Paul Mavrides (born 1952) is an American

artist An artist is a person engaged in an activity related to creating art, practicing the arts, or demonstrating the work of art. The most common usage (in both everyday speech and academic discourse) refers to a practitioner in the visual arts o ...

, best known for his critique-laden

comics a Media (communication), medium used to express ideas with images, often combined with text or other visual information. It typically the form of a sequence of Panel (comics), panels of images. Textual devices such as speech balloons, Glo ...

cartoons A cartoon is a type of visual art that is typically drawn, frequently Animation, animated, in an realism (arts), unrealistic or semi-realistic style. The specific meaning has evolved, but the modern usage usually refers to either: an image or s ...

paintings Painting is a visual art, which is characterized by the practice of applying paint, pigment, color or other medium to a solid surface (called "matrix" or " support"). The medium is commonly applied to the base with a brush. Other implements, ...

graphics Graphics () are visual images or designs on some surface, such as a wall, canvas, screen, paper, or stone, to inform, illustrate, or entertain. In contemporary usage, it includes a pictorial representation of the data, as in design and manufa ...

, performances and writings that encompass a disturbing yet

humor Humour ( Commonwealth English) or humor (American English) is the tendency of experiences to provoke laughter and provide amusement. The term derives from the humoral medicine of the ancient Greeks, which taught that the balance of fluids i ...

ous catalog of the social ills and shortcomings of human civilization. Mavrides worked with

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, ...

pioneer

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 ...

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 ...

'' from 1978 to 1992. Mavrides has been noted for "adding new dimensions to the political comic" in the

press of the 1970s and '80s. Mavrides is a founding member of the

Church of the SubGenius The Church of the SubGenius is a parody religion that satirizes better-known belief systems. It teaches a complex philosophy that focuses on J. R. "Bob" Dobbs, purportedly a salesman from the 1950s, who is revered as a prophet by the Church. SubGen ...

, having been a member of the organization since its earliest days. He is a co-author of ''Revelation X: The "Bob" Apocryphon: Hidden Teachings and Deuterocanonical Texts of J.R. "Bob" Dobbs'' (

Fireside Books Simon & Schuster LLC (, ) is an American publishing house owned by Kohlberg Kravis Roberts since 2023. It was founded in New York City in 1924, by Richard L. Simon and M. Lincoln Schuster. Along with Penguin Random House, Hachette Book Group US ...

, 1994).

Career

Mavrides came to the

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 ...

in 1975, and was soon working with San Francisco-based comics creator

Jay Kinney Jay Kinney (born 1950) is an American author, editor, and former underground cartoonist. Kinney has been noted for "adding new dimensions to the political comic" in the underground comix press of the 1970s and '80s. Career Kinney was a member, ...

on "Cover-Up Lowdown", originally a weekly

panel cartoon A gag cartoon (also panel cartoon, single-panel cartoon, or gag panel) is most often a single- panel cartoon, usually including a caption beneath the drawing. In some cases, dialogue may appear in speech balloons, following the common convention ...

which was collected and 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 November 1977. This strip satirized political cover-ups of the day, as well as those of recent history, such as the

assassination of John F. Kennedy John F. Kennedy, the 35th president of the United States, was assassinated while riding in a presidential motorcade through Dealey Plaza in Dallas, Texas, on November 22, 1963. Kennedy was in the vehicle with his wife Jacqueline Kennedy Onas ...

. Kinney and Mavrides then collaborated on the political

anthology In book publishing, an anthology is a collection of literary works chosen by the compiler; it may be a collection of plays, poems, short stories, songs, or related fiction/non-fiction excerpts by different authors. There are also thematic and g ...

Anarchy Comics ''Anarchy Comics'' is a series of underground comic books published by Last Gasp (publisher), Last Gasp between 1978 and 1987, as part of the underground comix subculture of the era. Edited by Jay Kinney (#1-3) and Paul Mavrides (#4), regular con ...

'', which was published sporadically 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 ...

between 1978 and 1987. Mavrides contributed comics to all four issues of ''Anarchy Comics'' as well as editing the final issue. Mavrides illustrated several stories for

Harvey Pekar Harvey Lawrence Pekar (; October 8, 1939 – July 12, 2010) was an American underground comic book writer, music critic, and media personality, best known for his autobiographical ''American Splendor'' comic series. In 2003, the series inspired ...

in ''

American Splendor ''American Splendor'' is a series of autobiographical comic books written by Harvey Pekar and drawn by a variety of artists. The first issue was published in 1976 and the last one in September 2008, with publication occurring at irregular interv ...

''. He also had work in such alternative comics titles as '' Young Lust'' (

), ''Real War Stories'' (

Eclipse Comics Eclipse Comics was an American comic book publisher, one of several independent publishers during the 1980s and early 1990s. In 1978, it published the first graphic novel intended for the newly created comic book store, comic book specialty stor ...

