Last Gasp

Last Gasp is an independent American publishing house based in San Francisco, California. It emerged from the underground comix and counterculture movements of the early 1970s and became one of the longest-running publishers connected with that scene. The company was founded in 1970 by Ronald E. Turner, then a graduate student at San Francisco State University, with assistance from comics retailer and publisher Gary Arlington. Its first major project was Slow Death Funnies, an environmentally focused comic produced in connection with the first Earth Day. The title established a publishing identity centered on political dissent, ecological concerns, sexual politics, social criticism, and outsider art. The company initially operated under the name Last Gasp Eco Funnies and soon expanded its list with It Ain't Me, Babe, an all-female comics anthology associated with artist Trina Robbins. These early publications placed Last Gasp within the developing underground comix network and helped it build a business beyond individual titles. During the 1970s, Last Gasp became a publisher, distributor, and wholesaler, supplying comics from numerous small and independent publishers. Its distribution activities eventually made it an important infrastructure provider for alternative comics, particularly because mainstream distribution channels were often inaccessible to politically radical, sexually explicit, or formally experimental material. Last Gasp's publishing list included influential original and acquired series. Among the best-known were Justin Green's autobiographical Binky Brown Meets the Holy Virgin Mary, Guy Colwell's Inner City Romance, feminist and sexuality-focused titles such as Wimmen's Comix and Tits & Clits Comix, the political anthology Anarchy Comics, and the alternative comics anthology Weirdo. It also assumed publishing responsibilities for established series after other companies ceased operating, including Zap Comix and Young Lust. The company published major underground and alternative cartoonists such as Robert Crumb, Spain Rodriguez, S. Clay Wilson, Gilbert Shelton, Robert Williams, Justin Green, and Bill Griffith, alongside artists associated with lowbrow and contemporary art. Last Gasp also documented adjacent cultural movements. In the early 1980s it issued books on West Coast punk and new-wave culture, including Peter Belsito's accounts of San Francisco's punk poster scene and California hardcore. Its broader list came to include art books, photography, fiction, poetry, cultural criticism, graphic novels, coloring books, and illustrated works. Between 2004 and 2010, the publisher also released English-language editions and compilations of selected Japanese manga, including Barefoot Gen, Pure Trance, and Town of Evening Calm, Country of Cherry Blossoms. The company moved from Berkeley to San Francisco around 1975. Under Turner's ownership and management, it remained closely associated with independent artists and the city's countercultural publishing ecosystem. Last Gasp also hosted the long-running Burritos, Beer & Cheer holiday event, which combined a company celebration with fundraising for the Martin de Porres House of Hospitality soup kitchen. In December 2016, Last Gasp announced that it would end its comics-distribution operation and concentrate on book publishing. The decision followed decades in which the company distributed material from more than 100 small comics publishers. The planned change involved substantial staff reductions and marked a major shift in the company's operating model. Last Gasp continued as a publisher, focusing on approximately 10 to 15 new books a year rather than returning to its former role as a broad comics distributor. Its enduring position is that of a specialist independent press serving underground comics, contemporary and lowbrow art, counterculture history, and visually distinctive books.

