Notes on the Underground 2: Alternative Comix and the Pacific Northwest
By the mid-1970s, the underground comix scene was beginning to run out of gas. As Jay Kennedy, author of The Underground Comix Guide, wrote in 1982:
"Artists and publishers had to reassess their aims. The artists lost their concern with breaking taboos. Their work became more personal, and the range of their subject matter reflected this as it became more diverse. […] The label 'underground' had become vestigial. The broader label 'alternative' would now be more appropriate."
The Frank L. Waynewood Collection chronicles the changes in the publishing scene during the 1970s and 1980s, as the 'underground' gave way to 'alternative' comix, and Seattle eclipsed the Bay Area as the spiritual center of independent comix.
In the 1980s, a flood of self-published zines and mini-comix emerged out of the PNW, and the brash, funny, and intimate work of Peter Bagge, Bruce Chrislip, and Roberta Gregory (among others) helped put Seattle comix on the map. When legendary publisher Fantagraphics relocated to Seattle from LA in 1989, the northward migration of the comix scene was complete. And rarely did a week go by during which Frank Waynewood didn't drop by the publisher’s storefront to pick up new titles and schmooze with the owners.