), and the ''

Brought to Light ''Brought to Light'' – subtitled ''Thirty Years of Drug Smuggling, Arms Deals, and Covert Action'' – is an anthology of two political graphic novels, published originally by Eclipse Comics in 1988 in comics, 1988. Creation Both stories were ...

'' trade paperback (Eclipse). Mavrides was credited as art director for ''

Grass Poaceae ( ), also called Gramineae ( ), is a large and nearly ubiquitous family (biology), family of monocotyledonous flowering plants commonly known as grasses. It includes the cereal grasses, bamboos, the grasses of natural grassland and spe ...

'', a 1999 documentary on

marijuana Cannabis (), commonly known as marijuana (), weed, pot, and ganja, List of slang names for cannabis, among other names, is a non-chemically uniform psychoactive drug from the ''Cannabis'' plant. Native to Central or South Asia, cannabis has ...

. He designed the record jacket for The Nuclear Beauty Parlor. Mavrides is also a collagist, photographer and painter.

''The Fabulous Furry Freak Brothers''

In 1978, Mavrides joined Gilbert Shelton and Dave Sheridan to co-produce ''Fabulous Furry Freak Brothers'' comics stories. Together, with Shelton and Mavrides writing, and Mavrides, Sheridan, and Shelton producing the artwork, the three of them produced the comix that were later collected into ''Freak Brothers'' issues #6 & 7. Following Sheridan's death from complications of cancer in 1982, Mavrides became Shelton's steady partner in all further ''Freak Brothers'' material. The two of them embarked on an ambitious project (begun in 1982 and serialized in issues #11 and 12 of the '' Rip Off Comix'' series, but not published in the comics series ''The Fabulous Furry Freak Brothers'' until 1984): a full color, three-volume story arc entitled "The Fabulous Furry Freak Brothers in The Idiots Abroad". In 1984, Shelton, who had spent parts of 1980 and 1981 in Europe, moved back to

Europe Europe is a continent located entirely in the Northern Hemisphere and mostly in the Eastern Hemisphere. It is bordered by the Arctic Ocean to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the west, the Mediterranean Sea to the south, and Asia to the east ...

for good and the ''Freak Brothers'' collaboration became a trans-Atlantic affair. The last full issue of new Freak Brothers material came out in 1992.

Legal battles

In 1991, Mavrides protested against a resolution by the State of

California California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...

to levy a

sales tax A sales tax is a tax paid to a governing body for the sales of certain goods and services. Usually laws allow the seller to collect funds for the tax from the consumer at the point of purchase. When a tax on goods or services is paid to a govern ...

on comic strips and comic books. He challenged the law in court, with assistance from the

Comic Book Legal Defense Fund The Comic Book Legal Defense Fund (CBLDF) is an American non-profit organization formed in 1986 to protect the First Amendment to the United States Constitution, First Amendment rights of comics creators, publishers, and retailers covering legal ...

, arguing that the comic strip is a communications medium that should be classed with books, magazines, and newspapers (which are not subject to sales taxes due to

First Amendment First most commonly refers to: * First, the ordinal form of the number 1 First or 1st may also refer to: Acronyms * Faint Images of the Radio Sky at Twenty-Centimeters, an astronomical survey carried out by the Very Large Array * Far Infrared a ...

provisions). In 1997, a ruling in Mavrides' favor was handed down by the

California State Board of Equalization The California State Board of Equalization (BOE) is a public agency charged with tax administration and fee collection in the state of California in the United States. The authorities of the Board attempt to ensure that counties fairly assess ...

Depictions in other media

Science fiction author and mathematician

Rudy Rucker Rudolf von Bitter Rucker (; born March 22, 1946) is an American mathematician, computer scientist, science fiction author, and one of the founders of the cyberpunk literary movement. The author of both fiction and non-fiction, he is best known f ...

created the character Corey Rhizome based on Mavrides. Rhizome features in the novel ''Freeware'' as a creator of semi-sentient toys, many of which have deviant or anti-social personality traits based on Rhizome's personality. Rhizome, whom Rucker described as "Mavrides as evil toymaker", is a profligate user of moon grown hybrid

that he smokes via complex

vaping An electronic cigarette (e-cigarette), or vape, is a device that simulates smoking. It consists of an Construction of electronic cigarettes#Atomizer and tank, atomizer, a power source such as a battery, and a container such as a cartridge or ...

hardware.

References

External links

*
Paul Mavrides
at artie.com.

by Wesley Joost and Jon Randall
"The Things He Did on ''Grass'',"
by Michael Sragow, ''Salon'', June 15, 2000; interview about Mavrides' art direction of a marijuana documentary {{DEFAULTSORT:Mavrides, Paul 1952 births American comics artists American comics writers American political artists American humorists American satirists American satirical comics artists American satirical comics writers 20th-century American painters 21st-century American painters American SubGenii Artists from the San Francisco Bay Area Underground cartoonists Living people