Gilbert Shelton

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Gilbert Shelton
Shelton, Gilbert 4.jpg
Shelton at Comicfestival München 2013
Born (1940-05-31) May 31, 1940 (age 84)
Houston, Texas, U.S.
Area(s) Cartoonist
Pseudonym(s)Ghoulbert Chesterton
Notable works
 The Fabulous Furry Freak Brothers
Fat Freddy's Cat
Wonder Wart-Hog
Not Quite Dead
Collaborators Dave Sheridan, Paul Mavrides, Pic
Awards Inkpot Award, 1978 [1]
Will Eisner Award Hall of Fame, 2012
Spouse(s)Lora Fountain

Gilbert Shelton (born May 31, 1940) [2] is an American cartoonist and a key member of the underground comix movement. He is the creator of the iconic underground characters The Fabulous Furry Freak Brothers , Fat Freddy's Cat , and Wonder Wart-Hog .

Contents

Biography

Early life and education

Shelton was born in Dallas, Texas, on May 31, 1940. His father, George Shelton, worked for Firestone, which moved the family around the southeast during the 1940s. They settled in Houston, Texas, where he graduated from Lamar High School. He attended Washington and Lee University, Texas A&M University, and the University of Texas at Austin, where he received his bachelor's degree in the social sciences in 1961. His early cartoons were published in the University of Texas humor magazine The Texas Ranger . [3]

Early career

Directly after graduation, Shelton moved to New York City and got a job editing automotive magazines, where he would sneak his drawings into print. Early work of his was published in Warren Publishing's Help! [1] The idea for the character of Wonder Wart-Hog, a porcine parody of Superman, came to him in 1961. The following year, Shelton moved back to Texas to enroll in graduate school and get a student deferment from the draft. The first two Wonder Wart-Hog stories appeared in Bacchanal, a short-lived college humor magazine, in the spring of 1962. That same year, he published (in zine form) Frank Stack's The Adventures of Jesus, one of the first underground comix; Stack wrote and drew the comic strip under the name Foolbert Sturgeon.

Shelton then became editor of The Texas Ranger [1] and published more Wonder Wart-Hog stories.

After switching from graduate school to art school (where he befriended singer Janis Joplin) [4] for two years, he was finally drafted, but Army doctors declared him medically unfit after he admitted to taking psychedelic drugs. [5] After this, in 1964 and 1965, he spent some time in Cleveland, where his girlfriend Pat Brown (another UT alum) [6] was studying at the Cleveland Institute of Art. He applied for a job at the Cleveland-based American Greeting Card Company (where a fellow underground comic artist Robert Crumb had worked) but was turned down.[ citation needed ]

The period of 1965–1968 was an itinerant one for Shelton: he moved to New York to work for the underground paper East Village Other , and to Los Angeles to work for the Los Angeles Free Press . [7] Then Shelton became art director for the Vulcan Gas Company, a rock music venue in Austin, Texas, where he worked with Jim Franklin. He created a number of posters in the style of contemporary California poster artists such as Victor Moscoso and Rick Griffin. After a year of this, he moved to San Francisco in 1968, hopeful that being closer to the action would enable him to do more poster work.

That same year, Millar Publishing Company, who had been publishing regular Wonder Wart-Hog stories since 1966, published two issues of Wonder Wart-Hog. 140,000 copies of each were printed, but distributors did not pick up the magazine, and only 40,000 of each were sold.[ citation needed ]

Underground comix star

Also in 1968 Shelton self-published Feds 'n' Heads , a collection of strips first published in the Austin underground paper The Rag . The comic featured Wonder Wart-Hog and what became his most famous strip, The Fabulous Furry Freak Brothers . The first edition of Feds 'N' Heads was hand-collated, folded, and stapled by Shelton in his garage, with an initial print run of 5,000 copies; [8] it proved so popular that it was later re-issued multiple times by the San Francisco-based publisher the Print Mint, [9] selling over 200,000 total copies by 1980. [8]

In 1969, Shelton co-founded Rip Off Press with three fellow "expatriate" Texans: Fred Todd, Dave Moriaty, and cartoonist Jack Jackson. [9] Rip Off Comix published 13 issues of The Fabulous Furry Freak Brothers comic from 1971 to 1997, with many issues undergoing multiple printings. Shelton created a spin-off strip, Fat Freddy's Cat , in 1969.

During this period, Shelton was also a regular contributor to Zap Comix and other underground titles, including Bijou Funnies , Yellow Dog , Arcade , The Rip Off Review of Western Culture , and Anarchy Comics . Along with R. Crumb, S. Clay Wilson, Robert Williams, "Spain" Rodriguez, and two artists with reputations as psychedelic poster designers, Victor Moscoso and Rick Griffin, Shelton became part of the "Zap collective," which remained mostly constant throughout the nearly 50-year history of Zap.

