The Apex Treasury of Underground Comics / The Best of Bijou Funnies

by Susan Goodrick

Various underground comics from the 1960s and 1970s from Bijou

Genres: Comics, Anthologies

320 pages, Paperback

Published April 1, 1986

Reviews

[Rick Ray · Rating 4 out of 5]

Collections of underground comics are uncommon, so when something like The Apex Treasury of Underground Comix is put together, it should be treated as something special. Collections of individual creators like Kim Deitch, Gilbert Shelton, R. Crumb, etc. do exist, but a compilation of works from the underground master is much less likely. This book collects works from a lot of the big names of the underground movement, like Crumb, Spain, Shelton, Spiegelman and more, but also spotlights the works of artists with a more limited body of work like Justin Green, Willy Murphy, Bobby London and Shary Flenniken. Artists like Green have made an indelible mark on comics with works like Binky Brown Meets the Holy Virgin Mary , but it was great to see other work from Green. Similarly, Spiegelman's portion includes a very raw draft of Maus that was a delight to see.

Of course, the underground comix movement was filled with its fair share of transgressive art, and this collection is no exception with the ample amounts of racial caricatures, oversexualized women and slurs, but it's important to contextualize these by recognizing that many of these artists were trying to be more edgy than offensive.

[Hákon Gunnarsson · Rating 3 out of 5]

I like to read anthologies sometimes because one can find new authors to explore. This is an anthology made up of stuff from two underground comix. I liked the bit from Art Spiegelman’s Maus which I had read before and his Ace Hole, a detective parody, was okay. Apart from that, the range was from mildly amusing to boring. For most parts I just don’t like this style of comic book and I don’t think I seek any of the authors, apart from Spiegelman, out again.