Dave Sheridan (June 7, 1943 – March 28, 1982) was an American

cartoonist A cartoonist is a visual artist who specializes in both drawing and writing cartoons (individual images) or comics (sequential images). Cartoonists differ from comics writers or comics illustrators/artists in that they produce both the litera ...

and

underground comix Underground comix are small press or self-published comic books that are often socially relevant or satirical in nature. They differ from mainstream comics in depicting content forbidden to mainstream publications by the Comics Code Authority, ...

artist. He was the creator of ''Dealer McDope'' and collaborated with

Gilbert Shelton Gilbert Shelton (born May 31, 1940) is an American cartoonist and a key member of the underground comix movement. He is the creator of the iconic underground characters '' The Fabulous Furry Freak Brothers'', '' Fat Freddy's Cat'', and '' Wonder ...

and Paul Mavrides on ''

The Fabulous Furry Freak Brothers ''The Fabulous Furry Freak Brothers'' is an underground comic about a fictional trio of stoner characters, created by the American artist Gilbert Shelton. The Freak Brothers first appeared in ''The Rag'', an underground newspaper published in ...

''. As creative partner with fellow underground creator Fred Schrier, using the name "Overland Vegetable Stagecoach," they worked on ''Mother's Oats Funnies'', published by

Rip Off Press Rip Off Press Inc. is a comic book mail order retailer and distributor, better known as the former publisher of adult-themed series like '' The Fabulous Furry Freak Brothers'' and '' Rip Off Comix'', as well as many other seminal publications from ...

from 1970 to 1976.

Biography

Born in 1943 and raised in the

Cleveland, Ohio Cleveland is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Cuyahoga County, Ohio, Cuyahoga County. Located along the southern shore of Lake Erie, it is situated across the Canada–United States border, Canada–U.S. maritime border ...

area, Sheridan arrived in

San Francisco San Francisco, officially the City and County of San Francisco, is a commercial, Financial District, San Francisco, financial, and Culture of San Francisco, cultural center of Northern California. With a population of 827,526 residents as of ...

, California in 1969 after having graduated from the Cleveland Institute of Art and serving time in the military in

Ethiopia Ethiopia, officially the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, is a landlocked country located in the Horn of Africa region of East Africa. It shares borders with Eritrea to the north, Djibouti to the northeast, Somalia to the east, Ken ...

. In California, he collaborated with fellow midwesterner Fred Schrier as the "Overland Vegetable Stagecoach" on three issues of ''Mother's Oats Comix'', two of ''Meef Comix'', and a one-shot title called ''The Balloon Vendor'', published by

and The

Print Mint The Print Mint, Inc. was a major publisher and distributor of underground comix based in the San Francisco Bay Area during the genre's late 1960s-early 1970s heyday. Starting as a retailer of psychedelic posters, the Print Mint soon evolved into ...

. Sheridan was the art editor for three issues of ''

The Rip Off Review of Western Culture ''The Rip Off Review of Western Culture'' was an underground comics magazine published by Rip Off Press and produced out of San Francisco, California. It published three issues in 1972. The publication was historically significant in that it broug ...

'' in 1972, a magazine published by the

. His solo comix work can be seen in '' Slow Death, Skull Comix, Hydrogen Bomb and Biochemical Warfare Funnies #1, San Francisco Comic Book #1,'' '' Tales from the Leather Nun'', '' Rip Off Comix'', and ''

High Times ''High Times'' was an American monthly magazine (and cannabis brand) that advocates the legalization of cannabis as well as other counterculture ideas. The magazine was founded in 1974 by Tom Forcade. The magazine had its own book publishing d ...

'', and in cartoons he made for the ''

Berkeley Barb The ''Berkeley Barb'' was a weekly underground newspaper published in Berkeley, California, during the years 1965 to 1980. It was one of the first and most influential of the counterculture newspapers, covering such subjects as the anti-war mov ...

