NTE2sc003_6.xml Guide to the Joseph M. Shea Comix and Small Press Collection 1962-2010 Shea (Joseph M.) Comix and Small Press Collection Finding aid prepared by Robert Franklin. Washington State University Libraries Manuscripts, Archives, and Special Collections © 2015 Finding aid encoded by Doug Lambeth. 2015 Finding aid written in English. English. Finding aid based on DACS 2nd Edition ( Describing Archives: A Content Standard). Washington State University Libraries, Manuscripts, Archives and Special Collections SC 003.6 Shea, Joseph M. Joseph M. Shea Comix and Small Press Collection 1962-2010 4.75 Linear feet of shelf space 9 Boxes This collection consists of small press literature and comic books donated by underground writer and illustrator Joseph M. Shea. The collection includes holdings of unique and rare comics and homemade zines, along with popular underground comics spanning four decades in the small press/underground genre. Much of the subject matter is controversial, and contains violent and/or sexual themes. (MASC Staff Use) 1:35 Collection materials are in English.

Born in 1943, Joseph M. Shea graduated from American University in 1966 with a degree in history. In 1970, after serving in Vietnam, he went to work for the United States Department of Agriculture and moved to the Capitol Hill neighborhood of Washington, DC. Shea began drawing and writing in Vietnam, becoming a prolific short storyteller whose work has been published in the United States, Canada, Denmark, the United Kingdom, and Russia (translated into Russian, and Poland (translated into Polish).

His story "Tribute" was a second prize winner in the 1982 Fandom Directory writers' contest. In 1985, his story "Fever Dream" won the United Fanzine Organization (UFO) Award for Best Fiction. In 1986, he was nominated for the SPCE Award for Favorite Writer. His script "Viet Nam Was A Girl," illustrated by Finnish artist Pekka A. Manninen, won the UFO Award for Best Single Strip of 1989. His poem "The Maiden and the Magician" was a 1993 Rhysling Award nominee. In the year 2000, his story "Books in Hell" won the Blue Plaque Publications (BPP) Quality Award for Best Fiction Piece. He also received in the year 2000 the BPP Quality Award for Best Fiction Writer. Examples of Shea's artwork can be seen in publications such as Friends of American Living, Out Of The Blue, 365 Women, Scavenger's Newsletter, The Vinyl Elephant, The Catbird Seat, and Lunatic Chameleon.

This collection consists of small press literature and comic books collected by underground writer and illustrator Joseph M. Shea. It includes holdings of unique and rare comics and homemade zines, along with popular underground comics spanning four decades in the small press/underground genre. Much of the subject matter is controversial, and contains violent and/or sexual themes. The Shea Collection, along with the much larger Willis Collection (SC 3.4) and similar sized Dissmeyer Collection (SC 3.5) offers a viewpoint into artistic expressions within the American underground and counterculture in the 1960s through 2000s, and many of the materials coincide with the birth of the underground comix scene (referred to by many cartoonists as "Newave").

The collection consists of several hundred items, including 121 unique titles, with sequential issues of many comix, newsletters, and zines. Standard and digest size comix make up about 40 percent of the collection, and many are popular cult underground comix with professional production, drawn/illustrated by many now-famous names in the industry. Notably, the standard comix include Blazing Combat, Eerie, and Vampirella. Minicomix are approximately 10 percent of the collection.

Approximately 50 percent of the collection is non-comix related, consisting of advertising and promotional materials, catalogs, newsletters, and zines (a term derived from "magazine," and self-published via photocopier). Of these, zines are the majority (about 20 percent of the collection), with extensive representation of the American music underground, counterculture, horror and fantasy writing, and several works by Joseph M. Shea.

Series 1: Advertising, Promotional Material, and Bibliographic Correspondence and Documentation, 1999-2010. This series contains materials related to the advertising and promoting of comix, zines, comic books, comix-related events, as well as collection documentation (donation lists by Joseph M. Shea).

Series 2: Books and Catalogs, 1981-2003. This series contains published collections of comix or comix-related material with ISBN numbers, and catalogs for comix, comic books, anime, art supplies, and other related materials.

Series 3: Comics/Comix, 1965-2007. This series is consists of comix organized by format in two subseries: Subseries 3.1: Standard and Digest Comics, and Subseries 3.2: Minicomix.

Series 4: Magazines, 1962-2004. This series contains professional-quality published material in magazine format.

Series 5: Newsletters, 1998-1999 and undated. This series consists of newsletters of small press, library, and environmental groups and organizations.

Series 6: Comix Related Materials and Reference Materials, 1997 and undated. This series contains a variety of materials relating to comix and comix creators.

