Rip-Off Press (1996-99)
Shaundra is a sex-crazed swordswoman. Despite constant romps with her boyfriend Max and swordfights with guardsmen in the local tavern, she was getting a little bored with her life. Then she made the mistake of being rude to a tiny wizard who was criticizing her unladylike behavior. Before she could react, the wizard zapped her with a magic wand, knocking her unconscious. (more…)
Rip-Off Press (1978-92)
Sometimes I wonder if Larry Gonick fully understood what he was getting into when he conceived the idea for The Cartoon History of the Universe. He surely must have had some conception of the scope of his task, but I doubt he realized that it would take over 30 years and 1,450 pages of comic writing and illustration to convey the entire history of the universe from the beginning of time to the year 2008. And the time spent on writing and drawing still doesn’t include the enormous amount of research that he put into each and every page of his epic story. (more…)
Rip-Off Press (1969-1971)
The Magical Nymphini is a nubile woman with a magic wand and the right curves to make a splash. The magic wand she keeps strapped in a holster on her right thigh, which is called Maxima, is the, um, tool that takes Nymphini to the heights of sexual pleasure and transports her to the worlds of her sexual fantasies. (more…)
Rip-Off Press/Eros 1993-95
Cramer’s character is an open tribute to some of Frank Thorne’s bawdy heroines. She wanders a world of magic and technology, in search of a cure for the terrible curse laid on her sister. Mara wanders bare-foot all the time, and bare-everything-else most of the time. And somehow, her magical capacity for delight in getting laid saves her from all the evils that cross her path. (more…)
Rip-Off Press (1969-1972)
Frank Stack (aka Foolbert Sturgeon) produced three of the funniest social and religious satire comic books in history during the golden age of underground comics. But the origin of these books stretches far back into the early 1960s, when the first seeds of counterculture comics were being sown in college humor magazines (as well as fanzines). In the late ’50s, Stack had edited one of the most notorious college humor magazines, The Texas Ranger, while he was a student at the University of Texas in Austin. He began drawing his satirical comics about Jesus Christ and the New Testament in 1961, but back then the comics were too controversial (read blasphemous) to be published in any college-sanctioned humor magazine. (more…)
Rip-Off Press (1989-1997)
Austen began his career as an artist in the 1980s. Due to not knowing many comics fans he developed a habit of inking his own pencils. After working on Eclipse Comics titles such as Twisted Tales and Alien Worlds, his work came to the attention of Alan Moore, who selected him to take over from Alan Davis on Miracleman, recently added to the company’s portfolio.
He met Moore for the first time at the 1985 San Diego Comic Con, where he was also announced as the new artist on the title. (more…)
Rip-Off Press 1987
Good Girls is a 1987–1991 six-issue comic book limited series. It was created by Carol Lay and published by Fantagraphics and then Rip Off Press parodying romance comics.
The comic book started with another strip, “Ms Lonelyhearts”, which progressively disappeared. The second featured Irene Van de Kamp, an heiress who grew up in an African tribe who puts face markings and a disk in her lower lip. She meets an assortment of weird characters while trying to find romance and avoid people who are only after her money. Carol Lay gives an account of how the character started in her preface to the collection. (more…)
Rip-Off Press (1969-1971)
The three issues of Great Diggs provide wry commentary and satire about the hot political and social issues from the mid-70s through the ’80s. Funny stuff from Harry Driggs, but very topical. (more…)
Rip-Off Press 1978-79
Ted Richards was one of the most talented comic creators in the underground, though he didn’t explore the themes of sex, drugs and rock ‘n roll in the same way as his peers. In fact, Richards rarely did comics about sex or rock ‘n roll, but he did do plenty about drugs, especially marijuana. To some degree, Richards, who is now a print and Web designer, disavows his underground comic work, even claiming at one time that Dopin’ Dan didn’t actually smoke pot (I can’t find that link anymore, but I swear it’s true).
Rip-Off Press 1970-83
Richard Corben has enjoyed a long and successful career as a comic illustrator, but his success did not come quickly or easily. He was nearly thirty years old before he was published in small-circulation publications and eventually by underground comic publishers. Before that, Corben worked in construction with his father and for many years at Calvin Studios, a Kansas City commercial animation company. His first published work appeared in the fanzine Voice of Comicdom in 1968. In 1970, he had finally saved enough money to self-publish three sci-fi stories in the first issue of Fantagor, which started as a magazine-size fanzine. He expected great success, but the book sold poorly through mail order. (more…)