Joel Beck

Joel Beck (May 7, 1943, Ross, California – September 21, 1999, Point Richmond, California) was a San Francisco Bay Area artist and cartoonist. His comic book, "Lenny of Laredo", one of the earliest underground comic books of the 1960s, was the first underground comic book published on the West Coast.

Growing up in El Sobrante, California, Beck was an ill and bedridden child, who battled a combination of tuberculosis and spinal meningitis. In Richmond, California, while attending De Anza High School, he began visiting the Berkeley University and submitting cartoons to the campus newspaper, "The Pelican". Soon he dropped out of high school and never graduated. In 1961, he lived for several months in Manhattan before returning to the West Coast.

"Pelican" power

In the early 1960s, Beck moved into a converted closet in a housing unit on the Berkeley campus known as "Haste House" and continued to do cartoons for "The Pelican". During that time he published three underground comic books, "Lenny of Laredo", "Marching Marvin" and "The Profit". In 1965, humor magazine editors voted to choose the Nation's Top College Cartoonist and gave the honor to Beck. In January 1966, the "Pelican" reprinted much of his previous work and labeled him "Man of the Decade." ["Pelican"] His cartoons also appeared in the "Berkeley Barb". [ [http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/examiner/archive/1999/09/21/NEWS7970.dtl "Joel Beck, Underground comic artist," "San Francisco Chronicle", September 21, 1999.] ]

Fine art

An accomplished fine artist, Beck created many paintings in acrylics, oils and watercolors, artwork now sought after by international collectors. He died on September 21, 1999 from tuberculosis and injuries from a mugging in Point Richmond, California.

Kevin Fagan wrote Beck's obituary for the "San Francisco Chronicle"::Joel Beck, whose cutting-edge cartoons in the 1960s in the "Berkeley Barb" and elsewhere made him one of the founding oddballs of underground comics, died in his sleep of natural causes last week at home in Point Richmond. Mr. Beck, 56, had been ill off and on for years from complications related to tuberculosis and alcoholism, family members said, but he was still inking artworks for fans and advertising clients until the end. The quirky, irreverent humor that spilled from his personality into his pen made him a beloved figure in the tiny Contra Costa County community he had called home for the past two decades. When word of his September 14 death got out, people from all over the area began to show up at Point Richmond's Santa Fe Market, where Mr. Beck often hung out, to drop off mementos. Yesterday, the market's front window was plastered with more than 50 cartoons, letters and articles paying tribute to the artist whose 1960s fame continued to make him a legend long after his career waned. "People just keep bringing this cool stuff in. They loved Joel," said market owner Bob Peckham, a longtime friend. "He was different. He had a great wit." [ [http://www.sfisonline.com/c/a/1999/09/22/MN44515.DTL Fagan, Kevin. "Joel Beck," "San Francisco Chronicle", September 22, 1999.] ]

References

External links

* [http://www.joelbeck.com Joel Beck official site]