Going underground

The late 1960s saw the emergence of 'underground comics', a new wave of humorous, hippie-inspired comic books that were as politically radical as they were artistically innovative. As the name suggests, they had nothing to do with the mainstream - in fact, in many ways they were antithetical to it. Instead of pandering to a kids' market, these titles spoke to the counter-culture on its own terms, which meant dealing with subjects like drugs, anti-Vietnam protest, rock music and, above all, sex. For this reason, the new comics became known as 'comix', both to set them apart, and to emphasize the 'x' for X-rated.
The underground was basically an American phenomenon, which was then imitated in Britain. It originated from a variety of sources, which can be traced back to the 1950s. First, and perhaps most importantly, there was the influence of the Mad tradition. Harvey Kurtzman had liberated comedy in comics with this seminal title: along with its more inventive imitators, it was to inspire a new generation of cartoonists to push back the boundaries of satire even further. More directly, in his post-Mad magazine Help!, Kurtzman provided pages devoted to 'amateur talent', where many future undergrounders got their first break.
Secondly, there was the college magazine route. These publications were more sophisticated than their British 'rag mag' counterparts, and came out on a regular basis. They were a focus for localized, campus-satire, but also took in more wide-ranging political issues. Again, they were highly influenced by Mad, and gave many comix cartoonists their first exposure. Certain titles were particularly important in this respect, such as the University of Texas's The Texas Ranger and the University of Wisconsin's Snide.