Alternative Visions
Alternative Visions |
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Page 3 of 29  Raw Boohs The comics were anti mainstream in other ways. For example, their output was not necessarily dominated by commerce. The tradition started by the underground of paying creators a royalty, and allowing them copyright control, was continued here. The comics similarly tended to be small scale, and issued by small publishers. Often this could mean an emphasis on self-motivated work, rather than profit-driven escapism: it was typical for alternative comics to be produced by one or two people rather than by a team. Production values were rarely up to mainstream standards, though collected graphic novels of alternative material were an increasingly common part of the scene. The alternative publishers were thus very different to the Marvel/DC Comics/Image nexus. We have seen how the explosion of independent companies in the 1980s led to many that tried to compete in the arena of superhero titles. The other independents, broadly in the alternative camp, took three forms. First, there were those that were uncompromisingly different to the mainstream, the foremost among them being the Seattle-based Fantagraphics, responsible for publishing some of the most remarkable comics of the modern period (others included America's Raw Books and Graphics, Canada's Drawn and Quarterly and Britain's Escape Publishing). Second, there were publishers that decided to keep a foot in both camps: examples included Dark Horse and Eclipse, whose lists included an often incongruous mix of mainstream and alternative creators. Third, there were companies that had their origins in the underground, but which continued to do business, often putting out new alternative work as well as familiar underground material: these included Kitchen Sink and Last Gasp in America and Knockabout in Britain.  Jack Survives  Cover Raw (1981), art: Gary Panter |