Gweek 080: Interview with Anarchy Comics publisher Jay Kinney

In this episode of Gweek I interviewed one of my publishing heroes, Jay Kinney. Jay was a founding member of the underground comics movement in the late 1960s beginning with Bijou Funnies in 1968. In 1970 he launched Young Lust comics, a great parody of the true love comics of 40 through 60s. He was also art director of the rock fanzine, Who Put the Bomp, which launched the careers of music journalists Lester Bangs and Griel Marcus.

He was editor of Co-Evolution Quarterly, the magazine that grew out of the Whole Earth Catalog. When Co-Evolution Quarterly evolved into Whole Earth Review, Jay wrote an article for it in 1987 called, "If Software Companies Ran the Country," in which he likened digital media to the replicating Shmoos in L'il Abner, and the article remains as fresh and powerful today as it did 25 years ago.

Jay was the founder and publisher of the late, great Gnosis Magazine, and more recently the author of several books on Western esoteric and occult traditions, including The Masonic Myth, "a journey of discovery into the real facts (and mysteries) of Masonry's history and symbols."

We also discussed the newly-published anthology of Anarchy Comics, yet another terrific creation by Jay. Though it ran only four issue from 1978 to 1987, the series remains one of my favorites, and I treasure my original copies.

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Mark Frauenfelder is the founder of Boing Boing and the editor-in-chief of MAKE and Cool Tools. Twitter: @frauenfelder. Come and hear Mark speak at the ALA conference in Chicago on July 1.

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Is there a “Young Lust” anthology?
pjcamp

You sure that’s not another Man’s Life cover?
- Preston Sturges
  
  Oog contemplates the tough dogleg on the back nine.
- L_Mariachi
  
  I thought it was Richard Corben but sources say Paul Mavrides.
ChrisO

Even though it sounded like Skype, the quality was good this time, Mark! The podcast did seem to end a bit abruptly, though, I thought.
- Jay Kinney
  
  Skype it was. If the end seemed a bit abrupt, that’s because my cat (who you can hear meowing near the end) leapt across my computer keyboard and somehow rattled my iSight webcam and Mark lost my sound. I’m hostage to my pets.