Joel Beck (May 7, 1943 – September 14, 1999) was a

San Francisco Bay Area The San Francisco Bay Area, commonly known as the Bay Area, is a List of regions of California, region of California surrounding and including San Francisco Bay, and anchored by the cities of Oakland, San Francisco, and San Jose, California, S ...

artist and

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 ...

. His comic book ''Lenny of Laredo'', one of the earliest underground comic books of the 1960s, was the first underground comic book published on the West Coast.

Biography

Early life

Born in

Ross, California Ross is a small List of municipalities in California, incorporated town in Marin County, California, Marin County, California, United States, just north of San Francisco. Ross is located west-southwest of San Rafael, California, San Rafael, at ...

, Beck grew up in El Sobrante, California, as an ill and bedridden child, who battled a combination of

tuberculosis Tuberculosis (TB), also known colloquially as the "white death", or historically as consumption, is a contagious disease usually caused by ''Mycobacterium tuberculosis'' (MTB) bacteria. Tuberculosis generally affects the lungs, but it can al ...

and

spinal meningitis Meningitis is acute or chronic inflammation of the protective membranes covering the brain and spinal cord, collectively called the meninges. The most common symptoms are fever, intense headache, vomiting and neck stiffness and occasionally ...

. In

Richmond, California Richmond is a city in western Contra Costa County, California, United States. The city was municipal corporation, incorporated on August 3, 1905, and has a Richmond, California, City Council, city council.

, while attending De Anza High School, he began a lifelong friendship with the cartoonist

Roger Brand Roger Brand (January 5, 1943 – November 23, 1985) was an People of the United States, American cartoonist who created stories for both mainstream and Underground comix, underground comic books. His work showed a fascination with Horror comics, h ...

. Visiting

UC Berkeley The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California), is a public land-grant research university in Berkeley, California, United States. Founded in 1868 and named after the Anglo-Irish philosopher George Berkele ...

, he started submitting cartoons to the campus humor magazine, ''The Pelican'', slipping them under the door to editors who believed he was a college student. Soon he dropped out of high school and never graduated. In the early 1960s, he drew studio cards for Box Cards. He lived for several months in Manhattan in 1962 before returning to the West Coast.

Underground comix

In the early 1960s, Beck moved into a converted closet in a housing unit near the campus of U.C. Berkeley, known as Haste House, and he continued to do cartoons for ''The Pelican''. During that time he published three underground comic books, ''

Lenny of Laredo Joel Beck (May 7, 1943 – September 14, 1999) was a San Francisco Bay Area artist and cartoonist. His comic book ''Lenny of Laredo'', one of the earliest underground comic books of the 1960s, was the first underground comic book published on t ...

'', ''Marching Marvin'', and ''The Profit''. The ''

San Francisco Chronicle The ''San Francisco Chronicle'' is a newspaper serving primarily the San Francisco Bay Area of Northern California. It was founded in 1865 as ''The Daily Dramatic Chronicle'' by teenage brothers Charles de Young and M. H. de Young, Michael H. ...

'' commented:

In 1965, his first full-length comic book, ''Lenny of Laredo'', was published. It was a satire loosely based on the career of embattled comedian
Lenny Bruce Leonard Alfred Schneider (October 13, 1925 – August 3, 1966), better known by his stage name Lenny Bruce, was an American stand-up comedian, social critic, and satirist. He was renowned for his open, free-wheeling, and critical style of come ...
. Mr. Beck's protagonist, a child named Lenny, achieves fame and fortune by uttering "obscenities" such as "pee-pee thing", only to find his career in the dumps when the public becomes satiated with his naughtiness. Two other books, ''Marching Marvin'' and ''The Profit'', followed. All are collector's items today."Joel Beck: Underground comic artist," ''San Francisco Chronicle'', September 21, 1999

In 1965, humor magazine editors voted to choose the nation's top college cartoonist and gave the honor to Beck. In January 1966, ''The Pelican'' reprinted much of his previous work and labeled him "Man of the Decade". His cartoons also appeared in 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 he penned a number of handbills and posters for the Jabberwock coffeehouse on Telegraph Avenue in Berkeley. In addition, he was a founding member and regular contributor to the underground anthology '' Yellow Dog'', published from 1968 to 1973. In a detailed 1987 self-portrait, Beck depicted himself in an ecstatic state, high on the act of creation, as he labored at his drawing table late into the night, surrounded by his books, artwork, comics, Pepsi and dog.P., Andy "The Hellion of Haste House: The Life and Times of Joel Beck"
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Fine art

An accomplished fine artist, Beck created many paintings in acrylics, oils and watercolors—artwork now sought by international collectors.

Death

Beck died on September 21, 1999, from complications from alcoholism in Point Richmond, California.

Tributes

Kevin Fagan wrote Beck's obituary for the ''San Francisco Chronicle'':

References

External links

*
"Jiving with Joel" by Tom Conroy
{{DEFAULTSORT:Beck, Joel 1943 births 1999 deaths American comics artists American comics writers American humorists American magazine cartoonists 20th-century deaths from tuberculosis People from Ross, California Artists from Marin County, California People from El Sobrante, Contra Costa County, California Tuberculosis deaths in California Alcohol-related deaths in California De Anza High School alumni