fan of the guide, but it remains a pretty useful supplement to Kennedy for sure.
Copies of Fogels guide are pretty easy to get hold of and retail for around $20. Fogels Guide can also be downloaded in PDF format from Heritage Auction Gallery’s here:
http://comics.ha.com/sales/underground.php
A Visual Guide To UNDERGROUND COMIX Reprints (Classic 'head' Comix of the 60's & 70's) Compiled by Zonker Harris
http://www.ugcomix.info/hub.html
UG.comix is a wonderful website largely dedicated to providing a resource for collectors of Underground Comix of the 60's & 70's. The website features a really good ‘Visual Guide To UNDERGROUND COMIX Reprints’; perhaps the most useful feature of the site and is something I refer to time and again when attempting to identify print runs.
The above referenced resources are an interesting and invaluable aid to any prospective buyer of UG’s and offer a real insight into the depth and diversity of the genre,
It’s my hope this thread will be used to share information, answer questions and help garner an interest in a genre I’m fast developing a passion for,
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