In the 1970s, Shelton managed the Rip Off Press Syndicate, which sold weekly content, including Shelton's own strips, to alternative newspapers and student publications. [10] Much of the material produced for the syndicate was eventually published in the company's long-running anthology Rip Off Comix , which had debuted in 1977. [10]

Shelton designed the cover art for the 1973 album Doug Sahm and Band , as well as The Grateful Dead's 1978 album, Shakedown Street . [1]

He also illustrated the cover of the early classic computer magazine compilation The Best of Creative Computing Volume 2 in 1977.

In 1979, Universal Studios paid Shelton and Rip Off Press $250,000 for the rights to make a live-action Fabulous Furry Freak Brothers film. [10] Shelton used his share (which was the bulk of the money) to finance repeated trips to Europe, and to eventually settle down in France. Meanwhile, the Universal-produced Freak Brothers film never made it to production. [10]

Later work

Shelton's Not Quite Dead , done in collaboration with French cartoonist Pic, appeared in Rip Off Comix #25 (Winter 1989) and in six Not Quite Dead comic books (1993–1996).

A new Wonder Wart-Hog story appeared in Zap Comix #15 (Last Gasp, 2005), as well as The Complete Zap boxed set (Fantagraphics, 2014) which contained Zap #16; and a new Fabulous Furry Freak Brothers story appeared in Zap #16 as well.

Fifty Freakin' Years with the Fabulous Furry Freak Brothers was published in 2017 by Knockabout Comics. It contains new strips by Shelton, as well as his written introduction.

Music

In 1966 Shelton formed the Gilbert Shelton Ensemble and released a 45 record on ESP Records, "If I Was A Hells Angel," b/w "Southern Stock Car Man," backed by members of the Austin psychedelic rock band The Conqueroo, consisting of Tom Bright, Bob Brown and Ed Guinn.

Since moving to France, Shelton has become part of a rhythm and blues group, the Blum Brothers, featuring Shelton on vocals and piano. The band features fellow cartoonist musician Bruno Blum on vocals and guitar. A Blum-produced album was recorded but not released. The Blum Brothers played at the Jockomo, a New Orleans-style bar in the 11th arrondissement of Paris. [3]

Personal life

Shelton and his wife, literary agent Lora Fountain, left San Francisco in 1979. [11] They were residents of Barcelona, (Catalonia, Spain) in 1980–1981, [7] and moved to France in 1984. [7] [10]

Film and TV

There have been several attempts to film Shelton's Freak Brothers characters and over the years several film rights options have been taken on his work. None went to production. [12] In 1978, the unauthorized pornographic film Up in Flames was released, which "ripped off the Freak Brothers [and R. Crumb's] Mr. Natural all in one go." [13]

It was reported that Universal's acquisition of the Freak Brothers film rights in 1979 was in order to prevent competition against the Cheech & Chong franchise. Although a script was written, the film was never made. [14] [13]

At one point, the Freak Brothers' antics were reportedly being turned into a Broadway musical [ citation needed ] after a stop motion animated film, titled Grass Roots and produced by Celluloid Dreams, [15] [12] [16] fell through.[ citation needed ].

Finally, in 2021, an animated series called Freak Brothers featuring the voices of Pete Davidson, John Goodman and Woody Harrelson, premiered on the streaming service Tubi. It was renewed for a second season, which began in June 2023. [17]

Music

"Set My Chickens Free"

Shelton's strip "Set My Chickens Free," published in issue #1 of the Bijou Funnies comic (1968) has been used in multiple music projects:

  • In 1969, the words were set to music by The Hub City Movers and recorded as "The Chicken Song"; re-released in 1983 as "Set Your Chickens Free". [18] [19]
  • In David Carradine's 1975 album Grasshopper (and 1976 single "Cosmic Joke"), he uses the words in "Chicken Song." [20]
  • In 1994, Merle Haggard used the words in his song "Set My Chickens Free," released on his studio album 1994 . [21]

Literature

Shelton's "Set My Chickens Free" cartoon was also published on page 128 of Abbie Hoffman's Steal This Book (1971), illustrating its third section, "Liberate!"

Bibliography

Wonder Wart-Hog

Gilbert Shelton at the London Film and Comic Con in July 2013 Gilbert Shelton.jpg
Gilbert Shelton at the London Film and Comic Con in July 2013

The Fabulous Furry Freak Brothers

Fat Freddy's Cat

Other titles

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Underground comix</span> Comics genre

Underground comix are small press or self-published comic books that are often socially relevant or satirical in nature. They differ from mainstream comics in depicting content forbidden to mainstream publications by the Comics Code Authority, including explicit drug use, sexuality, and violence. They were most popular in the United States in the late 1960s and 1970s, and in the United Kingdom in the 1970s.

