Description: New Paltz Comix #1 Michael T. Gilbert 1973 Underground Comix Michael T. Gilbert’s first comic book stories appeared in this self-published underground, New Paltz Comix, in 1973. Very RARE! Hard to Find! Great Shape! Some Wear. See Pictures of actual item! Bagged & Boarded! Securely Boxed & Shipped with USPS Media Mail. See my other listings to save with COMBINED SHIPPING! DOMESTIC SHIPPING IN USA: Pay only 25 CENTS shipping per additional item/lot! FREE SHIPPING on orders over $100 in the USA! Wait for a combined shipping invoice or just pay and any extra shipping charges paid will be reimbursed. International buyers get combined shipping discounts as well but I’m using eBay Global Shipping so you’ll need to contact me before you buy. Read instructions below. INTERNATIONAL COMBINED SHIPPING: If you wish to buy more than one of my items and have them ship together, WRITE TO ME FIRST before doing anything and tell me which items you want, and I will make a custom listing just for you that includes all of them in one listing. Global shipping will end up being much less this way. Info from Comix joint —> New Paltz Comix _ 1973-1977 / Moods Publishing Empire _ New Paltz Comix is an ambitious comic series launched by Michael T. Gilbert during his senior year at State University of New York (SUNY) at New Paltz. The first issue was originally supposed to be published in early 1973 by the university student newspaper at New Paltz. They went so far as to shoot the film negatives for the printing, but then the newspaper's staff blew the printing budget on an end-of-the-school-year party! Afterwards, the hung over staff promised Gilbert they'd print the book the next year, but since Gilbert was set to graduate before then, he split with the negatives, printed the book with his own money, and sold the book door to door around the New Paltz campus. I'm guessing this unexpected adventure has afforded New Paltz Comix a soft spot in Gilbert's heart, though I'm sure it felt like a pain in the ass at the time. The series took on different titles for its second and third issues (therefore also appearing in other sections of the underground library) to emphasize the different thematic content from issue to issue. There was also a fourth issue published in 1984, but I don't have that one. The series features over two dozen contributors and many collaborations between creators in the three issues I have. The weaker work hurts the overall review score, but I'm sure Gilbert would not do anything different if he could do it over again. Like some other independent publishers, his intent was to provide a showcase for unknown artists and writers, not to produce the most awesome professional books ever. As stated in his editorial in the second issue, "there's a huge amount of untapped talent, ignored by straight and underground companies, that we will continue to actively search out." Gilbert also sought out artists willing to experiment with graphic media, best exemplified in the second issue but evident throughout the series. Individual book reviews will critique the varying degrees of success with this objective, but Gilbert should be commended for opening doors for comic creators who didn't fit conventional parameters. It should not be overlooked that New Paltz Comix also offers some terrific work in the three issues, from Raoul Vezina's spoof of Warner Brothers cartoons in the first issue to Mark Roland's ethereal space adventure in the third. And any critical review of the series cannot overlook Larry Todd's magnificent cover artwork for Iron-Soul Stories, which is, in and of itself, justification for owning the comic. Before publishing the final issue, Gilbert had already contributed work to Star*Reach, Slow Death and Quack. Gilbert is probably best known as the creator of Mr. Monster (aka Doc Stearn), a character originally created by the illustrator Fred Kelly for a "Canadian White" comic book in 1946, which Gilbert stumbled across as a child and never forgot. The publisher (Bell Features) let the character fall into the public domain, and years later Gilbert reinvented Mr. Monster into a new character who earned his own comic title. Wikipedia has a brief but touching story about Gilbert presenting Kelly, who hadn't earned a dime on the character in over 50 years and was over 80 years old, with a royalty check for his original creation of the Doc Stearn character. Gilbert has written comic story scripts