Maverix and Lunatix: Icons of Underground Comix (Hardcover)
Perverted, Insane, Degenerate, Brilliant. Artist Drew Friedman pays tribute to the great underground comix creators from Z (Zap) to A (Arcade).
With the publication of R. Crumb's debut issue of Zap in 1968, the Underground Comix revolution exploded, creating a major paradigm shift and blowing the lid off the traditional comic book. Maverix and Lunatix features 101 full page portraits (and more) by a cartooning icon in his own right, Drew Friedman, spotlighting the essential artists, writers, and editors who defined one of the great art and countercultural movements of the 20th century. Featuring R. Crumb, Gilbert Shelton, S. Clay Wilson, Melinda Gebbie, Art Spiegelman, Vaughn Bode, Trina Robbins, Bill Griffith, Jay Lynch, Sharon Rudahl, Larry Gonick, Rick Veitch, Joyce Farmer, Justin Green, "Grass" Green, George DiCaprio, Diane Noomin, Harvey Pekar, Robert Williams, Howard Cruse, Dan O'Neill, Spain Rodriguez, Shary Flenniken, Richard Corben, and so many others… all of whom helped to reinvent an entire artistic medium and became icons of underground comix.
Featuring a foreword by Marc Maron (WTF with Marc Maron) and an afterword by historian Patrick Rosenkranz (Rebel Visions: The Underground Comix Revolution 1963–1975), each portrait in Maverix and Lunatix is also accompanied by a short biography of its subject by Friedman, making the book both a gorgeous art book and a valuable historical resource.
Drew Friedman's work has appeared in The New York Times, Mad, New Yorker, Rolling Stone, and many other magazines. He is the author of several collections of comics and cartooning, including All the Presidents, Maverix and Lunatix: Icons of Underground Comix, Old Jewish Comedians, and Any Similarity to Persons Living or Dead is Purely Coincidental. He resides in Pennsylvania with his wife and collaborator, Kathy Bidus, and their beagles.
Marc Maron is an American stand-up comedian, podcaster, writer, actor, and musician. In 2009, Maron started WTF with Marc Maron, featuring his revelatory conversations with iconic personalities. It became a worldwide phenomenon, with more than six-million downloads each month and 250 million lifetime downloads within its first 6 years.
Patrick Rosenkranz is widely acknowledged as one of the premiere scholars of the underground comix movement. His books include Rebel Visions (the most widely-heralded history of the era) and The Artist Himself: A Rand Holmes Retrospective. He lives in Portland, OR.
Marc Maron is an American stand-up comedian, podcaster, writer, actor, and musician. In 2009, Maron started WTF with Marc Maron, featuring his revelatory conversations with iconic personalities. It became a worldwide phenomenon, with more than six-million downloads each month and 250 million lifetime downloads within its first 6 years.
Patrick Rosenkranz is widely acknowledged as one of the premiere scholars of the underground comix movement. His books include Rebel Visions (the most widely-heralded history of the era) and The Artist Himself: A Rand Holmes Retrospective. He lives in Portland, OR.
Drew Friedman is the Hans Holbein of our time, but, you know, funnier.
— R. Crumb
Us maverix and lunatix are all geriatrix now, except for those who’ve already shed their mortal coil. Drew Friedman—the greatest master of grotesque, warts-and-all caricature since Basil Wolverton—has mellowed into a subtle portrait artist, affectionately and patiently probing the mugs of my generation when in their prime. He’s built a Mount Rushmore-sized tribute to the gang who forced comix to grow up.
— Art Spiegelman
[Friedman's] talent continues to amaze me and is appreciated.
— Howard Stern
The drawings are incredible, as always - [Friedman] gets better with each book, which seems impossible - but this one also makes for a great and much-needed catalogue of the underground artists. …The cover is really incredible, too - just perfect.
— Daniel Clowes
I knew about half of the characters in this book. Some I was friends with, and some I just bumped into from time to time. The portraits of those I knew well are especially impressive to me. Drew Friedman is so eerily talented at capturing the essence of people it seems like he possesses a sixth sense. I bet he’d be a great Casting Director if he ever gets sick of drawing.
— Terry Zwigoff (Director of Crumb and Ghost World)
Amazing illustrations of a bunch of characters in their prime during this critically important period in the development of American comics…
— Larry Gonick
This book is a mandatory resource for anyone interested in American comics history generally, and specifically in the folks who laid the foundation for today's alternative comics. Drew Friedman has lovingly brought them back together again.
— Noah Van Sciver (Author of The Complete Works of Fante Bukowski)
Drew Friedman’s portraits bring a beautiful precision, a magnificence, to that most wild and wooly era of comics—the 1960s underground. I loved this period in comics, and I’m blown away by these portraits! All the names—big, medium, or small—are each given their moment of grace by Drew’s stellar talents.
— Glenn Head (Author of Chartwell Manor)
My favorite book of 2022 is Maverix and Lunatix: Icons of Underground Comix, by Drew Friedman.
— Mark Frauenfelder, BoingBoing
— R. Crumb
Us maverix and lunatix are all geriatrix now, except for those who’ve already shed their mortal coil. Drew Friedman—the greatest master of grotesque, warts-and-all caricature since Basil Wolverton—has mellowed into a subtle portrait artist, affectionately and patiently probing the mugs of my generation when in their prime. He’s built a Mount Rushmore-sized tribute to the gang who forced comix to grow up.
— Art Spiegelman
[Friedman's] talent continues to amaze me and is appreciated.
— Howard Stern
The drawings are incredible, as always - [Friedman] gets better with each book, which seems impossible - but this one also makes for a great and much-needed catalogue of the underground artists. …The cover is really incredible, too - just perfect.
— Daniel Clowes
I knew about half of the characters in this book. Some I was friends with, and some I just bumped into from time to time. The portraits of those I knew well are especially impressive to me. Drew Friedman is so eerily talented at capturing the essence of people it seems like he possesses a sixth sense. I bet he’d be a great Casting Director if he ever gets sick of drawing.
— Terry Zwigoff (Director of Crumb and Ghost World)
Amazing illustrations of a bunch of characters in their prime during this critically important period in the development of American comics…
— Larry Gonick
This book is a mandatory resource for anyone interested in American comics history generally, and specifically in the folks who laid the foundation for today's alternative comics. Drew Friedman has lovingly brought them back together again.
— Noah Van Sciver (Author of The Complete Works of Fante Bukowski)
Drew Friedman’s portraits bring a beautiful precision, a magnificence, to that most wild and wooly era of comics—the 1960s underground. I loved this period in comics, and I’m blown away by these portraits! All the names—big, medium, or small—are each given their moment of grace by Drew’s stellar talents.
— Glenn Head (Author of Chartwell Manor)
My favorite book of 2022 is Maverix and Lunatix: Icons of Underground Comix, by Drew Friedman.
— Mark Frauenfelder, BoingBoing