Last Gasp began in 1970 in Berkeley, California, as Last Gasp Eco Funnies. Ronald E. Turner, a San Francisco State University graduate student, founded the company with help from Gary Arlington. The first publication, Slow Death Funnies, linked environmental activism with underground comics and was produced in the context of the first Earth Day. Rather than treating comics solely as entertainment, the project used the medium for ecological education, political argument, and social critique. The early success of Slow Death Funnies enabled the new company to publish additional work. It Ain't Me, Babe, an all-female anthology spearheaded by Trina Robbins, established Last Gasp's interest in feminist and alternative voices. The company was incorporated on September 11, 1971, and its list soon expanded to include both original projects and publications transferred from other publishers. In the early 1970s it issued Air Pirates-related titles and other underground comics. The resulting legal controversy with Disney made Last Gasp part of a broader dispute over parody, copyright, and the boundaries of underground expression. Turner maintained that his role with the Air Pirates group was advisory, although the company was credited as publisher on related material. During the 1970s, Last Gasp developed beyond publishing into distribution and wholesaling. This helped it become one of the central commercial supports for underground comix, a field whose creators often lacked access to conventional bookstores, newsstands, and distributor networks. The company published works dealing with urban poverty, anarchist and left-wing politics, sexuality, feminism, and countercultural life. Guy Colwell's Inner City Romance, the anarchist-themed Armageddon, Anarchy Comics, Wimmen's Comix, and Tits & Clits Comix illustrate the range of themes represented in the catalog. Last Gasp also became a home for important series that had originated elsewhere. From the early 1970s onward, it published Young Lust and Rand Holmes's Harold Hedd, later took over Tits & Clits Comix for much of its run, issued the final issues of San Francisco Comic Book, and published the latter portion of Zap Comix. It published Weirdo from 1981 through 1993 and Cherry Poptart during the 1980s and early 1990s. Its catalog included influential artists such as Robert Crumb, Justin Green, Spain Rodriguez, S. Clay Wilson, Bill Griffith, Robert Williams, Richard Corben, and many others. The company moved its headquarters from Berkeley to San Francisco around 1975. Its activities expanded into documentation of punk, poster art, and other forms of popular and outsider culture. Books by Peter Belsito and collaborators recorded the San Francisco punk poster scene, California hardcore, and the wider pop underground. Last Gasp's publishing identity consequently broadened from underground comics to an eclectic list of art books, photography, fiction, poetry, graphic novels, and cultural histories. From 2004 to 2010, Last Gasp issued English-language editions or compilations of selected manga, including Keiji Nakazawa's Barefoot Gen, Junko Mizuno's Pure Trance, and Fumiyo Kouno's Town of Evening Calm, Country of Cherry Blossoms. These projects extended the company's interest in independent and visually distinctive comics beyond the American underground tradition. Ron Turner also made the company a participant in San Francisco's civic and community networks. Beginning in 1975, he hosted the Burritos, Beer & Cheer holiday gathering at the company's offices. The event continued for more than three decades and raised funds for the Martin de Porres House of Hospitality, a free soup kitchen. In late 2016, Last Gasp announced a decisive operational change: it would close its comics-distribution business and focus solely on publishing books. The distribution operation had served over 100 small comics publishers, making the decision significant for the independent comics ecosystem. The company expected to lay off most of its approximately dozen employees by February 2017. Last Gasp's continuing publishing program centers on art, photography, graphic novels, fiction, poetry, and related books, with the company reported as producing roughly 10 to 15 new titles annually.

• 2016

  Distribution business is discontinued

  [1]Last Gasp (publisher)en.wikipedia.org

  Last Gasp announces that it will end comics distribution and concentrate on book publishing, with major staffing consequences.

• 2004

  Expansion into English-language manga

  [1]Last Gasp (publisher)en.wikipedia.org

  Last Gasp begins issuing English-language manga projects, including work by Keiji Nakazawa, Junko Mizuno, and Fumiyo Kouno.

• 1981

  Last Gasp begins publishing Weirdo

  [1]Last Gasp (publisher)en.wikipedia.org

  The publisher takes on Weirdo, an influential alternative comics anthology, for a run lasting until 1993.

• 1975

  Headquarters move to San Francisco

  [1]Last Gasp (publisher)en.wikipedia.org

  The company relocates from Berkeley to San Francisco around 1975 and begins hosting its long-running Burritos, Beer & Cheer fundraiser.

• 1972

  Publication of Binky Brown

  [1]Last Gasp (publisher)en.wikipedia.org

  Last Gasp publishes Justin Green's autobiographical comic Binky Brown Meets the Holy Virgin Mary.

• 1971

  The company is incorporated

  [1]Last Gasp (publisher)en.wikipedia.org

  Last Gasp is incorporated on September 11, 1971, as its publishing and distribution activities expand.

