O.K. Comics NO. 1 by Bruce Walthers (1972)

O. K. COMICS No. 1 by Bruce Walthers (1972).

Walthers came out of the Milwaukee underground comix scene. He was among the five cartoonists (with Denis Kitchen, Jim Mitchell, Don Glassford and Wendel Pugh) who regularly created weekly strips in 1970-71 for the alternate paper The Bugle-American, which were subsequently syndicated to other underground newspapers and college papers via the Krupp Syndicate. Walthers' decidly offbeat contribution to the syndicate effort was "O.K. Comics," starring Oscar Kabibbler, an eyeless rotund everyman who found himself in often inexplicable and spacey situations. Mysterious blimps with messages appeared often as well.

Many of those strips are collected in Smile Comics #1-3. Walthers' comics were generally among those whose adherents would say, "You have to be stoned to really appreciate this!" But none of Walthers' Bugle strips are recycled here. This is all-new material. The cover to O.K. Comics #1 ("They're O.K.") is unlike any other underground. Text heavy, with cross hatching across a void, there is no human or animal or tangible object other than a tiny blimp inside the "O." Published by Kitchen Sink Press.

First (and only) printing, June 1972. NM/Mint. $15