Gweek 080: Interview with Anarchy Comics publisher Jay Kinney

In this episode of Gweek I interviewed one of my publishing heroes, Jay Kinney. Jay was a founding member of the underground comics movement in the late 1960s beginning with Bijou Funnies in 1968. In 1970 he launched Young Lust comics, a great parody of the true love comics of 40 through 60s. He was also art director of the rock fanzine, Who Put the Bomp, which launched the careers of music journalists Lester Bangs and Griel Marcus.

He was editor of Co-Evolution Quarterly, the magazine that grew out of the Whole Earth Catalog. When Co-Evolution Quarterly evolved into Whole Earth Review, Jay wrote an article for it in 1987 called, "If Software Companies Ran the Country," in which he likened digital media to the replicating Shmoos in L'il Abner, and the article remains as fresh and powerful today as it did 25 years ago.

Jay was the founder and publisher of the late, great Gnosis Magazine, and more recently the author of several books on Western esoteric and occult traditions, including The Masonic Myth, "a journey of discovery into the real facts (and mysteries) of Masonry's history and symbols."

We also discussed the newly-published anthology of Anarchy Comics, yet another terrific creation by Jay. Though it ran only four issue from 1978 to 1987, the series remains one of my favorites, and I treasure my original copies.