60s COMIX: A BRIEF HISTORY - part three.

[Max Galli]

At the end of 1967, psychedelia was spreading everywhere. A young french artist called Nicolas Devil created the first psychedelic comic book ever: Saga De Xam. It's the story of planet Xam, a peaceful world populated only by women, invaded by aliens who know the art of war. Beautiful Saga, the girl with the blue skin, begins her journey through various ages, looking for a way to save her planet. Magnifically drawn, with plenty of psychedelic graphics and details, Saga De Xam pioneered most of late 60s comic art. The book, published by Eric Losfeld (yeah, the same of Barbarella, Jodelle and Pravda), was printed on heavy paper (300+ grams) and sold as a luxury edition. Nowadays, only few copies survive, as the book itself has become the most treasured possession for a very small group of lucky collectors.

 

Back in the US again, 1966 and 1967 were the years of a revolutionary american comic: Phoebe Zeit-Geist. The dynamic duo, Springer-O'Donoghue, created a bizarre adventure with - maybe - a bit too much of necrophilia and sado-masochistic attitude, whereas 24 years old Phoebe is submitted to various tortures and dies many times in many ways. Graphically set between early 40s comics and Liechtenstein's pop-comic-art, the authors intended this comic book to criticize violence in contemporary living. The result - I believe - is only partially achieved.

 

In the second half of the 60s erotism replaced action as the main subject for comic strips. Georges Pichard, a formerly art teacher from France, started to draw adventure comics as early as 1963, but switched to erotism in 1967, creating Blanche Epiphanie, a quite chaste girl who is continuously abused by all ruthless men. Blanche is the typical girl who expect life to be better than what it is.

 

Very different is the other famous carachter from Pichard, Paulette. Created in 1969-'70, Paulette is a spoiled rich girl who spends money to fight boredom, looking for something interesting to do. Drawn in a rich black and white style, Paulette has beautiful Art Nouveau frames and psychedelic graphics.

 

Many other things should be said about 60s comix, but this only wanted to be a sort of index. More detailed features will follow in the next entries.                                                                                                                                                                                                                     Max Galli