'' and ''

Playboy ''Playboy'' (stylized in all caps) is an American men's Lifestyle journalism, lifestyle and entertainment magazine, available both online and in print. It was founded in Chicago in 1953 by Hugh Hefner and his associates, funded in part by a $ ...

''. He also did the art for ''Weed and Wine'', the first mini-album produced by Cleveland area folk singer/songwriter

John Bassette John Bassette (December 28, 1941 – November 9, 2006) was a folk singer/songwriter, poet and cable television personality in the Greater Cleveland, Ohio, United States, area. He was born in Hampton, Virginia, USA. Musical career Bassette fi ...

, as well as album covers for

Carl Oglesby Carl Preston Oglesby Jr. (July 30, 1935 – September 13, 2011) was an American political activist, author, academic, and playwright. From 1965 to 1966, he served as president of the leftist student organization Students for a Democratic Society ...

John Lee Hooker John Lee Hooker (August 22, 1912 or 1917 – June 21, 2001) was an American blues singer, songwriter, and guitarist. The son of a sharecropper, he rose to prominence performing an electric guitar-style adaptation of Delta blues that he develo ...

David Steinberg David Steinberg (born August 9, 1942) is a Canadian comedian, actor, writer, director, and author. At the height of his popularity, during the late 1960s and mid-1970s, he was one of the best-known comics in the United States. He appeared on ...

, and

Impulse! Records Impulse! Records (occasionally styled as "¡mpulse! Records" and "¡!") is an American jazz record label established by Creed Taylor in 1960. John Coltrane was among Impulse!'s earliest signings. Thanks to consistent sales and positive critiques ...

.The "Black Death Malt Liquor" shirt regularly worn by

Howard Hesseman Howard Hesseman (February 27, 1940 – January 29, 2022) was an American actor known for his television roles as burned-out disc jockey Dr. Johnny Fever on '' WKRP in Cincinnati'' and the lead role of history teacher Charlie Moore on '' Head ...

WKRP in Cincinnati ''WKRP in Cincinnati'' is an American sitcom television series about the misadventures of the staff of a struggling fictional AM radio station in Cincinnati, Ohio. The show was created by Hugh Wilson. It was based upon his experiences obs ...

in his role as Dr. Johnny Fever was designed and drawn by Sheridan. His illustrations appeared in ''Ramparts'', and he produced a series of cannabis labels for the fictitious California Homegrowers Association (with cartoonist Pat Ryan). Sheridan eventually settled in San Anselmo, California. There he became a member of the Artista collective, an

artist collective An artist collective or art group or artist group is an initiative that is the result of a group of artists working together, usually under their own management, towards shared aims. The aims of an artist collective can include almost anything t ...

with its own jackets and

softball Softball is a Variations of baseball, variation of baseball, the difference being that it is played with a larger ball, on a smaller field, and with only underhand pitches (where the ball is released while the hand is primarily below the ball) ...

team. During the

1972 Major League Baseball strike The 1972 Major League Baseball strike was the first players' Strike action, strike in Major League Baseball history. The strike occurred from April 1 to 13, 1972. Baseball resumed when the owners and players agreed on a $500,000 increase in pens ...

, he appointed himself the head of the "Scab League", offering to have his team take the strikers' places for $100 per week and all the beer they could drink. He also befriended and worked closely with comedian Don Novello, drawing the album cover for Novello's Father Guido Sarducci ''Live at St. Douglas Convent'' comedy album. A characterization of Sarducci appeared in a Dealer McDope adventure, "20,000 Kilos Beneath the Sea" in ''Mother's Oats'' #3. In 1974, Sheridan began collaborating on

's ''

'' strips. These were syndicated by Rip Off Press to alternative and college weeklies nationwide, and later collected into comix and anthologies.Fox, M. Steven
"Rip Off Comix — 1977-1991 / Rip Off Press,"
Comixjoint. Retrieved Dec. 5, 2022. His first issue of ''

'' was #4, with a many-page story-arc entitled ''The Seventh Voyage of the Fabulous Furry Freak Brothers'': escaping the landlady and her demands for rent, the hirsute trio go to Mexico where they encounter far worse perils, including a Carlos Castaneda

parody A parody is a creative work designed to imitate, comment on, and/or mock its subject by means of satire, satirical or irony, ironic imitation. Often its subject is an Originality, original work or some aspect of it (theme/content, author, style, e ...

