Week 6 - Underground Comics
This week, I had the opportunity (I shouldn't necessarily say pleasure) to read some underground comics. The creators of these comics had the freedom to be as violent/offensive as they wanted to and didn't have to follow any typical conventions. There were two comics I read that were on complete opposite ends of the spectrum in terms of immaturity/inappropriateness: Bludgeon Funnies and Wonder Wart-Hog.
Bludgeon Funnies, created by Robert Williams, is usually found in issues of Zap Comix. The comic consists of panels of cartoon characters beating the crap out of one another in a rather extreme manner. This includes people being sliced by katanas or chainsaws, having their brains blown out by a shotgun, or being stuck and slaughtered in machines/tools. One thing I noticed is that the panels are surrounded by stars, possibly demonstrating either how America just loves violence or it simply represents "seeing stars" when you're beaten/dizzy. The comic is also filled with very over-the-top commentary, with the last line being "So remember...violence is always right if you're the winner!" Other comics in the book of Zap Comix like Mr. Natural, Ruby the Dyke Meets Weedman, and Coochy Cooty are all along the same level of extreme sexual activity, violence, profanity, offensiveness.
Wonder Wart-Hog Opens a Concession Stand, by Gilbert Shelton and Tony Bell, was a lot tamer compared to the mayhem found in Zap Comix. There's almost no graphic violence, sex, or profanity found in any of these stories. The character designs are extremely weird and the protagonist is very ugly, going completely against the cutesy nature of most comics found in a Sunday newspaper. Honestly, most of the Wonder Wart-Hog stories aren't really funny or even entertaining. It's almost like the writers THOUGHT they had a good story to tell but didn't execute it properly. From what I've noticed with this one, and on top of all the comics I read and skimmed through, is that none of them seem to have a target audience and we're made based on the creators' personal interests. The character of Wonder Wart-Hog is very difficult to get into and he's just not memorable.
Bludgeon Funnies, created by Robert Williams, is usually found in issues of Zap Comix. The comic consists of panels of cartoon characters beating the crap out of one another in a rather extreme manner. This includes people being sliced by katanas or chainsaws, having their brains blown out by a shotgun, or being stuck and slaughtered in machines/tools. One thing I noticed is that the panels are surrounded by stars, possibly demonstrating either how America just loves violence or it simply represents "seeing stars" when you're beaten/dizzy. The comic is also filled with very over-the-top commentary, with the last line being "So remember...violence is always right if you're the winner!" Other comics in the book of Zap Comix like Mr. Natural, Ruby the Dyke Meets Weedman, and Coochy Cooty are all along the same level of extreme sexual activity, violence, profanity, offensiveness.
Wonder Wart-Hog Opens a Concession Stand, by Gilbert Shelton and Tony Bell, was a lot tamer compared to the mayhem found in Zap Comix. There's almost no graphic violence, sex, or profanity found in any of these stories. The character designs are extremely weird and the protagonist is very ugly, going completely against the cutesy nature of most comics found in a Sunday newspaper. Honestly, most of the Wonder Wart-Hog stories aren't really funny or even entertaining. It's almost like the writers THOUGHT they had a good story to tell but didn't execute it properly. From what I've noticed with this one, and on top of all the comics I read and skimmed through, is that none of them seem to have a target audience and we're made based on the creators' personal interests. The character of Wonder Wart-Hog is very difficult to get into and he's just not memorable.
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