Rip Off Comix #2, July 1977, 1st Printing,
Gilbert Shelton, Justin Green, Dave Sheridan, and Frank Stack, Wonder Wart-hog,
Freak Brothers, Fat Freddy’s Cat, Rip Off Press, Underground Comic
1st printing with 75¢ cover price. Classic underground
comix stories. Wonder Wart-hog, Freak Brothers and
Fat Freddy's Cat by Gilbert Shelton; The Forty-Year-Old Hippie by Ted Richards;
Griffith Observatory by Bill Griffith; other stories by Foolbert Sturgeon, Dave
Sheridan, Justin Green, and R. Diggs. Cover by Shelton. 7-in. x 10-in., 48
pages, B&W. 1st Printings have a
$0.75 Cent Cover. Issue #2 is in Fine condition due to a light horizontal
central cover crease, discoloration on the back cover, some color fading on the
back cover, a tiny tear on the bottom of the back cover, and a small tear on
the back cover and last two pages that does not extend into the panels. The
spines are strong and intact and there is no writing, rips, creases or stains
inside.
Like the first issue of Rip Off
Comix, the second begins with a Freak Brothers story, this one called
"Phineas Goes to the Store." When the boys run out of rolling papers,
Phineas goes to the local head shop, where he suddenly wins ownership of the
entire store through a contest run by a rolling paper company. He just as
quickly sells the store to a big corporation for $400,000 and uses the money to
begin making a big-budget movie. Needless to say, Phineas overspends just a
weee bit and ends up broke, but all's well that ends well...unless you still
don't have any rolling papers! "Phineas Goes to the Store" is a
typically outlandish multipage Freak Brothers story and (like the lead Freak
Brothers story from the first issue) was reprinted in Freak Brothers #6 in
1980.
Following the Phineas adventure,
Frank Stack contributes an extended "Dorman's Doggie" story that
offers a few smiles, but I must admit that it's hard to fall in love with
eight-page stories about unloved, timid, neurotic dogs. Stack later offers a
one-page satire about Clark Kent meeting Dr. Feelgood that is quite enjoyable.
Bill Griffith has four "Griffith Observatory" one-pagers scattered
through the book that are still amusing decades after their publication.
Harry Driggs and Dave Sheridan
also pitch in with four-page stories that look at modern relationships (Driggs,
circa 1977) and future civilizations (Sheridan, circa 3711). Driggs story is
especially adroit in depicting the changing landscape for knuckle-dragging
chauvinists. Sheridan's tale is a bit fractured, but if you read it carefully
you can at least make the connection between the aliens on page one and their
appearance in the final panel.
As is usual with early issues of
Rip Off Comix, Gilbert Shelton not only provided more content than anybody but
also the most ambitious stories. Rip Off #2 closes with his 16-page epic,
"Wonder Wart-Hog in 'Epidemic,'" which is about the federal agency
for disease control infecting citizens with a contagious disease so they can
keep their budget funding. Only Wonder Wart-Hog can keep this plague from
destroying the entire country! "Epidemic" bogs down a bit too much to
be a Wart-Hog classic, but it's still an entertaining read.
HISTORICAL FOOTNOTES: There are
two printings of this comic book. The 1st printing (unknown copies) has a
75-cent cover price. The 2nd printing (unknown copies) has a $1.25 cover price.
Given the popularity of the Freak Brothers, I'd guess the 1st printing had
10,000+ copies and the 2nd printing had 5,000 copies.
COMIC CREATORS: Gilbert Shelton - 1 (shared), 3-7 (art), 20,
34-52 Bill Griffith - 1 (shared), 2, 17,
21, 33 Frank Stack - 1 (shared), 8-15,
32 Justin Green - 1 (shared), 16 Dave Sheridan - 1 (shared), 18, 27-30 Ted Richards - 1 (shared), 19, 31 Harry Driggs - 1 (shared), 22-26 Dan Baumgart - 3-7 (script)
Disclaimer: We
may have chosen to alter and block a portion of the cover of this particular
comic, because it contains simple drawings, sketches, cartoon funnies
and caricatures, showing the features of its subjects in a humorously
exaggerated and satirical way. For
Adults Only is printed on the cover because it’s not a children’s comic book.
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