for Disney comics since 1990, as has his wife Janet Gilbert. Among many other comic projects, Gilbert also wrote and drew Batman: Legends of the Dark Knight, which looks back on sixty years of Batman adventures. To say the least, his comic book skills have improved since the days of New Paltz. Based on the quality of its content, New Paltz Comix may not be one of the finest underground comic series ever, but Gilbert never intended it to be. It is one of the better series that gave unknown comic creators their shot at the limelight and, at the very least, to share pages in a comic book with artists who sustained notable careers in comics. New Paltz Comix #1 _ Only Printing / 1973 / 32 pages / Moods Publishing Empire _ The first issue of New Paltz Comix was supposed to be published by Michael T. Gilbert's college newspaper at State University of New York at New Paltz, but the newspaper editors used the money in the printing budget to throw an end-of-the-year party instead. So Gilbert ended up publishing the book himself, which probably makes him proud today but had to be a bitch back in '73. New Paltz Comix #1 features contributions from several other creators (presumably all about college age) besides Gilbert, including Raoul Vezina, who would collaborate on and off with Gilbert for many years. The first story, "Confrontation," is about three exploratory space ships from three different worlds (one being Earth) landing on a small planet. The single attempt to communicate peacefully between one astronaut and another is short-circuited by a triggy-happy Earthling, and all three occupants of the ships end up fighting each other to the death. "Confontation" is one example of Gilbert and Vezina working together and it is graphically striking (looks like Gilbert's artwork), but the story is just a bit formulaic, at least from today's perspective. Michael Conway co-wrote the next story with Gilbert and they each did half the artwork for "City," a fairly weak story about a jilted man in a post-apocalyptic world meeting his death...in the city. Meh. The highlight of the book is Vezina's Warner Brothers cartoon parody, called "Hare-Brained Fox in Trooper Blooper." Featuring a pot-smoking cat and dog, a police pig and sort-of Bugs Bunny fox, Vezina crafts an amusing encounter between all four that sharply lampoons typical Merry Melodies plots and characters. Not to micro-analyze it, but I'm not sure what the payoff is at the end (is that a pair of panties or a jock strap?), but in any case it's a funny strip. Overall, New Paltz Comix #1 has quite a bit of mediocre stuff and the weaker artwork almost dragged the "illustration score" down to "competent" instead of "skilled." The writing is pretty comparable to a decent fanzine, except for the solid script in Vezina's Merry Melodies spoof. But the first issue set the table for the second, which delivers a significant upgrade in quality. _ HISTORICAL FOOTNOTES: It is currently unknown how many copies of this comic book were printed. It has not been reprinted. _ COMIC CREATORS: Michael T. Gilbert - 1, 2-12 (collaboration), 14-15 (script collaboration), 16 (art, script collaboration), 17 (script collaboration), 18-19 (art, script collaboration), 20, 25, 26, 27-30 (art), 31 (art collaboration, script), 32 Raoul Vezina - 2-12 (collaboration), 13, 21-24 (collaboration), 31 (art collaboration) Richard Fox - 13, 20, 26, 30 Michael Conway - 14-19 (script collaboration) Larry Hogan - 14-15 (art, script collaboration), 16 (script collaboration), 17 (art, script collaboration), 18-19 (script collaboration) Lowe - 21-24 (collaboration) H.A. Sobel - 27-30 (script)
Price: 29.99 USD
Location: Spring, Texas
End Time: 2024-08-07T22:38:43.000Z
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Item Specifics
All returns accepted: ReturnsNotAccepted
Artist/Writer: Michael T. Gilbert
Tradition: US Comics
Cover Artist: Michael T. Gilbert
Series Title: New Paltz Comix
Publisher: Moods Publishing Empire
Intended Audience: Viewer Discretion Advised
Vintage: Yes
Story Title: New Paltz Comix
Publication Year: 1973
Type: Comic Book
Format: Single Issue
Issue Number: 1
Language: English
Era: Bronze Age (1970-83)
Style: Partial Color
Genre: Animal, Bad Girl, Cartoon, Comedy, Cosmic, Dream, Drugs, Fantasy, Funny Animal, Good Girl, Horror & Sci-Fi, Humor/Satire, Illustration, Monster, Occult, Pin-Up, Science Fiction, Supernatural, Underground, Weird, Action/Adventure, Heroic Fantasy, Humour