• 1970

  Last Gasp is founded in Berkeley

  [1]Last Gasp (publisher)en.wikipedia.org

  Ronald E. Turner establishes Last Gasp Eco Funnies with assistance from Gary Arlington and publishes the environmental comic Slow Death Funnies.

An independent specialist publisher for underground comix, counterculture, lowbrow and contemporary art, photography, punk history, and other visually or politically unconventional books.

• Environmental underground comics · 1970

  Slow Death Funnies

  Last Gasp's first major publication was an ecological comic created in the context of the first Earth Day. It helped define the company's early commitment to political education, environmental activism, and underground publishing rather than conventional genre entertainment.

• Feminist underground comics anthology · 1970

  It Ain't Me, Babe

  An all-female anthology associated with Trina Robbins, It Ain't Me, Babe broadened the underground-comics conversation around women's authorship and feminist politics. Its publication helped establish Last Gasp as a venue for alternative and underrepresented creative voices.

• Feminist comics anthology

  Wimmen's Comix

  Wimmen's Comix was a major feminist and alternative comics title published by Last Gasp for much of its run. The anthology provided a recurring platform for women cartoonists and addressed personal, political, sexual, and social subjects outside mainstream comics conventions.

• Autobiographical graphic narrative · 1972

  Binky Brown Meets the Holy Virgin Mary

  Justin Green's autobiographical work is regarded as an important early example of confessional and psychologically oriented comics. Last Gasp published it in 1972, reinforcing the publisher's role in developing serious, personal, and formally unconventional graphic storytelling.

• Alternative comics anthology · 1981

  Weirdo

  Weirdo was an influential alternative comics anthology published by Last Gasp from 1981 to 1993. The title brought together underground cartoonists and artists working in deliberately eccentric, transgressive, and anti-mainstream styles.

• Underground comics series · 1982

  Zap Comix

  Last Gasp published the latter portion of Zap Comix's run from 1982 to 2005. The series was one of the defining publications of American underground comix, and its association with Last Gasp extended the company's role in preserving and distributing foundational countercultural comics.

• Manga translation · 2004

  Barefoot Gen

  Last Gasp published an English-language edition or compilation of Keiji Nakazawa's Barefoot Gen between 2004 and 2010. The project extended the publisher's catalog into internationally significant manga and antiwar literature.

• Art, photography, and cultural publishing

  Art and counterculture books

  The continuing list includes art and photography books, punk histories, fiction, poetry, graphic novels, and illustrated works. Examples include books on San Francisco punk posters, California hardcore, lowbrow art, feminist culture, and the pop underground.

• 1971

  Air Pirates and Disney copyright litigation

  Last Gasp was credited in connection with Air Pirates publications that parodied Disney characters. Disney included Ron Turner in its lawsuit against the collective; Turner settled quickly, while several of the cartoonists continued contesting the case for years. The episode became an early example of the legal friction between underground parody and established intellectual-property rights.

  Source

Read more

• 1975Burritos, Beer & Cheer

  San Francisco

  Last Gasp's annual holiday gathering combined community celebration with fundraising for the Martin de Porres House of Hospitality, a free soup kitchen in San Francisco.

  Outcome. The event continued for more than 30 years and became a recurring part of the publisher's community identity.

  Source

• 2016

  End comics distribution and focus on publishingStrategy

  Background

  Last Gasp had operated for decades as a publisher, wholesaler, and distributor, serving more than 100 small comics publishers. The independent distribution environment had become difficult to sustain.

  Action taken

  The company announced that it would close its comics-distribution business and concentrate on book publishing.

  Aftermath

  The planned restructuring included layoffs affecting most of the company's approximately dozen employees by February 2017. Last Gasp continued with a smaller publishing-focused program.

  Source

1. 1Last Gasp (publisher)en.wikipedia.org
2. 2Last Gasp official websitelastgasp.com