If it seems like the underground comix scene was a raucous and raunchy boys club, that’s fairly accurate. However, there were plenty of women artists who reacted against the sexist depictions of women in comix, of which there was plenty. Their complaints about how women were being portrayed was seen to be just more censorship heaped on the male comix artists. Rather than just be quiet and go away, women like Trina Robbins, Willy Mendes, Linda Barry, Mary Fleener, and many others started drawing, bringing their own voices into the underground comix scene. Their experience in comix wasn’t all smooth sailing either. The women creating comix also insisted on absolute artistic freedom and the space to explore difficult topics, but it came at a price just like it did for the male comix artists. Undercover police, raids, and lawsuits while not necessarily the norm, seemed to be always looming. While some comix titles managed to run longer than others, the heyday of comix was all but over by the mid 1970s. However, the influence of underground comix is evident in the comics and graphic novels being published today that are willing to have serious discussions about equally serious topics.

TIMELINE

1880s  – Comics began publication in American newspapers 
1895   – The Yellow Kid by Richard Outcault first published
1914   – Krazy Kat by Geroge Herriman first published 
1920s   – Tijuana Bibles began to be published 
1930s   – Comic book began in America 
1931   – Alice Schenker (born Alice Olsen) born in Racine, WI 
1933   – Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster created Superman
1936-1939   – The comic magazine format became popular
1936  – Victor Moscoso born in Spain 
1937  – Frank Stack born in Houston, TX
1938  – Gary Arlington born in San Jose, CA 
1938  – Trina Robbins born in Brooklyn, NY 
1939   – “She Saw The World’s Fair” published by Wesley Morse 
1939   – Harvey Pekar born in Cleveland, OH 
1939  – Richard “Grass” Green born in Fort Wayne, IN
1940-1950s   – Comic burnings became common in America 
1940  – Gilbert Shelton born in Houston, TX 
1940  – Manuel “Spain” Reodriguez born in Buffalo, NY 
1941  – Vaughn Bodé born in Utica, NY 
1941  – S. Clay Wilson (Steven Clay Wilson) born in Lincoln, Nebraska 
1941  – Jack “Jaxon” Jackson born in Texas 
1942   – Rand Holmes born in Nova Scotia 
1942  – Dan O’Neil born 
1943   – Joel Beck born in Ross, CA 
1943  – Robert Williaams born in Los Angeles, CA 
1944   – George Herriman dies 
1944  – Howard Cruse is born in Birmingham, AL 
1943  – Robert Crumb born in Philadelphia, PA 
1944  – Rick Griffin born in California 
1944   – Bill Griffith born 
1944   – Kim Deitch born in Los Angeles, CA 
1944   – Max Gaines establishes Educational Comics
1944   – Mervyn “Skip” Williamson born in San Antonio, TX 
1945  – Lee Mars born 
1947   – Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster sued in NY Supreme Court to regain their rights to Superman; they lose the case and their jobs at DC Comics
1947   – Jay Lynch born in Orange, NJ 
1947   – Max Gaines dies in a boat crash; son William Gaines takes over EC Comics
1948   – Art Spiegelman born in Stockholm, Sweden 
1948  – Barbara “Willy” Mendes born 
1948  – Aline Kominsky-Crumb born in Long Beach, NY
1949  – Marry Wings born Mary Geller in Chicago, IL 
1950s   – Student Press Movement starts 
1950   – Educational Comics becomes Entertaining Comics under William Gaines 
1950  – Gary Panter born in Durant, OK 
1951  – Mary Fleener born
1952-1956   – Harvey Kurtzman is the editor of MAD Magazine 
1953  – Roberta Gregory born in Los Angeles, CA 
1954   – “Seduction of the Innocent” by psychiatrist Frederick Werthan published  
1954   – Comics Code Authority established 
1954  – Victor Moscoso starts at Cooper Union Art School in Manhattan 
1955   – William Gaines starts humor magazine, MAD Magazine 
1955  – Charles Burns born 
1956   – After being cited by the CCA, EC comics diverts resources to new title MAD Magazine 
1956  – Ralph Bakshi starts animating at Terrytoons 
1956   – Alice and Don Schenker marry 
1956  – Lynda Barry born in Richland Center, WI 
1957   – Harvey Kurtzmaan’s Trump magazine published
1957  – Peter Baagge born in New York 
1957-1960  – Spain Rodriguez studies at Silvermine Guild School of Art in New Canaan, CT 
1958   – Moe Moskowitz moves to Bay Are and opens bookstore 
1958  – Robert Crumb and his brother Charles publish satire magazine “Foo” 
1958-1962   – Frank Stack and Gilbert Shelton edit University of Texas at Austin’s newspaper, The Texas Ranger  
1959  – Victor Moscoso moves to San Francisco, CA 
1960s   – Underground comix movement started 
1960   – MAD Magazine had circulation of 1.4 million 
