Anarchy Comics

January 21, 2013
This collection of the too-brief run of Anarchy Comics is jammed with thought-provoking content and gives the underground commix movement a needed context: rooted in the zeitgeist of the burgeoning late-1970s L.A. punk scene and the looming Reagan era of the 1980s, it’s a vital link in comics’ role as social commentary. Founder Jay Kinney and an international assembly of like-minded cartoonists filled the comics’ pages with intelligent urgings for readers to think for themselves and eschew governmental systems that restrain the individual—and thus society at large—all while remaining entertaining (the punk-flavored Archie parody is a standout), informative, and never preachy. For a stylistically experimental series that only yielded four issues over its nine-year lifespan, there’s a lot of artistic meat to be found, and material that might at first seem doomed to be dated is just as relevant as it ever was in today’s American political landscape. Contributors, including Kinney, Spain Rodriguez, Melinda Gebbie, and Gilbert Shelton, are remarkably strong storytellers who bring a sense of urgency and vitality to the material.