Carter, Curtis

English

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Marquette Universitye-Publications@MarquettePhilosophy Faculty Research and Publications Philosophy, Department of3-1-2012Milwaukee's King of Comix: The Underground Artof Jim MitchellCurtis CarterMarquette University, curtis.carter@marquette.eduPublished version. Published in the newspaper entitled "Shepherd Express." March 1, 2012, "A&EFeature": 20. Permalink: http://www.expressmilwaukee.com/article-17845-milwaukees-king-of-comix.html. © 2012 Shepherd Express. Used with permission." • • \.-, .. ; .:-.. ," , .. . ~ .. ~ - . , ' - - .., .... . ............... . . .. . ~ " , , .. .THE-UNDE GROUND A T •• · .. .::.-\ .. , ':~':. · F' J' I M M' I T' C H ELL ••. ~ ..... ":. .. . = .... ,' •  Z::~~: ...... • .• .a "' .. .. ,.. # ... ... -- :~: /::.::" .... . .. If: ....... . '.:... . . . ::pg 6 Redistricting Goes to Court . . , SPRING GUIDE TO HIGHER EDUCATION INSIDE ., .. . ~ .. . • .,,4o ......... :: .. . .. " ... if;. "'" .. .  . "" .. . . , ' .. ,': « , \ • • • ' i , -( :A&E · FEATURE I MILWAUKEE COLOR I FILM I THEATRE I ART I BOOKS I CLASSICAL MUSIC I DANCE THE UNDERGROUND ART OF JIM MITCHELL ::BY CURTIS L. CARTER 20 I MARCH1. 2012 t~ ~ r .... J .... uring the late 1960s and early 70s, young cartoon-ists working in the spirit of the' era's counterculture free of the carefully constructed universe of iUperlilen)eS promoted by mainstream comic-book ·n ... n •• n;"" Addressing such daring themes as sex. and the Vietnam War, the underground co-mix artists experimented with new styles, self-pub-lishing their work ana finding outlets in the era's alternative newspapers. Often forgotten is the important role Milwaukee played in the comix movement, with homegrown artists such as Jim Mitchell, Denis Kitchen and oth-ers. Mitchell has returned to Milwaukee, where he continues to practice as an artist at Distant Thunder Studios, located in the Brewers Hill neighborhood. How does one decide to be an artist? "An artist never decides to be an artist. You just are," Mitch-ell insists. His early discovery of a natural talent for making art overrode his parents' aspirations for him to become a lawyer (his father) or a surgeon (his mother). Needless to say, art won out and has been at the core of his life's work. He is presently at work preparing a book· on the history of the underground comix movement and a series of children's books, which he expects to publish in the near future. . Mitchell is essentially self-taught, with no formal training except for a' semester at the Layton School of Art. While majoring in journalism at Marquette University in the late '60s, his cartoons and carica-tures in The Marquette Tribune and the school year-book drew acclaim-including an invitation to paint a portrait of legendary basketball coach AI McGuire-as well as controversy. Denis Kitchen saw Mitchell's drawings and invit-ed him to work on an underground comix venture called Kumquat. Their collaboration led to the creation in 1969 of the underground comix project called Shan-gri/a featuring artists from Chicago and Milwaukee. These efforts, were pioneering, as underground co-mix barely existed at the time. In 1970 Kitchen and Mitchell joined Don Glassford to form Krupp Comic Works. The artists associated with Krupp generated a successful stream of comic strips for national dis-tribution to some 50 college and alternative newspa-pers. The venture lasted until 19". The popularity of the underground comix from Milwaukee artists spread across the nation and be-yond. Mitchell's fans included John Lennon, who once phoned him. According to Mitchell, Lennon especially loved a piece called "Wouldn't It Be Nice If Everyone Were Children Again," a drawing that appeared in Kitchen's comix book Smile No.1, and "Magical Mystical Tour," which appeared on the back cover of Smile No.2. Mitchell's success led to his inclusion in the 1972 edition of Who's Who in the' New Earth. An important outlet for the Krupp Crew was Mil-waukee's alternative weekly, the Bugle-American. While working at the Bugle between 1970 and 1972, Mitchell introduced a number of successful comic strips and created cover images for the paper such as the memorable "First Earth Day," published March 4, 1971. Collectors prize the images created for the Bugle-American by Mitchell and others. Anyone who saved copies of the Bugle may well benefit from the increasing market for underground comix. Mitchell's comix career led to'such projects as de-signing the concert tour poster for British rock band Deep Purple, creating what was perhaps the firSt rock T-shirt for Peter Frampton's ·band Humble Pie, and -~------- - ----- - -- ----For more A&E, log onto ~xpressmilwaUkee.com producing a T-shirt for Yes. He is among the first art-ists to create and market T-shirts with original air-dry ink silk-screen prints. In all of these ventures, Mitchell prefers to think of his contributions as positive and life-enforcing. Not all underground comix artists were dedicated to provocative sexuality or violence. The comixunderground can be likened to the Da-daists of the early-2Oth~century art scene in the sense that their art grew but of societal conditions fraught with unrest and anxiety over dark social and politi-cal clouds. Like the Dadaists, the comix artists chal-lenged establiShed norms. They invented a contro-versial art form and called into question conventional norms while expressing dismay over the political hypocrisies and injustices of the Nixon era. These art:i&ts sought to advance freedom of expression and freedom of lifestyles and to end the travails of a soci-ety divided over seemingly futile wars. Though the underground comix artists never suc-ceeded in becoming a major art movement, their work is an impbrtant barometer of the discontent of their time and is often filled with clever satiric wit. These artists changed the role of the comic book from a form of popular entertainment into an important vehicle for artists to lend their voices to combat social and political malfeasance. For a time; at least, some of the artists believed that they might have a role in changing the world. Curtis L. Carter is professor of aesthetics at Marquette University's department of philosophy. FormlF'ly the founding director and chief curator of the Haggerty Muse-um, he is currently the international curator and honorary director of the Beijing Museum of Contemporary Art and president of the International Association for Aesthetics. For more A&E coverage, visit expressmilwaukee.com .• SHEPHERD EXPRESS ~,"q ... 1 r.11r.~'r 

Milwaukee\u27s King of Comix: The Underground Art of Jim Mitchell

https://epublications.marquette.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1208&amp;context=phil_fac

Milwaukee\u27s King of Comix: The Underground Art of Jim Mitchell

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