Grateful Dead Origins, Unused Cover — Noah Van Sciver Original Art

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Grateful Dead Origins, Unused Cover — Noah Van Sciver -- $2000

Go behind the veil of legend to discover the beginnings of a band that changed history in Grateful Dead Origins. This extraordinary page is a proposed cover by Noah Van Sciver, portraying Jerry Garcia, Bob Weir, Phil Lesh, Bill Kreutzmann and Pigpen in one of their earliest shows as “The Warlocks,” the band’s name before discovering their true moniker. Van Sciver’s acting is exquisite, depicting Jerry Garcia with a menacing leer leaning forward into the performance, while Phil and Bob lock eyes with each other, searching for the sound, Bill melts into the groove and Pigpen keeps watch on where Jerry’s chords are going. A beautiful border emblazoned with skulls, vines, waves and bolts rings the composition. Clouds crown the stage above the band, evoking both the consciousness-lifting smoke that was preferred by their tribe and the fog of time separating us from these events. The band plays humble amps and instruments, but their creative spirit is clearly exalted. An incredible, one-of-a-kind work of art that’s a magnificent addition to any Grateful Dead or counterculture history collection.

Size/medium/condition: 11 x 17 inches (27.94 x 43.18 cm). Ink on heavy Bristol board. Excellent condition.

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A Generation-Defining Saga Captured By Today’s Most Distinguished Historical Graphic Novelist

It’s with great honor and enthusiasm that we introduce you to the original art to Grateful Dead Origins by Noah Van Sciver.

Spanning 1964 through 1969, Van Sciver shows the story of the Grateful Dead’s beginnings, and in doing so provides a vibrant, bawdy, and visionary portrait of the sixties counterculture. In addition to bandmembers Jerry Garcia, Phil Lesh, Pigpen, Bob Weir, Bill Kreutzmann, and Mickey Hart, you’ll encounter icons like Ken Kesey, Neal Cassady, Count Basie, Janis Joplin, Bill Graham, Mountain Girl, Jimi Hendrix, The Who, Brian Jones, Peter Tork, and even Ronald Reagan, all striving to assert their vision in the tumultuous culture of the times. Van Sciver’s art also portrays the lush, psychedelic landscape of San Francisco itself at a moment in time when the city was the epicenter of massive cultural change.

I was first drawn to Noah’s remarkable art through his historical graphic novels The Hypo, a dramatization of Abraham Lincoln’s battles with depression and Eugene V. Debs, a biography of the socialist labor activist. Those books showcase his talent for humanizing the subjects of American history, making figures we may see as lofty seem deeply relatable. This led to discovering Fante Bukowski, Noah’s acidly funny series of graphic novels about a struggling writer that lampoons the tropes of 20th Century literary culture. His most recent graphic novel, Joseph Smith & The Mormons goes deeper, interrogating a uniquely American approach to defining spirituality and community. In Grateful Dead Origins, he accesses all of these themes and more, providing a humane, electrifying, and compelling portrait of the great band and their era in a way that also speaks to our own.

About Noah Van Sciver

Noah Van Sciver is a multiple award-winning cartoonist who first came to comic readers’ attention with his Eisner-nominated comic book series Blammo. His work has appeared in The New Yorker, Wired, The Believer, Best American Comics, as well as countless graphic anthologies. Van Sciver was a regular contributor to MAD Magazine and has written and drawn numerous bestselling graphic novels including One Dirty Tree, the Fante Bukowski: Struggling Writer series for Fantagraphics books and Joseph Smith And The Mormons for Abrams in 2022. In 2015 he was the Artist in Residence/fellow at the Center For Cartoon Studies in White River Junction, Vermont. His books and comics are translated into more than 6 different languages around the world.

About Grateful Dead Origins

Published in 2020 by Z2 Comics and Rhino Entertainment, Grateful Dead Origins is an officially licensed graphic novel taking an in-depth and personal look at the formation of one of the most important American rock bands of all time. The book explores the story of the band’s transformation from a bar band performing as the Warlocks to becoming the creators of their own sound and forefathers for the jam band culture.

The graphic novel was written by Chris Miskiewicz under the editorial aegis of Grateful Dead Legacy Manager David Lemieux. Miskiewicz is an actor and writer who has also penned a biographical graphic novel about Elvis’ early years as well as the supernatural thriller Thomas Alsop and the Mitski soundtracked science fiction tale This Is Where We Fall.

In his introduction to Grateful Dead Origins, Lemieux says, “The main signposts of the Dead’s early years are well-known, but the characters and vibe are largely secondary, with the overall importance of an event or experience being the gist of the Dead’s early history. Grateful Dead Origins captures the feeling. The essence of the vibe. From the stories and events that have been part of Dead lore for half a century. ... This is the first time that a completely new format has been included in the visual representation of the Grateful Dead, one that is every bit as vibrant and alive as a concert video or live concert CD. We’re thrilled with how this project has turned out. And that another visual element has been added to the Dead’s historical canon.”

Grateful Dead & Comics

It’s only natural that the Grateful Dead’s story should find its way into a graphic novel since comic books and comics artists were so integral to the band’s history.

Jerry Garcia himself was a tremendous fan of comics, most especially the EC Comics of the 1950s. By his own account, Garcia spent one of his first major paychecks buying a complete mint run of the notorious 1950s publishing house’s output in the late sixties from legendary San Francisco publisher and retailer Gary Arlington for $2,000. An admirer of Wally Wood, Graham Ingels, Jack Davis and Mad Magazine, Garcia credits EC Comics with turning him on to reading. He also remarked that EC Comics “were kind of like the Grateful Dead of the fifties. If you read the letter columns, their fans were kinda like Deadheads.”[1]

The Underground Comix movement of the late sixtes and early seventes was entwined with the band, as many of the movement’s most important creators also defined the visual sensibility of the Dead, most notably Zap Comix contributors Rick Griffin and Victor Moscoso. Garcia would go on to collaborate with Kidd Candelario in bringing Grateful Dead Comix, a series adapting the band’s tunes into comic book narratves, to Kitchen Sink Press. Garcia handpicked the artists for the series with great pride. We would imagine he’d greatly approve of the pieces you’re about to peruse!

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