Comix Comic Books Reading Large People Things Society

Most U.S. comic books are "published" (printed and distributed) by large publishing companies. However, beginning in the 1960s, people began to make "underground comics," or "comix," which focused on the "counterculture" (things that are not generally accepted by society as a whole, but are very popular among many young people). Most comix came from artists in San Francisco, but some were made in New York, Illinois, and Texas.

Many comix are about "topics" (main ideas) related to drugs and sex, or that are against the government. In many ways, underground comics are similar to underground movies that were produced in response to Hollywood movies. They have an "anti-establishment" (against the way that society normally does things) attitude and try to cover topics that aren't usually seen in more traditional works of art.

Normally comic books are produced by many people, including the writer, editor, drawer, "inker" (the person who colors the drawings), and "letterer" (the person who writes the words). However, comix are often made by just one person. This means that it can take a very long time for comix to be finished, so they are often shorter and/or serialized.

Many of the comix were printed only once and with a small "print run" (the number of copies printed at one time). Some of these have become "valuable" (worth a lot of money) "collector's items" (things that people want to buy and keep, because they want to have many similar objects, like stamps or dolls). Other comix became very popular and were published in large print runs, so they are still easy to find today.