#05 Only 35¢
#05 Only 35¢
This influential underground was a supplement to the East Village Other newspaper, featuring many artists who would go on to underground fame: Kim Deitch, Spain Rodriguez, Bill Griffith, and Trina Robbins. Edited by Deitch and Bhob Stewart. Mature readers. 24 pages. Cover by Deitch. Cover price $0.35. Cover price $0.35.
Even prior to the exodus, by the middle of 1969 it was obvious that comic books had trumped comic tabloids, and everyone was shifting to the new paradigm. The San Francisco-based tabloid Yellow Dog wisely converted to a comic book format early in the year, and hundreds of other underground comic books would be published in the early ’70s, compared to zero new underground comic tabloids. Whether it was Bodé, Leggieri or Fabricant who decided to make Gothic Blimp Works a tabloid, it was a fatal decision. But it’s likely nothing could have saved Gothic Blimp Works from its demise. The city of New York, which helped birth the underground press and underground comics, was virtually abandoned by underground comic creators in the early ’70s. Even EVO went out of business in 1972.