Series 7: Zines, 1987-2009. This series consists of small press zines written by one or multiple authors.

Series 8: Oversize Materials, 1982-1999. This series consists of large items stored separately. Separation sheets are filed for these materials in their respective series.

This collection is arranged in eight series. All material in each series is arranged alphabetically by title.

This collection is open and available for research use.

Copyright restrictions apply.

[Item Description]

Joseph M. Shea Comix and Small Press Collection, 1962-2010 (SC 003.6)

Manuscripts, Archives, and Special Collections, Washington State University Libraries, Pullman, WA.

Joseph M. Shea donated this collection to the Washington State University Libraries in 2009 and 2010 (MS.2009.19, MS.2010.01).

Robert Franklin processed this collection in 2014 and 2015.

Steve Willis Underground Comics Collection, 1966-1997 (SC 003.1)

Lynn R. Hansen Underground Comics Collection, 1899-1994 (SC 003.2)

Paul Brians Comics Collection, 1950-2004 (SC 003.3)

Steve Willis Comix and Small Press Collection, 1968-2004 (SC 003.4)

Clark Dissmeyer Comix and Small Press Collection, 1977-2002 (SC 003.5)

Jeff Zenick Comix and Small Press Collection, 1984-2003 (SC 003.7)

Comic Art and Culture Collection 1969-2019 (SC 003.8)

This collection is indexed under the following headings in the online catalog. Researchers desiring materials about related topics, persons, or places should search the catalog using these headings.