<i>The Fabulous Furry Freak Brothers</i> American comic book

The Fabulous Furry Freak Brothers is an underground comic about a fictional trio of stoner characters, created by the American artist Gilbert Shelton. The Freak Brothers first appeared in The Rag, an underground newspaper published in Austin, Texas, beginning in May 1968, and were regularly reprinted in underground publications around the United States and in other parts of the world. Later their adventures were published in a series of comic books.

<i>Zap Comix</i> Underground comic book

Zap Comix is an underground comix series which was originally part of the counterculture of the late 1960s. While a few small-circulation self-published satirical comic books had been printed prior to this, Zap became the model for the "comix" movement that snowballed after its release. The title itself published 17 issues over a period of 46 years.

Paul Mavrides is an American artist, best known for his critique-laden comics, cartoons, paintings, graphics, performances and writings that encompass a disturbing yet humorous catalog of the social ills and shortcomings of human civilization. Mavrides worked with underground comix pioneer Gilbert Shelton on The Fabulous Furry Freak Brothers from 1978 to 1992. Mavrides has been noted for "adding new dimensions to the political comic" in the underground comix press of the 1970s and '80s.

Frank Huntington Stack is an American underground cartoonist and fine artist. Working under the name Foolbert Sturgeon to avoid persecution for his work while living in the Bible Belt, Stack published what is considered by many to be the first underground comic, The Adventures of Jesus, in 1964.

Knockabout Comics is a UK publisher and distributor of underground and alternative books and comics. They have a long-standing relationship with underground comix pioneer Gilbert Shelton.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Wonder Wart-Hog</span> Comics character

Wonder Wart-Hog is an underground comic book character, a porcine parody of Superman, created by American cartoonist Gilbert Shelton and first published in 1962. Over the years, Shelton has worked on the strip in collaboration with various writers and artists, including fellow UT Austin alums Tony Bell, Bill Killeen, and Joe E. Brown Jr.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Rip Off Press</span> Comic book mail order retailer and distributor

Rip Off Press Inc. is a comic book mail order retailer and distributor, better known as the former publisher of adult-themed series like The Fabulous Furry Freak Brothers and Rip Off Comix, as well as many other seminal publications from the underground comix era. Founded in 1969 in San Francisco by four friends from Austin, Texas — cartoonists Gilbert Shelton and Jack Jackson, and Fred Todd and Dave Moriaty — Rip Off Press is now run in Auburn, California, by Todd.

Jay Kinney is an American author, editor, and former underground cartoonist. Kinney has been noted for "adding new dimensions to the political comic" in the underground comix press of the 1970s and '80s.

<i>Rip Off Comix</i> Underground comix anthology

Rip Off Comix was an underground comix anthology published between 1977 and 1991 by Rip Off Press. As time passed, the sensibility of the anthology changed from underground to alternative comics.

<i>Grass Roots</i> (film) Clay animated film

Grass Roots is a proposed British-American adult clay film based on the Fabulous Furry Freak Brothers underground comic strip created by Gilbert Shelton.

Up in Flames is a 1978 pornographic film and unauthorized adaptation of the underground comix The Fabulous Furry Freak Brothers by Gilbert Shelton and Mr. Natural by Robert Crumb. The film's title also parodies the contemporaneous Cheech & Chong movie Up in Smoke.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Rand Holmes</span> Canadian artist and illustrator

Randolph Holton Holmes was a Canadian artist and illustrator probably best known for his work in underground comix. His work was of a higher level of quality than was seen elsewhere in the field, and is considered comparable to such creations as Gilbert Shelton's The Fabulous Furry Freak Brothers and Robert Crumb's Mr. Natural.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Dave Sheridan (cartoonist)</span> American cartoonist (1943–1982)

Dave Sheridan was an American cartoonist and underground comix artist. He was the creator of Dealer McDope and collaborated with Gilbert Shelton and Paul Mavrides on The Fabulous Furry Freak Brothers. As creative partner with fellow underground creator Fred Schrier, using the name "Overland Vegetable Stagecoach," they worked on Mother's Oats Funnies, published by Rip Off Press from 1970 to 1976.

<i>Bijou Funnies</i>

Bijou Funnies was an American underground comix magazine which published eight issues between 1968 and 1973. Edited by Chicago-based cartoonist Jay Lynch, Bijou Funnies featured strong work by the core group of Lynch, Skip Williamson, Robert Crumb, and Jay Kinney, as well as Art Spiegelman, Gilbert Shelton, Justin Green, and Kim Deitch. Bijou Funnies was heavily influenced by Mad magazine, and, along with Zap Comix, is considered one of the titles to launch the underground comix movement.

Theodore Richards was an American web designer and cartoonist, best known for his underground comix.

<i>God Nose</i> American underground comic

God Nose is a 42-page American comic book produced in 1964 by Jack "Jaxon" Jackson and is considered one of the first underground comix. God Nose centers on philosophical discussions between God and the "fools he rules".

