Larry Todd - 1973 EC Comics Piracy Cover Parody (#54 Nickel Library Series)

This is a special one for me. I've been wanting a Larry Todd piece from his Underground Comix heyday and this is the best I've seen. Getting any piece of his from that era is a challenge because A lot of Todd's work burned in a house fire. This one escaped that fate and has the distinction of being from the Gary Arlington Collection.

Gary Arlington opened the first comic store in San Francisco’s Mission District in 1968. It became ground zero for the Underground Comix movement. Art giants Rick Griffin, Gilbert Shelton, Robert Crumb and others would frequent the store to buy some books, sell their own, and bounce off ideas with fellow comic creators. Art Spiegelman’s first meeting with Bill Griffith happened at Arlington’s comic shop.

Arlington began publishing works of his own utilizing the talent around him. One of his projects was the Nickel Library Series. Beginning in 1973 it was a series of single page prints with three punch holes that could be collected in a ring binder. Frazetta, Wally Wood, Eisner, Jack Davis and Kirby are just a few of the artist who participated. Gary being a huge EC fan asked some of the artists to create EC Comics cover parodies.

William Gaines who was the copyright holder of EC at the time caught wind of the project and told Arlington to stop the publication or be sued. What was supposed to be 500 single sheets only reached 64.

There were eight Larry Todd pieces published in the Nickel Library Series. This one was published as sheet number 54 of the 63. I've added pics of some of his other works. I think mine is the best. What do you think?