Barbara “Willy” Mendes, Gothic Blimp Works in the East Village Other, 1969

Well, you will not see this type of comic - or any picture - published in a newspaper anymore, but this came out in 1969. For a brief period the underground newspaper the East Village Other published the Gothic Blimp Works as a comix supplement. Many well-known artists first were publicly printed in a wide spread manner in the EVO - Vaughn Bode, Bernie Wrightson, Kim Deitch, Art Spiegelman, Spain Rodriguez and Clay Wilson, among many others. R. Crumb provided the cover for GBW issue 2.

One of the original underground comic artists from the 1960s New York scene and the seminal "It Ain't Me Babe," Willy Mendes still makes work. I am incredibly happy to add this early work to my underground collection.

"She started her career in underground comix when she joined Trina Robbins and Nancy Kalish on Gothic Blimp Works, a comic tabloid published by underground newspaper the East Village Other. Inspired, Robbins and Mendes worked together on the all-women comic book It Ain't Me Babe, in 1970."