<i>Feds N Heads</i> Underground comic book by Gilbert Shelton

Feds 'N' Heads is an underground comic book, created and self-published by Gilbert Shelton, which introduced the world to the Shelton characters Wonder Wart-Hog and The Fabulous Furry Freak Brothers. In the spring of 1968, cartoonist Gilbert Shelton, already somewhat known in college humor and underground comix circles for his Superman parody Wonder Wart-Hog, self-published a 28-page one-shot, Feds 'N' Heads Comics, much of the material of which had previously appeared in the Austin, Texas, underground paper The Rag. Feds 'N' Heads was later reprinted an additional 13 times by the Bay Area underground publisher the Print Mint, selling over 200,000 total copies by 1980.

<i>Yellow Dog</i> (comics) Comic newspaper

Yellow Dog was an underground comix newspaper and later comic book published by the Print Mint in Berkeley, California. It published 22 issues from 1968 to 1973, featuring many of the period's most notable underground cartoonists, including Robert Crumb, Joel Beck, Robert Williams, Rick Griffin, Greg Irons, and Trina Robbins. Other frequent contributors included Andy Martin, Franz Cilensek, John Thompson, Buckwheat Florida, Jr., Jim Osborne, Ronald Lipking, and Hak Vogrin. The founding editor was Print Mint co-publisher Don Schencker.

The Texas Ranger was the undergraduate humor publication of the University of Texas at Austin (UT), published from 1923 to 1972. A number of people who later went on to become key members of the underground comix scene — including Frank Stack, Gilbert Shelton, and Jaxon — were Texas Ranger editors and contributors during the period 1959–1965. Other notable contributors to The Texas Ranger over the years included Robert C. Eckhardt, John Canaday, Rowland B. Wilson, Harvey Schmidt, Bill Yates, Liz Smith, Robert Benton, Bill Helmer, Robert A. Burns and Wick Allison.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 Shelton entry, Who's Who of American Comic Books, 1928–1999. Accessed November 5, 2016.
  2. ↑ "Gilbert Shelton - Comic Book DB". May 3, 2017. Archived from the original on May 3, 2017.
  3. 1 2 "Premis Liberpress | 2011 Gilbert Shelton".
  4. ↑ Fox, M. Steven. "Texas Ranger," ComixJoint. Accessed December 22, 2016.
  5. ↑ Freeman, John (November 3, 2017). "EXCLUSIVE: Gilbert Shelton reveals some Fabulous Furry Freak Brothers secrets, new collection extracts!".
  6. ↑ Holland, Richard A. The Texas Book: Profiles, History, and Reminiscences of the University (University of Texas Press, 2006), pp. 223–299.
  7. 1 2 3 Elam, Elliot (February 15, 2013). "Gilbert Shelton in Conversation". The Comics Journal . No. 302. Retrieved February 22, 2013.
  8. 1 2 Fox, M. Steven. "Feds 'n' Heads," ComixJoint. Accessed Nov. 3, 2016.
  9. 1 2 Estren, Mark. A History of Underground Comics: 20th Anniversary Edition (Ronin Publishing, 2012), p. 54.
  10. 1 2 3 4 5 Fox, M. Steven. "Rip Off Comix — 1977-1991 / Rip Off Press," Comixjoint. Retrieved Dec. 5, 2022.
  11. ↑ Ward, Ed. "The Fab Three," Texas Monthly (Nov. 1991), pp. 116–120.
  12. 1 2 Kuznik, Frank (July 1, 2009). "Drawing conclusions". The Prague Post.
  13. 1 2 "The Fabulous Furry Freak Brothers Movie!". Rip Off Press, Inc.'s Freak Brothers Factory Store. Archived from the original on February 9, 2007. Retrieved January 26, 2007.
  14. ↑ Don Markstein. "The Fabulous Furry Freak Brothers". Toonopedia. Retrieved January 26, 2007.
  15. ↑ "X takes 'Grassroots' toke". The Hollywood Reporter . February 14, 2006.
  16. ↑ Knowles, Harry (January 13, 2006). "There Is A God!!! I've Got Absolute Indisputable Proof of His Existence!!!". Ain't It Cool News . Retrieved April 15, 2010.
  17. ↑ "Tubi Grooves into Adult Toons with Debut Original 'The Freak Brothers'". October 19, 2021.
  18. ↑ "The Hub City Movers". Discogs. 2021. Retrieved August 26, 2021.
  19. ↑ "Gilbert Shelton & The Hub City Movers". Captain Wayne’s Mad Music.com. 2019. Retrieved August 26, 2021.
  20. ↑ "David Carradine - Grasshopper". Discogs. 2021. Retrieved August 27, 2021.
  21. ↑ "Merle Haggard - 1994". Discogs. 2021. Retrieved August 27, 2021.

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