The term "alternative comics" is one of several labels applied to a range of comic books, graphic novels, and allied forms that
have appeared since about 1980, in the wake of the underground
comix movement of the late 1960s and early 70s. Typically, these are authored independently by a single creator; they are
aimed at adult readers and are often formally experimental. The works in question have variously been labelled
"post-underground," "independent,", "small press," "new wave," or "art
comics." Many self-published "minicomics" also fall under the "alternative"
umbrella.
These works present an alternative to the "mainstream" comics which dominate the US comic book industry (such as the superhero-themed products of Marvel and DC comic companies). Those comics are typically
produced by a team of workers operating on tight deadlines: a writer, a penciler, an inker, a letterer, a colorist, and an
editor. The subject matter and style of "mainstream" comics is in large part dictated by their publisher, who hires the personnel
to produce the comics according to well established conventions of a genre. By contrast, alternative comics are often
independently authored and drawn by a single creator and they are published when deemed complete by the author, with little
regard for regular distribution schedules. Where the content of "mainstream" comics is influenced by corporate managers
attempting to maximize sales, "alternative" comics are often published in small numbers for specialized audiences, which allows
for the publication of material that many in a more general readership would likely find obscure or offensive. In all of these
ways, "alternative" comics build directly on the precedent set by underground comix.
From Underground to Alternative
The hippie counterculture,
and the underground comix distribution system associated with it,
had largely collapsed by the late 1970s. At that juncture, the artists who had emerged as part of the comix underground found it
increasingly difficult to find publishers, and those that did continue to publish found that their audience had shrunk
dramatically.
Two of the leading artists of underground comix addressed this
situation in the early 1980s by starting magazines that anthologized new, artistically ambitious comics. RAW, a lavishly produced, large format anthology that was clearly
intended to be seen as a work of art was founded by artist Art
Spiegelman and his wife Françoise Mouly in 1980. Another magazine, Weirdo, was
started by the leading figure in underground comix, Robert Crumb, in
1981.
Both of these magazines reflected changes from the days of the underground comix. They had different formats from the old
comix, and the selection of artists differed, too. RAW featured many European artists, Weirdo included
photo-funnies and strange outsider art-type documents. The underground
staples of sex, drugs and revolution were much less in evidence. More emphasis was placed on developing the craft of comics
drawing and storytelling, with many artists aiming for work that was both subtler and more complex than was typical in the
underground. This was true of much of the new work done by the established comix artists as well as the newcomers: Spiegelman's Maus, much celebrated for bringing a new seriousness to comics, was serialized in RAW.
Another important factor in the establishment of alternative comics was the emergence in the late 1970s of the publishing
house Fantagraphics. This small company, headed by Gary Groth and Kim Thompson, was instrumental in establishing a new audience for seriously intended comics. They
created a magazine for the critical discussion of comics, The
Comics Journal, reprinted a number of historical comics that had fallen into obscurity, and they published the work of a
new generation of artists, notably Love and
Rockets by the brothers Jaime, Gilbert and Mario Hernandez.
Alternative comics have increasingly established themselves within the larger culture, as evidenced by the success of the
feature film "Ghost World," based on one of the best selling alternative titles, Eightball, by Daniel Clowes and the cross-genre
success of the book Jimmy Corrigan, the Smartest Kid on Earth, by Chris Ware, a story that was serialized in Ware's comic, Acme Novelty Library.
Notable Alternative Comics
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