FULL SET
Grunt #1 & #2
& the RARE Postcard
(I’ve only seen a couple of these!)
Underground Comix
1972 Grunt Records
Pentagram Press
Greg Irons
Tom Veitch
Jefferson Airplane
Hot Tuna
Papa John Creach
Big GI/TV
RARE! Only Printing!
Very Scarce Comics!
Excellent Condition! #1 Like New. #2 Some Wear. See pictures of actual items you will receive!
Both come in one Bag & Board!
Securely Boxed between sturdy cardboard to prevent bends or dings & Shipped with USPS Media Mail.
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Info from comixjoint-->
Grunt
1972-1973 / Grunt Records
In 1971, members of the turbulent San Francisco-based and psychedelic-rock-pioneer band Jefferson Airplane endured more life-changing events than they'd ever experienced before. Grace Slick and Paul Kantner had a baby in January (shortly after her divorce from her first husband) and founder and co-lead singer Marty Balin left the band in March. On May 13, Grace Slick was nearly killed when her car slammed into a wall in a tunnel near the Golden Gate Bridge, forcing the band to cancel most of the concerts they had scheduled that year.
Amidst this maelstrom of milestones, in August the band members also founded Grunt Records, its own vanity label distributed by their official record company, RCA Records. Grunt Records was created to be the label for their own albums (both the band's and their solo efforts), but it was also designed to seek and sign local Bay Area bands. This aspiration led to Grunt Records employing Greg Irons and Tom Veitch to produce a promotional comic book in the style of the wildly popular (with rock musicians) underground comics. Grunt, a full-color comic published as a free giveaway in early 1972, features a hilarious cautionary tale about what might happen to an ambitious young rock band if they signed with an uncaring record label instead of Grunt Records.
After Grunt Records signed a few minor bands and recording artists, they came back to Irons and Veitch in 1973 to produce another comic book, this one to promote many of their new albums. Grunt Comix #2 features a story about a group of "society's rejects" living on "Grunt Farm" who lead a pirate-radio revolution against the "crap-rock" music controlled by greedy corporations. This time the interior is in black and white, except for the center section, which promotes Grunt's newest albums in full color.
The two comic books may not have been effective as promotional devices, but their entertainment value can certainly be praised. Grunt was smart to choose Irons and Veitch as their comic creators; there's not another underground artist/writer duo that produced a better body of work than them. Grunt was also smart to give them free reign on the content, which produced a genuine underground comic aura for the books.
Grunt Records might have made a real name for itself if it had been given the chance, but in 1974 RCA Records dropped its distribution deals with all Grunt artists except Jefferson Starship and Hot Tuna. Grunt Records continued releasing albums for Jefferson Starship and its band members through the mid '80s, but folded for good in 1987, when Grace Slick left the band to rejoin...the newly reformed and original Jefferson Airplane.
Grunt #1
Only Printing / 1972 / 12 Pages / Grunt Records
After the rock band Jefferson Airplane founded the music label Grunt Records in 1972, they hired Greg Irons and Tom Veitch to produce an underground comic book to promote their label to unsigned bands around the Bay Area. The first issue of Grunt was published as a free giveaway in early 1972. It was produced in full color, following in the footsteps of the first full-color undergrounds like Light, Color and Bum Wad.
The front cover of Grunt #1 features the primary protagonist of the two issues of the comic, Jumpin' Jack Flesh. Jack introduces himself as the "West Coast representative of Grunt Records" on the inside front cover, and he promises to "lay a little rap on you about our music!" But first he's gotta tell you an important story about the music business, just so ya know the dangers a young band might encounter when they're trying to make their way to superstardom and a fat record contract.
Jack proceeds to recall the brief history of a band called the Ripped Whips, which had some minor success in '68 (as a band known as the "Funky Acid-Glee Blues Band") but struggled to find a record company that believed in them. But then they were approached by a rep from Mumble City Records, who offers them a big cash advance for a contract that will force them to follow whatever marching orders Mumble City gives them. Blinded by the cash advance, the band jumps at the deal, agrees to change their name to the Ripped Whips, and they become big stars; but not for the quality of their music. Mumble City turns them into sado-masochistic monsters on the rock stage, quickly destroying their dreams and their lives in one drug-laden nightmare.
