Super Soul Comix #1
Written and Illustrated by Richard “Grass” Green (1972, Kitchen Sink Press)
Synopsis
Vietnam vet Marty Meathead is transformed into the super-powered Soul Brother American and fights racist racketeers. A Quiet Evening At Home has a couple splatting a spider. Then, Eric Private (The Black Eye) bashes the badass Baron Stroe.
Notes
The Bronze Age of comics introduced the most popular Black comic book characters such as Luke Cage, Black Panther and Storm. These characters, however, were mostly created by white authors (with the help of Black illustrators at times). And introduced under the Comics Code Authority.
In contrast, the 70’s Underground Comix movement gave Black comic creators the opportunity to create, publish and distribute their own books. Much like the Blaxploitation Movie Genre.
In 1972, Richard “Grass” Green (1939-2002) published Super Soul Comix #1 and reportedly sold 200,000 copies.
Super Soul Comix was an explicit adult comic with biting social commentary. Only one issue of the book was ever published to my knowledge although I’ve seen art for an issue 2.
Green is considered the first Black artist to work in both the Fan Art scene of the 1960s and the Underground Comix Movement of the 1970s.
Although he had an extensive bibliography in the underground comix scene, Green, along with his contemporary Larry Fuller, are rarely mentioned in historical accounts of the Underground Comix movement.
