Jack Jackson

July 26, 2006 12:29 PM

Jack Jackson, writing as Jaxon, may have created the first underground comic, God Nose, in 1964. In 1969 he was one of the founders of RipOff Press. Jackson's work at that time included horror stories (in Skull Comics, RipOff's tribute to EC) and political fare. Jackson returned to his native Texas in the 70s and began work on a series of comics on Texas history. In 1979 he published Comanche Moon, the story of the abduction of Cynthia Ann Parker and of her son, the great Comanche chief Quanah Parker. Jackson was influenced by Texas History Movies, a 1920s comic strip by Jack Patton and John Rosenfeld that was compiled into booklets and used in Texas schools until the 1960s. Other works by Jackson included the story of Spanish-Americans in the war for Texas independence, the Alamo as seen from both sides, and a look at Sam Houston's relationship with the Cherokee. The subjects of Jackson's comics tended to be history's dispossessed and, in 1998, he published Lost Cause, a look at post-Civil War white Texans. Accused of racism, Jackson replied that he intended to show history as it was, not as people wanted it to have been. The Comics Reporter: "Jackson's Texas was capable of grotesquery and atrocity because Jackson's art was able to communicate extreme, transcendent moments without hesitation or shame." Aside from comics, Jackson wrote a number of books on Texas and other history, including the award-winning Los Mestenos, a study of Spanish ranching in Texas. He was a lifetime member of the Texas State Historical Society. Jackson's health deteriorated as he grew older and he suffered from diabetes and prostate cancer. On June 8, Jack Jackson committed suicide near the Stockton, Texas cemetery where his parents are buried.
posted by CCBC (19 comments total)

That's no moon. That's a post on Metafilter.
posted by kbanas at 12:31 PM on July 26, 2006 [4 favorites]

He had a character called Mo. Mo Inside.
posted by fixedgear at 12:38 PM on July 26, 2006 [1 favorite]

Nice work, very thorough post.

Next time give a summary on the main page, and use "More Inside" to complete the full post. Preserves space on the front page.

/translation
posted by bullitt 5 at 12:47 PM on July 26, 2006

I remember Oat Willie, etc., but Jackson had completely fled my mind. Interesting how his style resembles Crumb's "serious" pen and ink work. The hatching has the same trembly, but insistent quality. Someone ought to do a study of his influence on Crumb. For instance, a lot of early Crumb work has very light hatching. In the case of "Fritz the Cat," almost none. In the San Francisco years, Crumb's hatching got denser -- sometimes a lot denser. Did contact with Jackson have an effect?
How about a list of brilliant comix artists who committed suicide? There's the guy who did Plastic Man -- a genius. Wally Wood -- a genius. Who else?
posted by Faze at 1:07 PM on July 26, 2006

TOO MANY WORDS CANNOT UNDERSTAND POINT
posted by scrump at 1:22 PM on July 26, 2006

Wouldn't Tijuana Bibles (NSFW) be the first underground comics?
posted by hydrophonic at 1:26 PM on July 26, 2006

Okay, bullitt 5, point taken.
Faze, the Plastic Man guy was Jack Cole. Also a suicide, Ham Fisher (Joe Palooka). But generally comics artists are extremely well-balanced people who drink themselves to death.
scrump: SORRY. NEXT TIME I'LL USE ALL PICTURES
posted by CCBC at 1:40 PM on July 26, 2006

Oh bullshit. Asking a poster to not take up over half of the front page is not a call for dumb posts.
posted by bardic at 1:42 PM on July 26, 2006

Minor correction: He died in Stockdale, TX. Not Stockton. In case it matters.
posted by Clay201 at 1:42 PM on July 26, 2006

This is a terrific post, thanks for taking the time to put it together!
posted by jtron at 1:48 PM on July 26, 2006

Good lord, what an excellent post. I was weaned on Jax's history comix and he will be dearly missed.
posted by squidfartz at 2:59 PM on July 26, 2006

I add my thanks. Great post.
posted by languagehat at 2:59 PM on July 26, 2006

Good one CCBC, and screw the complainers, at least it was worth it.

Faze, I notice a similarity between his style and Crumbs, too.
posted by doctor_negative at 3:07 PM on July 26, 2006

Wow-- great work, CCBC. An excellent post.

I like how you say Jaxon 'may have created the first underground comic.' It's true this is contentious, with some histories giving this honor to 'The Adventures of Jesus', self-produced by Frank Stack AKA Foolbert Sturgeon in 1962.

Like Jaxon, Frank Stack was also from Texas, as was Gilbert Shelton (Fabulous Furry Freak Brothers). Perhaps it's time for a new state motto. Texas: The Land of Underground Comics.
posted by Fuzzy Monster at 3:59 PM on July 26, 2006

Holy shit. I hadn't heard that Jackson killed himself, he was one of the few underground cartoonists who actually accomplished something and continued to grow, unlike most of his peers who're either embarassingly irrelevant burn- or sell-outs.

Best post I've seen in ages.

And:
.
posted by Alvy Ampersand at 6:36 PM on July 26, 2006

.

Jaxon's stuff expanded the frontiers of comics. I recall with pleasure a wierd mixture of history and horror called Bulto that must have run in Heavy Metal in the late seventies.

And CC, screw that 'more inside' BS. Let the links flow.
posted by mwhybark at 8:00 PM on July 26, 2006

bullitt 5 asked nicely for the "More Inside" and I understand his point, no use eating up all the frontpage at once. I was snarky with scrump because I'm not used to people yelling that way. If all caps is a MetaThing, then I'll just get over it. This is a fine, fine site and I don't want to see an etiquette war develop here. So, thanks for the kind words. Now everybody chill.
posted by CCBC at 11:33 PM on July 26, 2006

Great post, CCBC, thanks. (And don't be discouraged - a generous dose of snark & criticism is part of the mefi way. )
posted by madamjujujive at 7:26 AM on July 27, 2006

I was snarky with scrump because I'm not used to people yelling that way.
posted by CCBC at 11:33 PM PST on July 26 [+fave] [!]

Oh, that's rich, coming from someone whose name is in ALL CAPS.

I kid! I keeeed!

Anyway, I actually liked the post. I'm just not used to dealing with huge blocks of text on the front page: it confuses my tiny termite brain. A couple of linebreaks and a [more inside], that's all I ask.
posted by scrump at 10:38 AM on July 29, 2006