Button 002-A: United Cartoon Workers America: Local 2, Milwaukee

2-A. United Cartoon Workers of America: Local 2, Milwaukee (1973).

Designed by Peter Poplaski and Denis Kitchen. The formation of an actual labor union of underground cartoonists was in the air in the early '70s. West coast cartoonists like Spain Rodriguez and Robert Crumb attended meetings of the venerable but tiny International Workers of the World (I.W.W.) in San Francisco. Some artists thought a union would help them get better deals with publishers. The affiliation with the old left "Wobblies" never went anywhere but the idea of artist solidarity had wide appeal. Kitchen was the publisher and owner of Krupp/Kitchen Sink, but he was also a cartoonist and at that time a card-carrying socialist. The latter considerations outweighed the first, so he created buttons as the first visible symbol of solidarity.

Some artists (like Crumb) put U.C.W.A. symbols on their comix covers. There were only two significant clusters of underground cartoonists at this time. San Francisco, where undergrounds originated and flourished, was designated Local No. 1 (see button #7-A) and Milwaukee, then home to Krupp/Kitchen Sink and half a dozen or so underground cartoonists, became Local No. 2. The number "2" for the button series appears in white just above "America."

Diameter 2.25 inches. Other U.C.W.A. locals were added later (see buttons #67, 136, 137, 138, 139, 140, 141 and 157). $7.50

One note, for serious button collectors, you may want to read the KSP BUTTON TEXT which explains the numbering systems for identifying the various buttons produced over the last 30 years, or see the COMPLETE KSP BUTTON LIST. The list is VERY long, so be patient while it loads.