When Comix Ruled

Rebus appeared in all three issues of Fan Free Funnies

Click here to read about Fan Free Funnies, a collection of local (Fan District) underground comix from 1973. "When Comix Ruled" is a STYLE Weekly sidebar I wrote for an article about R. Crumb's upcoming appearance at the Carpenter Theatre next week.

In 1973, in spite of the cultural changes that had been in the air for years, mainstream pop was still offering up plenty of safe schmaltz and accessible nostalgia: Billboard’s top single of the year was “Tie a Yellow Ribbon ‘Round the Ole Oak Tree.” The Oscar for best picture went to “American Graffiti.” The word “underground,” associated with art, film and music, still had a yet-to-be-fully exploited edge to it.

Perhaps the best known of the Fan Free Funnies cartoonists was Phil Trumbo (VCU 1972). “Ed Slipek, the editor of VCU’s student newspaper, Commonwealth Times, approached me to help create an underground, comix-style supplement,” Trumbo remembers.

Yes, I'll be there on Oct. 27 to hear Crumb say his piece.

Click here to read more about Rebus. Here's another link.