Tits & Clits Comix

This article is about the underground comix series. For the music act, see Tits & Clits.

Tits & Clits Comix
The cover of Tits & Clits #1. Art by Joyce Farmer.
Publication information
Publisher	Nanny Goat Productions Last Gasp
Schedule	Irregular
Format	Ongoing series
Publication date	July 1972 - Nov. 1987
Number of issues	7
Editor(s)	Joyce Farmer, Lyn Chevely

Tits & Clits Comix was an all-female underground comics anthology put together by Joyce Farmer and Lyn Chevely, published from 1972 to 1987. In addition to Farmer and Chevely, contributors to Tits & Clits included Roberta Gregory, Lee Marrs, and Trina Robbins.

Along with such titles as It Aint Me Babe and Wimmen's Comix, Tits & Clits was part of a movement by female cartoonists to counter the male-dominated, often blatantly misogynistic, works of the underground.^[1] With the conviction that sex was political, the series was created with the focus of sexuality from a female perspective.

Publication history

Seeing what they perceived as the inherent sexism of the mostly male-underground comix scene, as well as the phoniness of mainstream pornographic magazines like Playboy and Penthouse,^[2] Farmer and Chevely published Tits & Clits (under the publisher name Nanny Goat Productions) as a sex-positive feminist comic. (In addition to Tits & Clits, the duo also produced a one-shot comic about reproductive rights, Abortion Eve, in 1973.)

Condemned by many feminists (even other cartoonists), as well as the expected antagonism from male underground cartoonists,^[2] Tits & Clits also suffered from a 1973 pornography investigation by the Orange County, California, district attorney's office.^[3] Nevertheless, Farmer and Chevely published three issues of Tits & Clits on their own from 1972–1977 (often in print runs of 10,000–20,000).^[4] The title was exclusively written and drawn by Farmer and Chevely for the first two issues, and was opened up to other contributors starting with issue #3.

San Francisco underground publisher Last Gasp picked the title up for its final four issues, which were published intermittently between 1977 and 1987. The final issue, #7, was published seven years after issue #6, and featured work by a number of younger cartoonists, part of a new generation of female alternative cartoonists. (It also featured a story by Dennis Worden, the only male cartoonist to contribute to Tits & Clits.)

Contributors

Joyce Farmer (as "Joyce Sutton")[4] — founding contributor/editor Lyn Chevely (a.k.a. Lyn Chevli) (as "Chin Lyvely")[4] — founding contributor/editor Carla Abbotts Joyce Brabner Dot Bucher Comicazie Cory Joey Epstein Karen Feinberg Miriam Flambe Mary Fleener Melinda Gebbie Paula Gray Roberta Gregory Beverly Hilliard Julie Hollings (as "Jewelz")

Michelle Jurris Krystine Kryttre Ruth Lynn Jennifer Malik Lee Marrs Carel Moiseiwitsch Chris Powers Terry Richards Trina Robbins Sharon Rudahl Shelby Sampson Dori Seda Leslie Sternbergh Luna Ticks Rocky Trout Dennis Worden

Notes

1. ^ Sabin, Roger (1996). "Going underground". Comics, Comix & Graphic Novels: A History Of Comic Art. London, United Kingdom: Phaidon Press. pp. 92; 94–95; 103–107; 110; 111; 116; 119; 124–126; 128. ISBN 0714830089.
2. ^ ^{a b} Gallagher, Paul. "Such Small Increments: Joyce Farmer's Special Exits a Moving and Unique Graphic Novel on Old Age and Death," Huffington Post (December 17, 2010).
3. ^ Vankin, Deborah. "R. Crumb: Joyce Farmer’s Special Exits on par with Maus," "Hero Complex," Los Angeles Times (Nov. 28, 2010).
4. ^ ^{a b c} Tits & Clits, ComicBookDB.com. Accessed Sept. 15, 2011.

References

• Johnson, Kjerstin. "Adventures in Feministory: Women's Comics of the '70s and '80s," Bitch (Apr. 6, 2009).
• Tits & Clits (Nanny Goat Productions) at the Grand Comics Database
• Tits & Clits (Last Gasp) at the Grand Comics Database
• Tits & Clits at the Comic Book DB