Richard “Grass” Green

Richard “Grass” Green (May 7 1939 – August 5, 2002) was a cartoonist most notable being the first Black participant in both the 1960’s fan art movement and the 1970’s underground comix movement.

His most popular creations included Xal-Kor the Human Cat character, which first appeared in 1964 and was often voted the most popular fan creation in the fanzine Star-Studded Comics. The character returned several times over the years, most recently in May 2002 in a collection from Two Morrows Publishing. Green was working on a new series of Xal-Kor adventures when he died in August 2002.

In the late 1960’s, Green drew several more humorous strips for Charlton Comics, mostly in Go-Go Comics. In 1967, Green broke into the professional comics world, collaborating with Roy Thomas on “The Shape” in Charlton Premiere #1. His other comix book characters included Wildman and Rubberroy which appeared in the 15th issue of Star-Studded. In the 1960’s, Green’s Harvey Kutzman-like zany, action-packed, humorous comics parodies appeared in numerous fanzines. His “outrageous” 1970’s and 1980’s underground work used searing humor to expose America’s racism and bigotry.

Hailing from South Bend, Indiana, Green was given the nickname “Grass” by his childhood friend Ronn Foss (with whom he later collaborated in Alter-Ego). Beginning in 1964, Green’s fan art quickly became sought out, and his work appeared in other zines like Alter Ego, Fantasy Illustrated, The Buyer’s Guide to Comics Fandom, Rocket’s Blast Comicollector, Komix Illustrated, Super-Hero and Masquerader. When Green became involved in the underground comix movement, his work was published in Super Soul Comix. During the 1980‘s, Greens’ characters Plastic Man and Rok were published in Holiday Out by Renegade Press. In the 1990s, Green produced work for among other places Eros Comics.

The Super Soul Comix #1 is a part of The Museum Of UnCut Funk Collection.

Source: Wikipedia