Gay Comix
Most underground comics dealt with taboo subjects, such as sex, drugs, and extreme violence. While Gay Comix delves into these concepts, they are much more about the impact of these experiences as opposed to utilizing these tropes for the sake of being underground. As the title suggests, Gay Comix delves into the lives of the LGBT+ community, often as a collection of personal anecdotes and short stories of personal experiences.
As the community revolves around sexuality, it is only natural that it would feature some sexual encounters. Rather than to be raunchy, they utilize these scenes to depict the normal daily life of the average LGBT+ person. Dealing with the ideas of feeling alienated and left out socially, and figuring out queer feelings that would never have been discussed in overground media without being political or divisive. Many of the stories in the anthology deal with the psychological aspect of cognitive dissonance, where most if not all people are raised believing queer feelings were the product of sin or the devil, and were taboo to think or engage in. The comics provides a sense of normalcy to the queer lifestyle to the average person, in a world at the time, where it was scrutinized at its very best, and ostracized at its very worst. It was very clearly an outlet for other members of the LGBT+ community to relate and feel connected to, while not as accessible as overground comics, was an option for queer people to feel represented. The most identifying part about comics needing to be classified as an underground comic because it encompasses LGBT+ topics is how it is reflective of the mainstream culture of its time.
As the community revolves around sexuality, it is only natural that it would feature some sexual encounters. Rather than to be raunchy, they utilize these scenes to depict the normal daily life of the average LGBT+ person. Dealing with the ideas of feeling alienated and left out socially, and figuring out queer feelings that would never have been discussed in overground media without being political or divisive. Many of the stories in the anthology deal with the psychological aspect of cognitive dissonance, where most if not all people are raised believing queer feelings were the product of sin or the devil, and were taboo to think or engage in. The comics provides a sense of normalcy to the queer lifestyle to the average person, in a world at the time, where it was scrutinized at its very best, and ostracized at its very worst. It was very clearly an outlet for other members of the LGBT+ community to relate and feel connected to, while not as accessible as overground comics, was an option for queer people to feel represented. The most identifying part about comics needing to be classified as an underground comic because it encompasses LGBT+ topics is how it is reflective of the mainstream culture of its time.
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