Grateful Dead Comix No. 1

GRATEFUL DEAD COMIX No. 1 (1991)

Jerry Garcia was a big comic book fan. When he made his "first real money" the very first thing he bought was a complete set of E.C. Comics. By 1991 he was ready for his band to have its own comic book series. So George Lucas' licensing arm (representing the band at that point for ancillary merchandise) contacted longtime underground comics publisher Kitchen Sink Press to create this unusual hippie merger of music and comics. Issue No. 1 is kicked off by a great Dean Armstrong cover along with visual interpretations of four classic Dead songs: "Dire Wolf" by Tim (Scout) Truman; "Terrapin Station" (Dan Steffan); "One More Saturday Night" (Fred Carlson) and "Casey Jones" (Nina Paley), with a pin-up by Jean Giraud also known by his trippy pen name Moebius.

The agreement was supposed to allow Kiktchen Sink to distribute the comic book at venues where the band played to sold-out crowds. But a legal dispute between the Grateful Dead and the company controlling sales at venues threw a wrench in KSP's plans to have deadhead vendors. Despite the distribution restrictions this debut issue sold a respectable 50,000 copies. Printed on recycled paper with soy inks on a pollution-free web press. 8.5" x 11" format. Color throughout. Near mint. $15.00