Party in the Underground Universe
You know, I was going to say the X-Men look weirder than these denizens of the underground, but on second thought, maybe not. This is the cover by Rand Holmes to the 1974 book A HISTORY OF UNDERGROUND COMICS by Mark James Estren. Let's see who's at the party.
Let's see. We have Angelfood McSpade dancing with Fat Fredy. Sitting on the couch is that bizarre guy from the Snappy Sammy Snoot stories, then the Leather Nun. Some head wearing glasses. Then Mr Natural checking out a typical Crumb babyfat jailbait. Standing on the back of the couch are Weevil, Dirty Duck, one of the pirates from S Clay Wilson's apalling stories, then Pat (from NARD N PAT). Next to the couch is a dissolute-looking Alfred E Neuman and a two-headed Richard Corben future-world mutant. In the lower left, there's one of Crumb's sewer-dwelling Snoids, Captain Guts arm-wrestling with Wonder Wart-Hog. Then there's Coochie Cootie with a pipe next to Mickey Rat (har har). Coming in from the right hand border is a Keep On Trucking dude. The cats in the lower left are Nard, Fat Freddy's Cat, some cat I can't place, Felix and Krazy Kat.On the right hand side, we're looking out through the window and into the kitchen window, where Franklin of the Fabulous Furry Freak Brothers is drinking. I love this piece of art, the yellow light and blue exterior is dead on. The half-empty jug of wine staying cool by the partially opened window is a nice touch.
Whew. Let's see. On the stairs, it's the Yellow Kid (what's he doing here?), some Lower East Side granny I don't know. Then from left to right, we have a Trina Robbins princess talking to Ruby the Dyke, Snappy Sammy Snoot, Phineas Freak (maybe?), another Crumb character, two guys who look rather like Rand Holmes and Robert Crumb themselves. That's a Rory Hayes boogeyman picture on the wall, I think; and we see Mr Toat and Elmo shooting up in the bathroom with some guy. Next to the bathroom door is a doctor who looks familiar (but not familiar enough to place), Sunshine Girl some bird creature, Trots and Bonnie. (TROTS AND BONNIE!? Get them outta here!) To their left is the blue Mr Peanut from a ZAP cover.What else? Down in the stairwell, I don't know the grinning ghoul (and I hope never to meet him), but that's Trashman with the gun. Coming up the stairs is one of the mystic scarabs from ZAP, saying something in Hebrew. There's the Checkered Demon being his usual self, two women slugging it out (I think maybe from TOUGH BITCH COMIX?). Oh, and by the cat next to the stairwell is Projunior.
Additions and corrections are more than welcome. In most cases, I didn't try to identify the creators.