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Pagan Kennedy (essay date 19 March 1990)

SOURCE: "P. C. Comics," in The Nation, New York, Vol. 250, No. 11, March 19, 1990, pp. 386-89.

[In the essay below, Kennedy comments on the history of comic book publishing in the United States and discusses the distinctive qualities and appeal of several graphic novels.]

By 1969, Zap Comix had become so much a totem of the underground San Francisco scene that its editor, ninety-pound weakling Robert Crumb, was finally able to get laid. As he relates in a recent cartoon story, "I made up for all those years of deprivation by lunging maniacally at women I was attracted to … squeezing faces and humping legs…. I usually got away with it … famous eccentric artist, you know." His Zap included everything from instructions for smoking a joint to the adventures of Wonder Wart-Hog, in which the main character, unable to get it up, uses his snout instead. Underground comix, distributed...

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1. Introduction
2. History And Overviews
   1. Russell Schechter (essay date August 1989)
   2. Keith R. A. DeCandido (essay date 15 March 1990)
   3. Pagan Kennedy (essay date 19 March 1990)
   4. Mikal Gilmore (essay date 17 May 1990)
   5. Frank McConnell (essay date 28 February 1992)
   6. Gordon Nore (essay date November 1992)
   7. Peter Plagens and Yahlin Chang (essay date 5 September 1994)
   8. Calvin Reid (essay date 19 September 1994)
3. The Classics Illustrated Series
   1. Beth Levine (essay date 24 November 1989)
4. Reviews Of Recent Works
   1. Roz Kaveney (review date 18-25 December 1987–1 January 1988)
   2. Mark Sinker (review date 29 July 1988)
   3. Publishers Weekly (review date 17 February 1989)
   4. Publishers Weekly (review date 27 July 1990)
   5. Publishers Weekly (review date 27 July 1990)
   6. Tom Easton (review date January 1991)
   7. James Colbert (review date 8 November 1992)
   8. Marty Cohen (review date February-March 1993)
   9. Bill Jones (review date February-March 1993)
   10. Publishers Weekly (review date 18 July 1994)
   11. Publishers Weekly (review date 8 August 1994)
   12. Publishers Weekly (review date 8 August 1994)
   13. Publishers Weekly (review date 22 August 1994)
   14. Publishers Weekly (review date 29 August 1994)
   15. Publishers Weekly (review date 19 September 1994)
   16. Publishers Weekly (review date 19 September 1994)
   17. Karal Ann Marling (review date 9 October 1994)
   18. Publishers Weekly (review date 24 October 1994)
   19. Publishers Weekly (review date 24 October 1994)
   20. Publishers Weekly (review date 24 October 1994)
5. Further Reading
6. Copyright