. Sheridan's detailed graphic style lent itself well to the fantastic imagery needed to lampoon Castaneda's

drug A drug is any chemical substance other than a nutrient or an essential dietary ingredient, which, when administered to a living organism, produces a biological effect. Consumption of drugs can be via insufflation (medicine), inhalation, drug i ...

-related

Central America Central America is a subregion of North America. Its political boundaries are defined as bordering Mexico to the north, Colombia to the southeast, the Caribbean to the east, and the Pacific Ocean to the southwest. Central America is usually ...

n-cum-

New Age New Age is a range of Spirituality, spiritual or Religion, religious practices and beliefs that rapidly grew in Western world, Western society during the early 1970s. Its highly eclecticism, eclectic and unsystematic structure makes a precise d ...

sorcery Sorcery commonly refers to: * Magic (supernatural), the application of beliefs, rituals or actions employed to manipulate natural or supernatural beings and forces ** Goetia, ''Goetia'', magic involving the evocation of spirits ** Witchcraft, the ...

. He then continued to collaborate on the ''Freak Brothers'' comix series through issues 5, 6 and 7; the team was joined by Paul Mavrides in 1978 for issue #6. In all, Sheridan contributed to 45 Freak Brothers tales.

Death

Sheridan was diagnosed with

cancer Cancer is a group of diseases involving Cell growth#Disorders, abnormal cell growth with the potential to Invasion (cancer), invade or Metastasis, spread to other parts of the body. These contrast with benign tumors, which do not spread. Po ...

on March 3, 1982, eight months after his July 4, 1981, marriage to Dava Stone. Sheridan died from a brain hemorrhage on March 28, 1982. He had been in a coma for four days at Mt. Zion Hospital in San Francisco. He was buried at sea at a memorial service the following Friday. His wife Dava gave birth to their daughter Dori on April 4, 1982, a week after Sheridan died.

Biography

A biography — ''Dave Sheridan: Life with Dealer McDope, the Leather Nun, and the Fabulous Furry Freak Brothers'' — which reproduces most of his comix and graphics work, was published by

Fantagraphics Books Fantagraphics (previously Fantagraphics Books) is an American publisher of alternative comics, classic comic strip anthologies, manga, magazines, graphic novels, and (formerly) the Erotic comics, erotic Eros Comix imprint. They have managed sev ...

in 2018.

Bibliography

Overland Vegetable Stagecoach (with Fred Schrier)

* ''Mother's Oats Comix'' #1 – San Francisco Comic Book Company/Rip Off Press 1969 * ''Mother's Oats Comix'' #2 – San Francisco Comic Book Company/Rip Off Press 1970 * ''Skull Comics'' #1 (with Greg Irons, Jack Jackson and Rory Hayes) – San Francisco Comic Book Company/Rip Off Press 1970 * ''The Balloon Vendor'' – San Francisco Comic Book Company/Rip Off Press 1971 * ''Meef Comix'' #1 – San Francisco Comic Book Company/Rip Off Press 1972 * ''Meef Comix'' #2 – San Francisco Comic Book Company/Rip Off Press 1973 * ''Tales of the Leather Nun'' #1 – Last Gasp Eco Funnies, 1973 * ''Mindwarp: An Anthology'' by Sheridan & Schrier — And/Or Press, 1974 * ''Mother's Oats Comix'' #3 – San Francisco Comic Book Company/Rip Off Press 1976

