God's Bosom and Other Stories: The Historical Strips of Jack Jackson - Softcover

This commendable collection covers the work of underground-comics artist Jackson from the 1970s to the 1990s. Jackson was one of the original 1960s San Francisco underground cartoonists, and he commemorates that bunch and the beginnings of Rip Off Press, their legendary countercultural publishing entity (i.e., broken-down presses, wild parties and drugs), in the very funny story "Rip Off Press: The Golden Era." But Jackson, a native Texan, is at his best in his fictional and factual re-creations of 17th-century Texas, the wars to settle the territory and the resulting brutality of whites and Indians. And while some stories juxtapose straight historical narrative and contemporary wisecracking dialogue, Jackson's works invariably bring the historical record vividly to life. "God's Bosom" is the horrific account of one of two survivors of 300 Spaniards shipwrecked in Texas in 1560 and massacred by Karankawa Indians. In the fictional "The Good Life," an 18th-century Christianized Indian?only too happy to assimilate?must return to the forests after wreaking gruesome vengeance on his adulterous wife and her lover. Jackson's black-and-white drawings are assured and strikingly expressive, rendering the details of period life with humor and great drama.
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Much of the work of 1960s underground comics veteran Jackson, who signs his strips "Jaxon," has depicted the early history of his beloved home state, Texas. The lurid title story here tells of the gorydeaths of 300 Spanish shipwreck victims at the hands of savage, cannibalistic Indians. Other historical tales depict conflicts between natives and missionaries, the invention of the Colt revolver, and the development of the Camino Real--the King's Highway that traverses the state. Rounding out the volume are an encounter with two characters from Jackson's underground days, Oat Willie and God Nose; an on-the-scene history of the underground comics publisher, Rip Off Press; and brief anti-Yankee strips and other chauvinistic propaganda that originally appeared in Austin area publications. This rather motley assortment lacks the cohesion of Jackson's earlier Spaniards and Indians tale, Secret of San Saba (1989), and Jackson's scratchy but straightforward graphic style lacks the sophistication of the best of today's alternative comix artists. But what Jackson lacks in finesse, he makes up for in gusto. Gordon Flagg