Starting in the 1960s, a maverick band of young cartoonists like Robert Crumb, Art Spiegelman, Trina Robbins, and Gilbert Shelton starting churning out comic books the likes of which had never seen before. These "undergound" works definitely weren't aimed at kids and they didn't follow the exploits of costumed do-gooders or anodyne high schoolers like Riverdale High's Archie, Betty, and Veronica.
Drawing inspiration from Mad magazine and horror comics that had been subjected to congressional scrutiny in the 1950s, the new "comix" were filled with sex, drugs, and violence; ruthlessly satirized mass culture; and drew the ire of crusaders against obscenity and cultural decline. Yet within a decade, underground comix had become recognized as a vital artistic force in America whose influence is still massive and growing in art, music, movies, design, and more.
