Keith Green (c. 1951Keith Green entry
''Who's Who of American Comic Books, 1928–1999''. Accessed Dec. 27, 2016.–1996) was an American publisher,

distributor A distributor is an electric and mechanical device used in the ignition system of older spark-ignition engines. The distributor's main function is to route electricity from the ignition coil to each spark plug at the correct time. Design ...

, and

art dealer An art dealer is a person or company that buys and sells works of art, or acts as the intermediary between the buyers and sellers of art. An art dealer in contemporary art typically seeks out various artists to represent, and builds relationsh ...

. Starting out in the late 1960s as an

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, ...

distributor, in the early 1970s, he published comics, and by the mid-1970s he had become a New York City art dealer. He was the younger brother of cartoonist Justin Green.

Biography

Underground comix

Based 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 ...

as a teenager, Green distributed underground comix starting in ''circa'' 1969. He published comics during 1971–1977, with the bulk coming in 1975–1976, under such names as Keith Green / Industrial Realities and the imprint Saving Grace. Green started out by doing later printings of comics published by other publishers. Around 1971, he produced the fourth through eighth printings of

Robert Crumb Robert Dennis Crumb (; born August 30, 1943) is an American artist who often signs his work R. Crumb. His work displays a nostalgia for American folk culture of the late 19th and early 20th centuries, and satire of contemporary American c ...

's ''Big Ass Comics'', originally 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 ...

in 1969. Around the same time, Green reprinted

Robert Williams Robert, Rob, Robbie, Bob or Bobby Williams may refer to: Architecture * Train %26 Williams#Robert Edmund Williams, Robert Edmund Williams (1874–1960), Canadian-American architect * Robert Williams (architect) (1848–1918), Welsh architect a ...

' ''Coochy Cooty Men's Comics'', originally published by 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 ...

in 1970. In 1976, he produced new printings of Ted Richards' ''Dopin' Dan'' #1-2, originally published by

Last Gasp (The) Last Gasp may refer to * Last Gasp (publisher) Last Gasp is a San Francisco–based book publisher with a lowbrow art and counterculture focus. Owned and operated by Ron Turner, for most of its existence Last Gasp was a publisher, dis ...

in 1972–1973. When the self-publishing cooperative

Cartoonists Co-Op Press Cartoonists Co-op Press was an underground comix publishing cooperative based in San Francisco that operated from 1973 to 1974. It was a self-publishing venture by cartoonists Kim Deitch, Bill Griffith, Jerry Lane, Jay Lynch, Willy Murphy, Dian ...

started up in 1973, Green acted as salesman/distributor. In 1974, Green interviewed

for ''Inside Comics''. Thanks to his visit to Crumb and his girlfriend, fellow cartoonist Aline Kominsky, Green helped finance their collaborative work, '' Dirty Laundry Comics'' #1, published by Cartoonists Co-Op Press in summer 1974. The bulk of Green's publishing output was in 1975–1976, when he produced original comics by S. Clay Wilson, Jim Osborne, Willy Murphy, Ted Richards, Jerry Lane, and

Spain Rodriguez Manuel Rodriguez (March 2, 1940 – November 28, 2012), better known as Spain or Spain Rodriguez, was an American underground cartoonist who created the character Trashman. Influences His experiences on the road with the motorcycle club, the ...

. (Spain later said that Green was "quirky" and that publishing with him "was a mistake.") Green's final publishing venture was ''The Snatch Sampler'' (1977), a 164-page book that reprinted material from ''Snatch Comics'' #1–3 (Apex Novelties/Print Mint) featuring Crumb, Wilson, Osborne,

Victor Moscoso Victor Moscoso (born July 28, 1936) is a Spanish–American artist best known for producing psychedelic rock posters, advertisements, and underground comix in San Francisco during the 1960s and 1970s. He was the first of the rock poster artists of ...

, and Rory Hayes.

Art dealer

Green relocated to New York City around 1975, eventually operating the Keith Green Gallery on

Park Avenue Park Avenue is a boulevard in New York City that carries north and southbound traffic in the borough (New York City), boroughs of Manhattan and the Bronx. For most of the road's length in Manhattan, it runs parallel to Madison Avenue to the wes ...

in New York City in the late 1980s. Artists he represented included Shaoul Smira, Marina Karella,

Dragan Malešević Tapi Dragan Malešević Tapi ( sr-Cyrl, Драган Малешевић Тапи; 22 January 1949 – 29 October 2002) was a Serbian painter. Although by vocation an economist, he is generally considered one of the leading painters of Serbian hyperrea ...

, Anders Bertil Knutsson, Ivonne Baki,

Basil Alkazzi Basil Alkazzi (; born 1938), is Kuwait-born British visual artist, of Saudi Arabian–Kuwaiti heritage. As a painter he is known for metaphysical and spiritual abstract paintings. He is a supporter of emerging painters through numerous awards and ...

, and a group of late-

Soviet The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

-period avant-garde

Russian Russian(s) may refer to: *Russians (), an ethnic group of the East Slavic peoples, primarily living in Russia and neighboring countries *A citizen of Russia *Russian language, the most widely spoken of the Slavic languages *''The Russians'', a b ...

artists.Dubin, Zan
"ART NEWS: Chris Burden Retrospective at Newport,"
''Los Angeles Times'' (April 17, 1988).

Death

Keith Green died of a

heart attack A myocardial infarction (MI), commonly known as a heart attack, occurs when Ischemia, blood flow decreases or stops in one of the coronary arteries of the heart, causing infarction (tissue death) to the heart muscle. The most common symptom ...

on July 1, 1996.Arsenault, Marc. "Underground Distributor Keith Green Dies," ''The Comics Journal'' #189 (Aug. 1996), p. 34.

Titles published

* '' Dirty Laundry Comics'' (co-published with

, Summer 1974) –

and

Aline Kominsky-Crumb Aline Kominsky-Crumb (née Goldsmith; August 1, 1948 – November 29, 2022) was an American underground comics artist. Kominsky-Crumb's work, which is almost exclusively autobiographical, is known for its unvarnished, confessional nature. In 20 ...

* ''D.O.A. Comics'' #1 (Oct. 1976) – Jim Osborne * ''Felch Cumics'' (Aug. 1975) –

, S. Clay Wilson, Jim Osborne,

William Stout William Stout (born September 18, 1949) is an American fantasy artist and illustrator with a specialization in paleontological art. His paintings have been shown in over seventy exhibitions, including twelve one-man shows. He has worked on over ...

and other contributors * ''Flamed-Out Funnies'' #1 (Summer 1975) – Willy Murphy; later continued by

* ''Middle Class Fantasies'' #2 (Oct. 1976) – Jerry Lane; continued from

(also reprinted issue #1) * ''The Snatch Sampler'' (1977) – reprints material from ''Snatch Comics'' #1–3 (Apex Novelties/Print Mint) featuring Robert Crumb, S. Clay Wilson, Victor Moscoso, Robert Williams, Rory Hayes, and Jim Osborne * ''Subvert Comics'' #3 (1976)Rodriguez, Spain. ''Trashman Lives!'' (Fanatagraphics Books, 1997), p. iv. –

; continued from

* ''2'' (2 issues, 1975–1976) – S. Clay Wilson; second issue called "Two Squared" * ''Two Fools'' (1976) – Ted Richards and Willy Murphy

References

External links

* * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Green, Keith Comic book publishers (people) Distributors Underground comix 1951 births 1996 deaths American art dealers