1960  – Rick Griffin met filmmaker John Severson at screening of Surf Fever movie 
1960   – Harvey Kurtzman starts Help! Magazine 
1960  – Phoebe Gloeckner born in Philadelphia, PA 
1960  – Alison Bechdel born in Beech Creek, PA 
1961   – Skip Williamson sells first comic to Help! Magazine 
1961  – Daniel Clowes born in Chicaago, IL 
1963   – In mainstream comics, Dell, DC and Marvel were the major publishers 
1963  – Rick Griffin starts working at Surfer Magazine as a cartoonist, debuting “Murphy” 
1963  – Rick Griffin is seriously injured as a passenger in a drunk driving accident 
1963  – Spain Rodriguez starts work at the Western Electric Company Plant
1963   – Jay Lynch moves to Chicago to become a cartoonist 
1956   – America gets involved in the Vietnam War 
1963   – March On Washington 
1963   – President John F. Kennedy assassinated 
1963  – Betty Friedan’s “The Feminine Mystique” is published
1964   – Jack “Jaxon” Jackson publishes “God Nose” 
1964  – After being promoted to director of cartoons at Terrytown, Ralph Bakshi left to run animation at Paramount Pictures 
1962   – Frank Stack  publishes “The Adventures of Jesus” 
1962   – Harvey Pekar and Robert Crumb meet in Cleveland, OH and become friends and collaborators 
1965   – Birth of the Underground Press 
1965  – Rick Griffin picks up “Murphy” comics in Surfer after a pause 
1965   – Schenkers launch Print Mint inside of Moskowitz’s bookstore 
1965  – Spain Rodriguez spends summer in NYC creating cartoons for The Militant paper and joined anarchist group Resurgence Youth Movement 
1965  – Robert Williams starts working as Art Director for Ed “Big Daddy” Roth 
1965  – Robert Crumb starts taking LSD 
1965  – Julie Doucet born in Saint-Lambert Quebec, Canada 
1965-1966   – Mario Savia’s Free Speech Movement impacts Berkely’s campus 
1966  – After graduating from San Francisco Art Institute, Victor Moscoso joins faculty 
1966   – Art Spiegelman is Topps Bubblegum’s star artist 
1966  – Spain Rodriguez has his first cover in paper East Village Other 
1966  – Trina Robbins moved back to NYC from LA and worked for East Village Other as advisor and illustrator 
1966  – Rick Griffin joins Jook Savages and designs posters for their art shows in San Francisco
1966   – Kim Deitch moves to NYC and gets “Sunshine Girl” published in The East Village Other 
1966   – Joel Beck publishes “Lenny of Laredo”, “Marching Marvin” and “The Profit” 
1966   – Print Mint publishes their first comix, a reprint of Beck’s “Lenny of Laredo” 
1966  – NOW, of the National Organization for Women, was formed 
1966   – Underground Press Syndicate established by East Village Other editor Walter Bowart 
1966   – Weekly & monthly underground papers regularly publish Underground Comix 
1967  – Robert Crumb leaves Cleveland, OH, his job at Americana Greetings, and wife Dana to move to San Francisco, CA 
1967  – Gilbert Shelton’s “Wonder Wart Hog” published by Pete Millar 
1967  – Victor Moscoso and RIck Griffin begin to collaborate on posters and Zap Comics covers 
1967  – Rick Griffin commissioned for “Pow-Wow, a Gathering of the Tribes for a Human Be-In” held in Golden Gate Park’s polo grounds 
1967  – Art Spiegelman comes up with the idea for Wacky Packs working for Topps Bubblegum 
1967  – “Summer of Love” takes place in San Francisco for 9 months 
1967   – Bijou Funnies, initially The Chicago Mirror, founded by Skip WIlliamson and Jay Lynch in Chigaco, IL 
1967   – Art Spiegelman moves to San Francisco, CA 
1967  – “Cavalier” Magazine serializes Robert Crumb’s “Fritz the Cat” 
1967  – First drawings of Gilbert Shelton’s The Fabulous Furry Freak Brothers appear on a flier for short student film “The Texas Hippies March on the Capitol” 
1967-1973   – Jay Lynch’s “‘Nard ‘n’ Pat” comic publication years 
1968   – Rand Holmes moves to Vancouver, Canada and works for Georgia Straight a weekly underground tabloid and starts “The Adventures of Harold Hedd” 
1968  – S. Clay Wilson moves to San Francisco and becomes friends with Robert Crumb, starts to contribute to Zap Comics 
1968  – First issue of Zap Comix by Robert Crumb released
1968  – “Keep on Truckin’” one page comix published in Zap Comix by Robert Crumb 
1968  – Robert Crumb sends for his wife Dana to join him in San Francisco 
1968  – Robert Crumb first sees S. Clay Wilson’s comix work 
1968  – Gary Arlington opens his comic book store in the Mission District in San Francisco, CA 
1968  – Spain Rodriguez’s cover for Feb 2nd issue of East Village Other creates legal issues over depiction of a sexual act 
1968   – Robert Crumb publishes “Zap” 
1968   – Skip Williamson’s “Snappy Sammy Smoot (1968-1996) makes its debut in Bijou Funnies