652 UNDERGROUND AND ADULT COMICS
of fantasy and horror comics, such as Savage Tales and Tales of the Zombie, containing
material that could not have received code approval.
In 1977 National Lampoon Presents French Comics (the Kind Men Like) introduced
European comics erotica to an American audience. It also tested the waters for their
launch of Heavy Metal, an American version of the French magazine Métal Hur-
lant, later that year. Inspired by the best of the American underground comix, Metal
Hurlant, which debuted in 1974, off ered wildly imaginative science fi ction and fantasy
in comics form. Early issues of Heavy Metal relied heavily on reprints of material from
the European magazine, but soon had home-grown content, including the lushly ren-
dered sex and violence of Richard Corben.
Comic book writer and entrepreneur George Caragonne, along with Mark McClellan,
sold Penthouse publisher Bob Guccione on the idea of Penthouse Comix. Th e title was
launched in 1994 and ran for 33 issues. Guccione’s subsequent adult comix titles, Men’s
Adventure Comix, Omni Comix, and Penthouse Max, only lasted a matter of months. Pent-
house paid top rates and attracted talent such as Richard Corben, Gray Morrow, Adam
Hughes, and Arthur Suydam.
Th e advent of the direct market distribution of comic books in the 1970s allowed
independents, alternatives, and even a few of the residual undergrounds to be sold
side-by-side with mainstream comics in comic book specialty stores. Comic books dis-
tributed through the direct market did not have to carry the Comics Code seal that
was required on newsstand comics, and the comics specialty shops attracted an adult
clientele. Th ese conditions encouraged the emergence of independent publishers who
provided edgier content. One of the earliest and most signifi cant of these indepen-
dent publications was Mike Friedrich’s Star*Reach anthology that debuted in 1974.
It was considered a ground level comic, a blending of the mainstream and the under-
ground. Star*Reach allowed mainstream creators such as Walt Simonson, Jim Starlin
and Howard Chaykin to produce work that mainstream publishers would have found
unacceptable, but the result was generally no more radical that what was appearing in
Marvel’s black and white magazines — genre adventures with a few topless women.
However, Chaykin, perhaps stimulated by this taste of freedom, went on to create
comics more reminiscent of the underground comix. He shocked mainstream audiences
with his suggestive American Flagg! comic, but his 1988 erotic noir miniseries Black Kiss,
with its dark comedy and explicit sex, became one of the most controversial comic books
of the decade. Th e 1980s and 1990s were decades in which sex comics proliferated. In
1984, Larry Welz began Cherry Poptart (later simply Cherry), a sex-fi lled and satire laced
series drawn in the style of Archie comics. Th e title was fi rst published by Last Gasp,
later by Tundra and Kitchen Sink, and eventually self-published by Welz. Former exotic
dancer Sylvie Rancourt and artist Jacques Boivin teamed to create Melody: Th e True
Story of a Nude Dancer, which was published by Kitchen Sink beginning in 1988. When
Fantagraphics was in fi nancial trouble in 1990, Groth funded his literary comics with an
Eros line of comics that off ered every aspect of erotica, from virtually plotless sex romps,
to hardcore bondage and discipline, to parody. Also in the early 1990s, rocker Glenn
