Date of Award

6-2026

Degree Name

MA in History

Department/Program

History

College

College of Liberal Arts

Advisor

Thanayi Jackson

Advisor Department

History

Advisor College

College of Liberal Arts

Abstract

The Underground Comix Scene of the 1960s and 1970s was born out of an age of censorship. The Comics Code Authority, a regulatory body created by the Comics Magazine Association of America in 1954, established guidelines requiring publishing houses to self-regulate following a recommendation from the United States Senate Subcommittee on Juvenile Delinquency in 1953. Comix with an X, for their X-rated nature, represent an emerging counter-culture in the latter half of the 1960s and the 1970s, with an epicenter of San Francisco. These comix and their artists were not interested in obtaining the looming ‘Seal of Approval’ from the Comics Code Authority and operated as an underground sector of the industry, self-publishing and selling their comix in ‘head shops’. Comix spoke to a fringe, yet young, white male audience on topics considered too taboo for the mainstream, creating art that was purposefully political and scandalizing at the expense of marginalized communities. The approach of these comix provides insight into the perspective of Underground Comix artists and readers, revealing their critical view of American culture and politics in the age of the New Left and the Hippie.

Notes

This research was completed in partnership with the Cal Poly Special Collections and Archives Department, which culminated in an exhibition that will remain in the Cal Poly Kennedy Library 4th floor from April 2026 to August 2026.

All materials of the Moore Collection of Underground Comix have been provided for educational purposes by Cal Poly’s Special Collections and Archives Department. The reproduction of these images falls under fair use as university property and is prohibited for commercial purposes. 

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