When Gary Panter first gained recognition in the late 70s/ early 80s, he was immediately aligned with the hip social movement of the time, which was punk rock, and this label more or less fit his early offerings. But as his art developed and his themes became more complex, this label seemed limited in scope. While there is a certain haphazard punk aesthetic that runs through Gary's body of work, but his commentaries on the confusion of consumerism and post apocalyptic themes are much more complex than simple nihilism. In retrospect, to me Gary seems somehow hinged to post modernism with a truly experimental edge, yet leaving the pretensions behind. His narrative in "Jimbo Adventures In Paradise" moves between being humorous and linear on one page, to chaotic and tragic on the next. Gary's work won't allow us to merely pass it off under any easily prescribed definition.
Buy or Die compilation album cover
Jimbo trying to diffuse a nuclear bomb. "Jimbo Adventures In Paradise", circa 1989.
Perhaps one of the most intense sequences I've ever read in comics.
Raw Magazine #3, circa 1983
Panter rocking the cover of "The Comics Journal".
One of Panter's many interesting collaborations with cartoonist/illustrator Charles Burns
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