The underground comix of the late ’60s and the alternative comics that redefined the ’80s have much in common. And if you know where to look, there are a few “missing links” that serve to bridge the two eras. Your Major Spoilers Retro Review of Big Apple Comix awaits!

BIG APPLE COMIX

Writer:  Denny O’Neil/Stu Schwarzburg/
Archie Goodwin/Wally Wood/Linda Fite/Neal Adams/
Larry Hama/Paul Kirchner/Alan Weiss/Herb Trimpe/
Mike Ploog/Flo Steinberg
Penciler: Marie Severin/Archie Goodwin/Wally Wood/
Al Williamson/Dan Green//Linda Fite/Neal Adams/
Larry Hama/Paul Kirchner/Alan Weiss/Herb Trimpe/
Mike Ploog/Flo Steinberg
Inker: Marie Severin/Archie Goodwin/Wally Wood/
Al Williamson/Dan Green/Linda Fite/Neal Adams/
Ralph Reese/Paul Kirchner/Alan Weiss/Wally Wood/
Mike Ploog/Flo Steinberg
Letterer: Sam Rosen/Archie Goodwin/Wally Wood/
Linda Fite/Paul Kirchner/Howard Weiss/Herb Trimpe/
Mike Ploog/Ralph Reese
Editor: Flo Steinberg
Publisher: Big Apple Productions
Cover Price: $1.00
Current Near-Mint Pricing: $12.00
Release Date: September 1, 1975

Previously in Big Apple Comix: The first (and, at the time, only) employee of Marvel Comics, Flo Steinberg was hired in 1963 as Stan Lee’s “Gal Friday.” The role included answering letters from the fans, serving as Stan’s executive assistant, and keeping the freelance artists on-task and on time. After leaving Marvel in 1968, Flo eventually established her own studio, and thanks to connections throughout the world of mainstream and underground comics, self-published the sole issue of Big Apple Comix in 1975.

Anyone who knows what the city was like in the ’70s can reasonably predict what this issue’s content represents.

The first page of the first story (featuring the art of Marie Severin, the most talented artist you’ve probably never heard of) sets the tone, immediately conveying a MAD Magazine vibe with an X-rated perspective and vocabulary. When the titular character (who, in addition to having no city, has no name) curses New York City, he is immediately bum-rushed by a multi-ethnic group, and… Boy, that did NOT age well. The racism is hard to put aside, but if you do, you get a heapin’ helpin’ of good old fashioned NYC ethnocentrism, as our man is sentenced to ride the rails across the United States, mocking each state in turn until he dies and as his last wish, is interred in New York City. I mean, he ends up as a curb, but still. And then, somehow the creators manage to up the ante.

Written by (and starring the cartoon avatar of) Archie Goodwin, it’s an explanation of the difference between the sleazy and the classy peep shows of the city. It’s both quite adult and more than a little bit cringy to read. I feel like it’s meant to be a parody, but it’s also embarrassing and uncomfortable to read. We even get the legendary Wally Wood weighing in with a story that parodies one he wrote for EC Comics back in the fifties.

The story itself is gleefully pornographic, a bizarre stream-of-consciousness narrative in which Wood himself appears at the end as an alien, surveying the madness of 1975 New York City with exaggerated bleak humor. It’s likeably weird, as is the next story, which features a character who resembles Marvel Comics’ editor-in-chief Roy Thomas finding himself the chosen one of an alien world, including the requisite nearly nude female friend. In between, we get this fake advertisement.

I don’t know about you, but I find that wry humor really appealing. Another underrated creator, Linda Fite, delivers the story of a Los Angeles native trying to come to terms with NYC and an ending that I didn’t see coming. The collaboration I didn’t know I needed comes in the next story, as Neal Adams and Larry Hama weave two parallel stories of a young woman making her way in the world. The imagery is less offensive, and the material once again borders on the XXX, but it makes for an experimental narrative worth analyzing.

Our final story is another exaggerated tale of the downfalls of the city, and despite lively art from Alan Weiss, it’s the most cynical and the least successful of the issue’s offerings. If I were to pick up this issue in 2025, with its cringey setups, juvenilia, sexual fixations, and less-than-sensitive race and gender portrayals, I’d say that there’s NO way I would be telling you about it. In the context of 1975, though, Big Apple Comix is noteworthy for its place in history and for the number of recognizable big-deal-in-comics names involved, and the execution is mostly successful, earning 3.5 out of stars overall. Even if parts of the issue haven’t aged well, it’s interesting to see the perspective of 1975’s comic creators on such verboten topics.

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BIG APPLE COMIX

70%

70%

From The Freak Brothers To The Ninja Turtles

A must-have for comics and/or comix nerds, this issue features a truly shocking (in all senses of the word) array of adult tales from the era when New York City was Harry Canyon's "scum centah o' da woild." Well worth your time, assuming you can find a copy and you can take the dated race, gender, and sexual references. (I wouldn't blame you if you couldn't.)

• Writing

  7
• Art

  7
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