Week 6: Underground Comix

I was rather excited this week to dive into underground comics, as they push the envelope of political correctness and live in their own little world of publishing whatever they want. I started out by reading through the proto-underground Tijuana Bibles. I found this experience to be very different from any comic I've ever seen/read. These comics were written by and for adults, in a time in which pornography wasn't necessarily present. In this aspect it was interesting seeing comics used for this purpose, and it seems to play up the versatility of comics.

After this, I moved onto Gay Comix #1-3. After reading the Tijuana Bibles, I wasn't quite sure what to expect. That being said I found myself rather surprised by the material. The comics were written and drawn by LGBT artists, some of the comics were raunchy, however, some of them were merely just comics with LGBT representation. Published in the 1980s, it was clear that these comics were a source of community in a time in which many of these people were in hiding. In that sense, I can understand how these comics must've been very important at the time.

One of the most interesting comics for me in the book, was one that talked about a transgender author and his life. I can only imagine in the 80s how much of a struggle it must've been being transgender, and hearing first hand about it–written in the period–was very compelling to me. The experience was like going into a time machine, through the art style and first person description, it felt very sincere and personal. It is nice to see comics as an outlet for LGBT individuals to connect with each other and build a community in a time in which they were facing persecution from the outside world.