At the end of the book, Jack comes back to his "little rap" about Grunt Records, promising that the story of the Ripped Whips would have ended much differently if they had signed with Grunt instead of Mumble City. Grunt offered new bands the chance to control their music, packaging and promotion, with royalty rates equal to anyone else on the label!
Grunt #1 is only 12 pages long (including the covers) and only 7x7 inches big, but it's a compact little gem of a comic book. Tom Veitch provides Greg Irons with a tight, fast-paced script and then Irons, genius that he is, kicks ass through his interpretation. Every page is a consummate demonstration of Irons' brilliance, from his grotesque caricatures to his panel compositions. He even manages color with surprising effectiveness, given his relative lack of experience in full-color comics.
Aficionados of the 1960s in San Francisco will appreciate the panel on page 5 that depicts the band playing at the Fillmore, which exposes the rowdy debauchery seething through a typical weekend crowd. And I imagine that RCA Records (their distributor) was never consulted about the comic book, as Grunt allowed Veitch and Irons to portray self-mutilation, self-immolation, hard drugs and f—ing (and that was just one page).
Grunt #1 is a rare, kaleidoscopic bauble of vice, violence and gluttony sponsored by a major member of corporate America (RCA). Their unwitting compliance with Jefferson Airplane was an oversight that would almost never happen in today's tightly regimented corporate propaganda. Mind you, I said "almost never." Smoke 'em if you got 'em.
HISTORICAL FOOTNOTES:
It is currently unknown how many copies of this comic book were printed. It has not been reprinted.
COMIC CREATORS:
Greg Irons - 1-12 (art)
Tom Veitch - 1-12 (story)
Grunt Comix #2
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Only Printing / 1973 / 36 pages / Grunt Records
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I can't say that Grunt #1 was such a great promotional tool for Grunt Records that they just couldn't resist getting Greg Irons and Tom Veitch to produce a follow-up comic, but it's nice to think that was the case. I am sure of one thing: Jefferson Airplane and Grunt Records were making more than enough money to afford the (ridiculously cheap) services of Irons and Veitch if they so desired.
Grunt Comix #2 came out about a year after the first issue. Instead of pitching Grunt Records' services to unsigned Bay Area bands as they did in the first comic, the second issue was more about promoting the new records that Grunt had out on the market. Therefore, the thematic foundation of Grunt Comix #2 was more about the superiority of "grass roots" music compared to the mundane pablum offered by corporate music companies.
The comic features a two-part story entitled "Crystal City Blues," which is about a group of "society's rejects" living on Grunt Farm that lead a pirate-radio revolution against the "crap-rock" music controlled by corporations. The two parts of this black-and-white story are divided by a four-page center section that promotes Grunt's newest albums in full color, accompanied by exquisite art-poster renditions from Irons.
I've never seen a comic story by Irons and Veitch that didn't include the product of their full effort, and "Crystal City Blues" is no different. Veitch weaves a complex tale about the radio disc jockeys who are born and raised to host 24-hour-a-day broadcasts of crap-rock; a job that burns them out before they're 30 years old and relegates them to a deadly scrap heap when they finally self-implode from the stress. But when one of the DJs survives the scrap heap, he crawls his way to the welcoming party at Grunt Farm, where he conspires with Jumpin' Jack Flesh to lead a music revolution.
Irons illustrates the story with his typical ingenuity, combining the wisdom of his line art with his dexterous application and painting of screentone patterns. I'm not sure anyone has ever conducted a better orchestration of manufactured black dots with pen and brush than Gregory Irons. And it's not just his exceptional command of the tools and techniques, but his mastery of portraiture that sets him apart from every cartoonist beyond Robert Crumb. Grunt Comix #2 is just one more example in the expansive repository of Irons' art that illuminate his extraordinary talent.
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HISTORICAL FOOTNOTES:
It is currently unknown how many copies of this comic book were printed. It has not been reprinted. This book is titled Grunt 2 on the front cover but referred to as Grunt Comix #2 in the indicia.
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COMIC CREATORS:
Greg Irons - 1-24 (art)
Tom Veitch - 1-24 (story)