Grunt #2
Underground Comix
1973 Big GI/TV Toons
Greg Irons
Tom Veitch
Jefferson Airplane
Hot Tuna
Grunt Records
RARE! Only Printing!
Very Scarce Comic!
Nice Shape for Age. Some Wear. See pictures of actual item you will receive!
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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 Comix #2
Only Printing / 1973 / 36 pages / Grunt Records
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.
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.
COMIC CREATORS:
Greg Irons - 1-24 (art)
Tom Veitch - 1-24 (story)