Rock and comic strips

[Blazer]

It's funny to see how Rock music and Comic strips have been growing up pretty much side-by-side and every so now and then they intertwine with the other.

So I figure it to be fun to show the earliest instances in which Rock and comic strips met.

First up, here's a comic book figure that not many people outside of Europe know of. Gaston Lagaffe (which translates into "George Blunder")

George is the lead character of a comic strip series that ran from 1957 to the mid nineties when the Cartoonist Andre Franquin died. George is a teenage boy who works in an office but "working" for him basically means slacking off, being on the phone with his buddies all day and just in general being an 18 year old beatnick.

In this comicstrip which I translated, cartoonist Franquin who was in his twenties when Rock N Roll happened, drew a couple of gags with George finding his voice in this new kind of music and using his boss to represent the parents and the elders that hated Rock when it first came out, this gag is from 1959.
http://i36.photobucket.com/albums/e22/guitarman91/Guust1.jpg

Here's two more gags from that very first season 1957-1958.

In those days, electric guitars were still a novelty and a lot of boys like george would have tried to converting their acoutic guitars into electrics. This gag shows that George will never be a second Les Paul.
http://i36.photobucket.com/albums/e22/guitarman91/Guust3.jpg

And what would Rock be without a driving beat? How many teenagers growing up in the fifties got themselves a drumkit in hopes of becoming a Rock N Roll drummer and pulling the birds? In George's case however his chances were thwarted as soon as he walked into the office with his brand new drumkit.
http://i36.photobucket.com/albums/e22/guitarman91/Guust4.jpg

[PWV]

Whenever I think of the intersection of comics and rock, R. Crumb always comes to mind:

[Pilgrim]

When I think rock and comics, I think Zippy the Pinhead and...I agree of course...R. Crumb and the Fabulous Furry Freak Brothers.

[slinkp]

The funny thing about Crumb is that he hates rock music in general.  He's an old-time acoustic music nut... delta blues and so forth.

[slinkp]

This is absurd, and brilliant:
http://www.dicebox.net/asides/dontlookback.htm

[PWV]

The funny thing about Crumb is that he hates rock music in general.  He's an old-time acoustic music nut... delta blues and so forth.

Yes - that movie about him was creepy and cool. 

Anybody remember the Kiss "Blood Ink" comic book?

http://www.snopes.com/music/artists/kissblood.asp

[Dave W]

No love for The Archies?   

[PWV]

No love for The Archies?   

Gotta give it up for The Archies - is it true that Chuck Rainey played bass on their stuff?

[Dave W]

Chuck Rainey did play on some of their songs.

[TBird1958]

Veronica is SO hot....................Damn!

[PWV]

...now she's a musician too I guess:

Story link here:

http://www.music4games.net/News_Display.aspx?id=150

[gweimer]

How about the ultimate virtual band? 

"Gorillaz is a virtual band created in 1998 by Damon Albarn of alternative rock band Blur, and Jamie Hewlett, co-creator of the comic book Tank Girl."

And this is a pretty famous live clip of the band.

[luve2fli]

How about this:


Dave Cooper (O-Town homeboy) with his work on Danko Jones' "King of Magazines" .... very comic-bookish with a rocking sound-track (I believe he was commissioned for this work).

Oh yeah, anyone interested in Dave's stuff, check his main site @:

http://www.davegraphics.com/

[PWV]

And Ralph Bakshi certainly had a cool comic/rock story with "American Pop" 

[Pilgrim]

Oh YEAH, Ralph Bakshi!!

And let us NOT forget....the immortal CHEECH WIZARD, by Vaughn Bode!