Comic books, strips, etc. Graphic novels Underground press publications Underground comic books, strips, etc. New wave comics Erotic comic books, strips, etc. Publishers and Publishing 1999-2010 Series 1: Advertisements, Promotional Material, and Bibliographic Correspondence and Documentation 1 1 1999 Brave New Fringe 1 2 1999 Corky's Ads 1 3 2010 Comic Society: Reflections 1 4 2009-2010 Shea Transmittal Correspondence 1981-2003 Series 2: Books and Catalogs 1 5 1981 The Apex Treasury of Underground Comics 1 6 1998 The Great Challenge 1 7 1987 Ikinokoru 1 8 1996 Ultra Klutz 1 9 2003 Unshelved Volume 1 1 10 1986 Work Is Hell 1 11 2002 Squid Works Quarterly 1965-2007 Series 3: Comics/Comix Subseries 3.1: Standard and Digest Comics 1 12 1999 [Untitled] 1 13 1999-2000 365 Women issues 5, 7, 8 1 14 2001 The 2001 BPP Quality Awards Strip! 1 15 1974 Billy the Kid number 109 2 1 1965-1966 Blazing Combat numbers 1-4 2 2 1967 Blue Beetle number 3 2 3 2000 The Bruno Cult 2 4 2002 Buzzizyk numbers 20, 22, and unknown 2 5 1966 Captain Atom number 83 2 6 2003 Charlie Chong 2 7 2001 Classical Punks versus Superiorman and Environmental Man 2 8 1999 Colonia issue 2 2 9 1982-1984 Comico Primer numbers 1 and 6 2 10 1981 Condorman numbers 1 and 2 2 11 1966 Creepy number 9 2 12 1971-1972 Eerie numbers 38, 42-46 2 13 1973 Eerie numbers 47-51 2 14 2000 Flaming Couch number 10 2 15 1967 Flash Gordon number 8 2 16 undated Flooby Comics number 16 2 17 1998 Flying Colors 2 18 2005 The Guard number 2 2 19 1987 Heroic number 2 2 20 1986-1987 Jonny Quest numbers 7-18 3 1 1997 Legion of Stupid Heroes number 1 3 2 1975 Midnight Tales number 17 3 3 2005 Nut number 2 3 4 1969 Outlaws of the West number 64 3 5 1987 Patriot number 1 3 6 1987-1988 Pizzazz and Frog Boy numbers 1 and 2 3 7 2007 Six-Guns and Saddles number 2 3 8 1998 Skinned Alive Boy Comix number 13 3 9 1974-1975 The Spirit numbers 1-7 3 10 1979 The Spirit number 20 3 11 1976 Startstream numbers 1-4 3 12 1997 Supermonster issues 4 and 7 3 13 2002 Tales from the Seventh Galaxy 3 14 1969 Texas Rangers in Action number 76 3 15 2008 Tim Corrigan's Comics and Stories number 2 3 16 undated The Tree and the Fortress (Shea) 3 17 2006-2007 Twilight Samurais numbers 2 and 3 3 18 1975 Unknown Worlds of Science Fiction numbers 4 and 6 3 19 1969-1970 Vampirella numbers 1-7 4 1 1970-1971 Vampirella numbers 8-14 4 2 1972 Vampirella numbers 15-21 4 3 1973-1974 Vampirella numbers 27-33 4 4 1974 Vampirella numbers 34-38 4 5 1975 Vengeance Squad number 5 4 6 1999 Zoomkranx number 16 Subseries 3.2: Minicomix 5 1 undated [untitled] 5 2 1999 As I Recall the Sixties 5 3 1999 Dante's Coat 5 4 1997 The Girl Who Trod on an Oaf 5 5 1999 Morty Comix number 2173 5 6 1999 Musical Chairs 5 7 undated Naugacomics number 57 5 8 2000 Sketchbook Drawings From June and July 2000 5 9 undated The Women Without a Moth 5 10 undated Write-in Morty the Dog for McCleary Mayor! 1962-2004 Series 4: Magazines 5 11 1981 Amazing Heroes numbers 1-4, 6-8 5 12 1997-1999 The Comics Journal numbers 200 and 210 5 13 1962 Jack and Jill volume 24, number 9 5 14 2003 Morbid Curiosity number 7 5 15 2004 Riverwurst number 4 1998-1999 and undated Series 5: Newsletters 5 16 1998-1999 Busted! Numbers 3 and 4 5 17 1999 ForEvergreen 5 18 1999 Penstuff 5 19 undated Quicklist number 8 5 20 undated Small Press Creative Explosion numbers 14, 17, 19 1997 and undated Series 6: Comix Related Materials and Reference Materials 5 21 undated The Love Joys (sticker) 5 22 1997 Comic Book Index Update 1987-2009 Series 7: Zines 5 23 2001-2002 Alien Worlds numbers 21 and 22 5 24 2004 An Experience of War by Joseph M. Shea 6 1 undated Bad Year Zeppelin volumes 6-9 6 2 2001 Black Petals 6 3 undated Capitol Hill, the Neighborhood, Not the Congress 6 4 1998-1999 The Catbird Seat numbers 4 and 7 6 5 2001-2002 Classic Pulp Fiction Stories numbers 77, 78, 80 6 6 2001 Coffeeroom numbers 3 and 4 6 7 2001 Cyrano De Bergerac Was A Real Person and He Wrote Science Fiction 6 8 2007 Dark Corridor number 1 6 9 undated Dark Corridors issue 4 6 10 undated Dark Eyes 2 6 11 undated Facsimile of the Published Works of Joseph M. Shea volumes 6-9 6 12 undated Fandom Gazette 6 13 1995 Freezerburn Magazine issue 1 6 14 2001-2009 JOMP Jr. (Journal of Mind Pollution) numbers 20, 23, 26, 31, 34 6 15 2002-2003 Lunatic Chameleon numbers 1 and 2 6 16 2006 Mantra number 10 6 17 1987 The Monthly Independent Tribune Times Journal Post Gazette News Chronicle Bulletin number 55 6 18 undated N.O.T.A. Issue 3 7 1 undated Nomadic Underground issue 5 7 2 2001-2002 Out of the Blue numbers 1,2,5-8, 10 and 11 7 3 undated Out of the Blue numbers 12-16 7 4 2004 Palm's Red 7 5 1987 The Plague Doctor 7 6 2000 Ppfszt! number 24 7 7 2000-2003 Scavenger's numbers 201, 208, 210, 213, 217, 219, 221, 223, 225, 227 7 8 2005 The Shadow of Dracula number 2 7 9 1996 Story Rules issue 3 7 10 undated Sunwing number 3 7 11 undated Supplement Containing English Language Approximations of Russian Language Material Found in Volume 6 of Facsimile of the Published Works of Joseph M. Shea 7 12 1994-1996 Topical Studies numbers 11 and 13 7 13 undated Twenty-eight Pages Lovingly Bound with Twine numbers 10 and 11 7 14 2002-2004 Typical Studies numbers 2 and 4 7 15 1998 Up Dare? Autumn 1998 7 16 1999-2002 White Buffalo Gazette 8 1-3 1999-2001 White Buffalo Gazette (continued) 1982- Series 8: Oversize Materials 9 1 1997 The Comic Co-op Classifieds volume 1, number 7 9 2 1967 December 1967 Vietnam Calendar 9 3 1998 Pulp Fandom number 2 9 4 undated The Evergrateful 9 5 1998-1999 The Bear Delux numbers 11 and 12 9 6 undated Too Busy Fighting To Do PM? 9 7 1982-1987 Twisted Image