San Francisco is the city most often associated with the underground comics movement of the 1960s and 1970s, the place where underground artists found it easiest to fly their pen-and-ink freak flag. (The “x” in “comix” was an act of rebellion that set the underground crew apart from, say, superhero movie makers.) brothers, has its roots in the city by the bay, as much as its source material. But Texas, and Austin in particular, also played a key role in the birth of this still influential scene.
Real heads know that the three weirdo brothers, Phineas, Fat Freddy, and Freewheelin’ Franklin, were born in Austin in 1967. Shelton wrote cartoons for an underground weekly called The Rag, and hung out with famous or future famous authors. Like Billy Lee Brammer, Bud Shrake, Jan Reid and Gary Cartwright. He also worked on the University of Texas at Austin’s student humor magazine, The Texas Ranger, with editors Bill Helmer (a future Texas Monthly Scribe), Lynn Ashby, and Hugh Lowe.
Born in Dallas in 1940, Shelton studied social sciences and art at ut-austin, where he joined a group of like-minded comics artists. His friends included other cartoonists Jack “Jaxon” Jackson; Tony Bell, with whom Shelton created the parody of the superhero Wonder Wart-Hog; and frank stack (also known as dumb sturgeon). This group hung out at the student union cafeteria and at Austin’s venerable Scholz Garden restaurant. They wrote and drew. They were Texas fans, a more exotic breed than the ubiquitous San Francisco fans, and they were a vital part of the early underground comics scene. in fact, it’s impossible to imagine that scene without them.
You are reading: Fabulous furry freak brothers comic books
“We were texas hippies, a proud but pitiful bunch,” shelton emails from her home in paris, france. “The characters we create are more or less autobiographical, as fiction usually is.”
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shelton actually conceived the monster brothers to help promote a movie. In 1967, he was the art director of a famous Congress Avenue music venue, the Vulcan Gas Company. The Vulcan also showed movies, including a five-minute short called Texas Hippies March on the Capitol. Shelton’s promotional poster, featuring the Freak Brothers, proved more popular than the movie he was promoting, and the brothers soon had their own comic strip (Wonder Boar had been on the scene since 1962).
Before long, Shelton answered the siren song of San Francisco, where, in 1969, he founded Rip Off Press with three other expatriate cartoonists from Texas: Jackson, Fred Todd, and Dave Moriarty. This is where Shelton and his weird brothers came true.
Shelton, now 81, moved to Barcelona with his wife, literary agent Lora Fuente, in the early 1980s; They also lived in London. and then went to paris, where they have lived since 1984. they originally planned a short publicity tour in paris, but liked it so much they stayed (just like another giant of the underground comics, robert crumb, moved to france with his family in 1991 ).
“comics are viewed with much more respect in europe than in the united states,” shelton said. You can buy Freak Brothers comics and more recent works by Shelton from UK publisher Knockabout Comix, which also publishes the likes of Alan Moore (Watchmen; V for Vendetta). There’s been talk of a monster brother movie over the years, but nothing ever got off the ground. and now . . . the TV show.
Now streaming on Tubi, the new The Freak Brothers, whose lead characters remain fabulous and furry, are a mixed bag. The show has some top-level voice talent, including Midland’s own Woody Harrelson as Freewheelin’ Franklin, Pete Davidson as Phineas, John Goodman as Fat Freddy, and Tiffany Haddish as Fat Freddy’s cat. The premise has promise: back in 1969, the Brothers went to Woodstock, where they procured some killer THC juice from a swami, lit up in their San Francisco basement, and promptly fell asleep for fifty years (good stuff, man).
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all of this creates a kind of future shock, except that the future is our present. When the high finally wears off, our characters are in for a rude awakening: San Francisco is now a playground for rich people who value artists and bohemians like them. The brothers have never seen a cell phone, much less used it. however, the idea of marijuana dispensaries seems too good to be true, if the regulations weren’t so strict.
there is potential in this rip van winkle act. But much of it is wasted on aggressively scatological humor, including an entire episode devoted to a pot plant growing out of Fat Freddy’s anus. As you might guess, that gets old fast. it’s almost as if the team of monster brothers are afraid to be as smart as their source material, or can’t find a better way to be dumb than poop jokes. there’s something lazy about the show, a feeling that all you have to do is take the guys out, tell some weed jokes, and have a few laughs.
what does shelton think of the show? that’s an excellent question. He hasn’t seen it, though he says the choice isn’t personal: “I don’t watch Teevee cartoons myself,” she writes. there’s something refreshing about this in the old “kill your television” sense. do we really want our old rebels camping out in front of the dumb box? do we expect the architects of the counterculture to study what the latest streaming service has done with their work? no, that’s for us, consumers and experts.
still, the freak brothers have come a long way since the days of the texas hippie march on capitol. another generation, one that binge-watches TV, can now enjoy a (bastard) blast from the past, and maybe even be inspired to read the original comix. Collections, and even some of the originals, are just a click away from Amazon. Just remember: Monster Brothers may have found their way to San Francisco, as many monsters did, but they were born right here in Texas.
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