The Fabulous Furry Freak Brothers an underground phenomenom
Skick: VF exemplar.

Long before starring in their first solo comic book in 1971, Gilbert Shelton's Fabulous Furry Freak Brothers were already a widespread, wildly popular counterculture phenomenon. The trio of pothead hippies (and not actually brothers) made their first public appearance in 1967 in the Austin Rag, a local Texas underground newspaper. Beyond the innate brilliance of Shelton's comics, the fortuitous timing of his creation of the Freak Brothers with the sudden, widespread utilization of an underground press syndicate in major media markets was a significant factor in Gilbert Shelton's own success story. Shelton already had one popular underground cartoon character, Wonder Wart-Hog, but the Wart-Hog's popularity paled in comparison to what the Freak Brothers would achieve. In 1968, flush with the sudden success of the Freak Brothers, Shelton was inspired to produce his own comic book featuring the Freak Brothers. He gathered existing strips, added some new work, and Feds 'n' Heads Comics was printed later that year in a garage in Austin. Feds 'n' Heads was an instant success and Shelton shifted the second printing of the book in February, 1969. 12 more printings would follow in the next decade. By 1970 the Freak Brothers were a national media phenomenom, and Shelton was contributing Freak Brothers strips to the L.A. Free Press on a weekly basis. Within a few months he had enough strips to combine with older stories for Rip Off Press (which Shelton had co-founded) to print the debut issue of The Fabulous Furry Freak Brothers. The first issue was enormously popular, selling about half a million copies in ten printings, which were printed so closely together they all had 50-cent cover prices. However, this was merely the tip of the iceberg, as today it is estimated that the Freak Brothers have sold over 40 million total books worldwide. In 1979 Shelton and his wife Lora Fountain sold the movie rights for his creations and were now flushed with so much money that they decided to move to Spain (the move were never made though). New comic adventures for the Freak Brothers were now slow and the 12th issue was the last one with new material came out in 1992 and the 13th and final issue in 1997, had reprinted stories in black and white that originally appeared in color in High Times and Playboy magazine. After the final Freak Brothers comic book was published in 1997, several compilations of the strips have been put together in both deluxe and trade paperback versions and the characters remain a reliable marketing brand to this day, though certainly not what it was in its first twenty years. The popularity of the Freak Brothers would have made the comic books influential under any circumstances, but it is the quality of Shelton's writing and artwork that sets him apart from his many imitators. Shelton's artwork is exceptionally detailed and rife with amusing embellishments hidden throughout the panels. Moreover, his writing is original, clever, and often very funny. And though much of the humor revolves around drugs, it also touches on many aspects of everyday life, including despair, friendship, financial hardship, family, apathy, and a hyperconventional society and government that shuns people who are different. Alan Moore said that "Gilbert Shelton is as near as comics have come to producing a natural comedic genius of the same stature as a Chaplin or a Tati." The Fabulous Furry Freak Brothers are the most popular and recognizable comic characters from the underground era. Nobody would ever put them on a pedestal as role models, but there are aspects in each of the characters that make us all feel more human, and perhaps a little better about ourselves.