Other

* '' Slow Death Funnies'' #1 (with Fred Schrier, Jim Osborne and Gilbert Shelton) – Last Gasp 1970 * ''Slow Death Funnies'' #2 "The Sex Evulsors of Tecnicus" – Last Gasp 1970 * ''The Food Stamp Gourmet'' by William Brown, Illustrations by Greg Irons, Gilbert Shelton, and Dave Sheridan — Bellerophon Books, 1971. * ''The Legion of Charlies'' by Tom Veitch, Greg Irons, and Dave Sheridan (Paperback) Last Gasp, 1971 * '' Light Comitragies'' – Greg Irons — Print Mint 1971 * ''Skull Comics'' No.s 2–5 – San Francisco Comic Book Company/Rip Off Press 1971–1972 * '' Yellow Dog'' #19 (with Fred Schrier) – The Print Mint 1971 * ''Fabulous Furry Freak Brothers'' issues 4, 5, 6 (with Paul Mavrides), and 7 * ''Jayzey Lynch's Nard n' Pat'' No. 1 "We Could Get Any Artist ta Draw Us!" (1974) * ''U-Comix Sammelband Nr. 1'' (Introduction to Paperback) UPN-Volksverlag (1974) * ''U-Comix Sammelband Nr. 2'' (Introduction to Paperback) UPN-Volksverlag (1975) * ''The Seattle Simpleton'' (vol. 1 No. 3) "The Mellow Cab Man" (Freewheelin' Frank) and "The Story of Phineas and the Organic Mechanic", both by Shelton & Sheridan. Spring 1976. * ''Adventures of Fat Freddy's Cat'' Books 1–3 – with Gilbert Shelton — Rip Off Press, 1977 * ''Thoroughly Ripped with the Fabulous Furry Freak Brothers and Fat Freddy's Cat!'' by Shelton and Sheridan — Rip Off Press, 1978 * '' Rip Off Comix'' No.s 3–9 Rip-Off Press 1978–1981 * ''The Best of

Comix, vol. 4'' (1983) including ''Dr. McDope in Peru'' by Siegel & Sheridan, ''The Fabulous Furry Freak Brothers'' by Shelton & Sheridan, ''The Fabulous Furry Freak Brothers and the Mysterious Visitor'' by Shelton & Sheridan, and "Notorious Norbert" by Fleagle & Fosdick (AKA Shelton & Sheridan) * ''Dealer McDope'' – Rip Off Press, 1985 (part of Underground Classics No. 2-3) * ''Time Twisted Tales'' Rip Off Press, 1986 * ''The Collected Fat Freddy's Cat. Vol. 1'' by Gilbert Shelton & Dave Sheridan — Rip Off Press, 1989. * ''The Freak Brothers Bus Line and Other Tales'' by Gilbert Shelton, Paul Mavrides and Dave Sheridan — Rip Off Press, 1990 * ''The Collected Fat Freddy's Cat'' by Gilbert Shelton & Dave Sheridan — Rip Off Press (April 1990) , * ''The Fabulous Furry Freak Brothers Library'' by Gilbert Shelton, Dave Sheridan, and Paul Mavrides Rip Off Press, Incorporated (March 1995) , * ''Dave Sheridan: Life with Dealer McDope, The Leather Nun, and the Fabulous Furry Freak Brothers'', Fantagraphics Underground, Mark Burstein (editor),

Game

* ''Dealer McDope Dealing Game'' (Print Mint, 1971)Letter by T. Elton Snatchit, creator of Dealer McDope Dealing Game
/ref>

Notes

References

External links

*
Sheridan obituary/tribute by Fred Schrier
''Changeling Times'' #6 (

ACE An ace is a playing card, die or domino with a single pip. In the standard French deck, an ace has a single suit symbol (a heart, diamond, spade, or a club) located in the middle of the card, sometimes large and decorated, especially in the ...

magazine)
Dave Sheridan Art
a Facebook page devoted to the Dave Sheridan's art. {{DEFAULTSORT:Sheridan, Dave 1943 births 1982 deaths American comics artists American satirists American satirical comics artists American humorists Artists from Cleveland The Fabulous Furry Freak Brothers Psychedelic artists Underground cartoonists