Alternative comics or independent comics cover a range of American comics that have appeared since the 1980s, following the underground comix movement of the late 1960s and early 1970s. Alternative comics present an alternative to mainstream superhero comics which in the past have dominated the American comic book industry. They span across a wide range of genres, artistic styles, and subjects.
Bondage Fairies is an erotic manga about highly sexual, human-shaped female forest fairies with wings. It was originally a series in publisher Kubo Shoten's Young Lemon magazine in 1990, where it was titled Insect Hunter. The manga is drawn by Teruo Kakuta. The series was later published in the United States with translated English text. It is among the earliest sexually explicit manga (eromanga) commercially published in the United States where it dates from 1994. Jason Thompson in Manga: The Complete Guide mentions it was "the first hit translated adult manga".
Slave Labor Graphics (SLG) is an American independent comic book publisher, well known for publishing darkly humorous, offbeat adult comics. Creators associated with SLG over the years include Evan Dorkin, Roman Dirge, Sarah Dyer, Woodrow Phoenix, Jhonen Vasquez, and Andi Watson.
Furrlough is a furry comic book originally published by Antarctic Press and continued by Radio Comix. It is edited by Elin Winkler and is nicknamed (dubbed) "Your Funny Animal Anthology".
Critters was an anthropomorphic animal anthology comic book published by Fantagraphics Books from 1985 to 1990 under the editorship of Kim Thompson.
Kitchen Sink Press was a comic book publishing company founded by Denis Kitchen in 1970. Kitchen Sink Press was a pioneering publisher of underground comics, and was also responsible for numerous republications of classic comic strips in hardcover and softcover volumes. One of their best-known products was the first full reprint of Will Eisner's The Spirit—first in magazine format, then in standard comic book format. The company closed in 1999.
Antarctic Press is a San Antonio-based comic book publishing company which publishes "Amerimanga" style comic books. The company also produces "how-to" and "you can" comics, instructing on areas of comic book creation and craft.
Chaos! Comics was a comic book publisher that operated from 1993 until 2002, mostly focusing on horror comics. Their titles included Lady Death, Purgatori, Evil Ernie, Chastity, Jade, Bad Kitty, and Lady Demon. Chaos! creators included Brian Pulido, Steven Hughes, Al Rio, Mike Flippin, Justiniano, and Hart D. Fisher.
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.
Revolutionary Comics was an American comic book publisher specializing in unauthorized profiles of entertainers and professional athletes, as well as a line of erotic comics. Its flagship series was Rock 'N' Roll Comics. Founded by Todd Loren, Revolutionary Comics was based in San Diego.
Richard Moore is an American writer and artist of comic books. His published titles include Far West, Boneyard and Deja Vu.
Erotic comics are adult comics which focus substantially on nudity and sexual activity, either for their own sake or as a major story element. As such they are usually not permitted to be sold to legal minors. Like other genres of comics, they can consist of single panels, short comic strips, comic books, or graphic novels/albums. Although never a mainstream genre, they have existed as a niche alongside – but usually separate from – other genres of comics.
Comic BomBom was a monthly Japanese children's manga magazine published by Kodansha and aimed at elementary school boys. It was first published on October 15, 1981, and ceased publication in 2007. A web version of the magazine has been published on Pixiv Comic since the end of July 2017.
Brandon Graham is an American comic book creator.
Diane Robin Noomin was an American comics artist associated with the underground comics movement. She is best known for her character DiDi Glitz, who addresses transgressive social issues such as feminism, female masturbation, body image, and miscarriages.
Diana Schutz is a Canadian-born comic book editor, serving as editor in chief of Comico during its peak years, followed by a 25-year tenure at Dark Horse Comics. Some of the best-known works she has edited are Frank Miller's Sin City and 300, Matt Wagner's Grendel, Stan Sakai's Usagi Yojimbo, and Paul Chadwick's Concrete. She was known to her letter-column readers as "Auntie Dydie". She was an adjunct instructor of comics history and criticism at Portland Community College.
Donald Richard Donahue was a comic book publisher, operating under the name Apex Novelties, one of the instigators of the underground comix movement in the 1960s.
Leonard Rifas is an American cartoonist, critic, editor, and publisher associated with underground comix, comics journalism, left-wing politics, and the anti-nuclear movement. He is notable for his contributions to the form of minicomics as well as publishing Japanese manga in the United States. Rifas' publishing company, EduComics, operated most actively from 1976 to 1982.
Cat-Head Comics was an American alternative/underground comics publisher that operated from 1980 to 1998. Founded by cartoonist Steve Lafler as a vehicle for his own work, Cat-Head was later joined by writer/poet/editor Stephen Beaupre. Cat-Head's longest-running title was the anthology Buzzard, which lasted 20 issues.
Angela Bocage is a bisexual comics creator who published mainly in the 1980s and 1990s. Bocage was active in the queer comics community during these decades, publishing in collections like Gay Comix,Strip AIDS USA, and Wimmen's Comix. Bocage also created, edited, and contributed comics to Real Girl, a comics anthology published by Fantagraphics.
