Thoroughly Ripped with the Fabulous Furry Freak Brothers

'Thoroughly Ripped with the Fabulous Furry Freak Brothers' 

by Gilbert Shelton and Dave Sheridan

Rip Off Press, 1978

By the end of 1973, as the result of increasing costs for paper, a Supreme Court decision that allowed localities to prohibit retailers from selling 'obscene' media, and a glut of sub-par, make-a-quick-buck publications, underground comix publishing collapsed. Printers went out of business, checks failed to arrive in the mail, and many artists and writers were forced to find other venues for their work. 

A lucky few were able to transition to 'mainstream' media. Among these were the the duo of Gilbert Shelton (b. 1940)  and Dave Sheridan (1943 - 1982), who had achieved success in the comix world with 'The Fabulous Furry Freak Brothers' strip.

Starting in 1976, Shelton was able to publish 'Freak Brothers' strips as a regular feature in the pages of the stoner magazine High Times; many of those strips, from December 1976 to September 1978, are compiled in this trade paperback from Rip Off Press.

I was able to find a good-condition copy of 'Thoroughly Ripped' for $10 on the used / vintage shelving of my comic book shop. Copies at amazon have starting prices of $39, with Bookjackers asking for a high of $84.  

My copy of 'Thoroughly Ripped' contains an insert of a board game titled 'It's A Raid !' 

'It's A Raid' is an impressive example of the printer's art, all the way from 1978......when there were no such things as InDesign, Photoshop, or flatbed scanners. 

[ It's not the first time that the unique genius of Gilbert Shelton was on display; in the September 1971 issue of Playboy, Shelton somehow persuaded Hugh Hefner to include a game, this one titled 'Feds n' Heads: The Game of Pot Luck'. ]

The Freak Brothers tales collected in 'Thoroughly Ripped' all may be familiar to the fans of the franchise, but seeing them again always brings a grin to my face, although I do have to admit that sometimes the color separations are not up to par (too many overly dark or muddy panels), even by the standards of graphic novel printing in 1978.

The verdict ? While the comics featured in 'Thoroughly Ripped' are available in the 620-plus page The Fabulous Furry Freak Brothers Omnibus (2008) from Knockabout Comics, at 8 1/2 x 11" the dimensions of 'Thoroughly Ripped' are a bit larger, and allow for more detail, as compared to the omnibus. Accordingly, if you're a fan of the Freak Brothers franchise, and if you happen to see 'Thoroughly Ripped' available for a reasonable price, then it's worth picking up.