Summer 1977

Earlier I had done a quick profile on Mr. Griffith's most well known character Zippy the Pinhead, along with Zippy's evolution as a daily strip and a well-researched biopic on Zippy's inspiration. That only tells you half the story.

I had an odd infatuation with underground Comix artists (the 'x' in Comix denotes its raunchy underground x-rated connection). It started one summer in 1977 browsing in a upscale boutique mall-let that skirted a larger shopping mall in Bloomington Minnesota. A History of Underground Comics by Mark James Estren. It was chock filled with raw, dirty and uncensored images that my parents certainly would not approve of. It also seemed more real, more relatable to a late-blooming 16 year old who didn't have a clue what to do with his life. When I opened up that book I suddenly knew I wanted to be like these well entrenched cultural iconoclasts who thumbed their noses at straight society.

I wanted to be these guys.

Chapter 3, A Few Hows, Whens and Wherefores was the section devoted to profiling almost all the influential Underground Comix artists within the US/Canada borders who at the time of publication (1974) were hard at work. That was key, they were still busy doing their stuff somewhere in the world. Bill Griffith was in attendance for the Berkely Underground Comix Convention in 1973 where somebody snapped a photo of him with some other artists cohorts out in the street in sunny California.

It was a particular splash page illustration in my "A History..." book that caught my imagination. A weird, surreal panoply of a river bridge, cat, demon farting bespeckled man holding a clown doll. At the bottom was Mr. Toad kissing a woman, looking suspiciously at himself exiting the bottom of the page, his superhero self (or is he in his underwear?) flanked by a lesser version washing his armpits out with soap.

That's Mr Toad to you.

He described Mr. Toad as a short tempered egomaniac who always bent everyone's will to his agenda. He existed in stark contrast to Zippy, who for the most part was the most Zen-like passive compliant individual in comics.

Seeing this image sparked off that nonsensical notion that I could achieve this level of absurdity one day in the future beyond 1977.

I think after 45 years I'm almost there.

(buy "A History of Underground Comics" used HERE.)

Tim Larsen

12 Woodwardia Ave

Felton CA 95018
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