Jaxon (cartoonist) explained

Jack Jackson
Birth Date:May 15, 1941
Birth Place:Pandora, Texas, US
Death Place:Stockdale, Texas, US
Area:Cartoonist, illustrator, historian, writer
Cartoonist:y
Artist:y
Colorist:y
Notable Works:God Nose
Rip Off Press
historical comics
Alias:Jaxon

Jack Edward Jackson (May 15, 1941 – June 8, 2006), better known by his pen name Jaxon, was an American cartoonist, illustrator, historian, and writer. He co-founded Rip Off Press, and some consider him to be the first underground comix artist, due to his most well-known comic strip God Nose.[1]

Early life

Jackson was born in 1941 in Pandora, Texas. He majored in accounting at the University of Texas and was a staffer for its Texas Ranger humor magazine, until he and others were fired over what he called "a petty censorship violation".[2] [3]

Career

In 1964, Jackson self-published the one-shot God Nose, which is considered by some to be the first underground comic[1] in the modern sense, discounting “Tijuana bibles”. He moved to San Francisco in 1966, where he became art director of the dance-poster division of the Family Dog psychedelic rock music-promotion collective. In 1969, he co-founded Rip Off Press, one of the first independent publishers of underground comix, with three other Texas transplants, Gilbert Shelton, Fred Todd, and Dave Moriaty. Despite this, most of his underground comics work (heavily influenced by EC Comics) was published by Last Gasp, including frequent contributions to the Last Gasp anthology Slow Death. (Jaxon left his affiliation with Last Gasp in c. 1991.)[4]

In addition to Slow Death, Jackson contributed to a selection of other underground comix, including Barbarian Comics (California Comics) and Radical America Komiks (Radical America Magazine). In the 1980s Jaxon contributed historical comics to Fantagraphics' Graphics Story Monthly and a number of Kitchen Sink Press titles, including BLAB! and the 11-part, 126-page "Bulto… The Cosmic Slug," about a space creature's effect on the people of the ancient Southwest, which was serialized in Death Rattle. Jackson did freelance work for Marvel Comics as a colorist from 1988 to 1991.

Jackson was also known for his historical work, documenting the history of Native America and Texas, including the graphic novels Comanche Moon (1979), Recuerden El Alamo (1979), Los Tejanos (1982), The Secret of San Saba (1989), Lost Cause (1998), Indian Lover: Sam Houston & the Cherokees (1999), El Alamo (2002), and the written works like Los Mesteños: Spanish Ranching in Texas: 17211821 (1986), Indian Agent: Peter Ellis Bean in Mexican Texas (2005), and many others.

The Texas State Historical Association commissioned him to produce a new version of the 1920s racist comic strip Texas History Movies; Jackson's New Texas History Movies was his last work before his death, and was published in 2007 .[5] [6]

Personal life

Jackson died in Stockdale, Texas on June 8, 2006, in an apparent suicide after being diagnosed with prostate cancer.[7] [8] [9]

Legacy and honors

Bibliography

Comics-format

Prose

Further reading

External links

Notes and References

  1. Booke, Keith M. 2010, Encyclopedia of Comic Books and Graphic Novels, ABC-CLIO, LLC, Santa Barbara, CA
  2. Fox, M. Steven. "Texas Ranger," ComixJoint. Accessed Dec. 18, 2016.
  3. Moriaty, J. David. "Back From the Dead," The Texas Sun (Apr. 8, 1977). Archived at The Newspaper Archives of the Texas Sun. Accessed Dec. 18, 2016.
  4. http://www.bailsprojects.com/bio.aspx?Name=JACKSON%2c+JACK Jackson entry
  5. Web site: Texas History Movies . Handbook of Texas . Texas State Historical Association . 3 January 2022.
  6. Web site: Texas History Movies . www.toonopedia.com . Don Markstein's Toonopedia . 3 January 2022.
  7. M. B. Taboada, "Austin cartoonist dies: 'Jaxon' known as first underground cartoonist" , Austin American-Statesman (June 10, 2006).
  8. Robert Faires, "Texas in Bold, Dark Strokes", Austin Chronicle (June 16, 2006).
  9. Arts: General Jackson . . August 11, 2006 . Margaret . Moser . 25 . 50 . 2010-10-05 .
  10. Web site: The 2011 Eisner Awards: Nominees Announced - Nominations Span Full Range of Works. www.comic-con.org . https://web.archive.org/web/20110513193750/http://www.comic-con.org/cci/cci_eisners_11nom.php . May 13, 2011.

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