George Metzger

George Metzger was an underground comics (comix) artist in the mid '60s and early '70s in California. George, born in 1939, came from Santa Cruz, CA to San Jose.

He lived in San Jose, CA for many years, very near the San Jose State campus. In the mid to late 60's he also worked at Hambley Studios in Santa Clara near by. There he was a production serigraph printer for fine art print production of such notable artists as Sister Mary Corita, the artist Nun.

He was very much an eccentric 'character' who dressed and looked like the old western themed characters he drew. Obsessively drawing every night on the continuing saga of his comic strip, George could be found at his drawing board while friends gathered and talked around him. In the early days of the original Star Trek, George and several friends would gather every Wednesday evening to watch. Always a guest at the hippest parties in the Bay Area, George would carry a flask of brandy in his back pocket for all to share.

He was friendly with all the UNDERGROUND Comix artists of the day, many bluegrass and country musicians around the Bay Area, as well as the Grateful Dead. His most famous creation was "Moondog", a sci-fi fantasy series which ran from 1969 until 1973 published by Print Mint, notable for its sophisticated art and elaborate imaginative framework. If you check out the cover of his comic "Truckin'" published in 1972 by the Print Mint, George's self portrait is in the truck's mirror. In 1978, Kitchen Sink Press published Metzger's "Mu, the Land that Never Was." He later became an animator.