'Max Zillion'.
Hunt Emerson attended an art school in his native town Newcastle-upon-Tyne from the age of 16. He eventually went to Birmingham to get a University degree. He broke off his studies during its first year, and became active in the underground comix scene. Starting in 1971, he published his first Crumb-inspired comics in Street Press, an alternative Birmingham publication.
Emerson soon launched his own title, Street Comix, published under his own Ar-Zak Press label. In the following years, he cooperated with among others Brian Hills and Paul Fisher on comix like Large Cow Comix, Outer Space Comix, The Adventures of Mr. Spoonbiscuit, Pholk Comix, Zomix Comix and Dogman. Around this time, his work also popped up on the foreign markets.
'Jan The Unrepentant'.
In 1976, Emerson commenced working on 'Thunderdogs', a anti-militaristic comic, which was eventually published by Gilbert Shelton's Rip-Off Press in 1981. During the 1980s and 1990s, he published many books with Knockabout Comics in London, including 'The Big Book of Everything' (1983), 'Jazz Funnies' (1986), a personal adaptation of 'Lady Chatterley's Lover' (1986), 'Hard to Swallow' (script by John Dowie, 1988), 'Startling Planet' (1989), 'The Rime of the Ancient Mariner', 'Rapid Reflexes' (1990), 'Casanova's Last Stand' (1993), 'Pusspuss' (1994), 'Aliens Ate my Trousers' (1998) and 'Citymouth' (2000).
'Max Zillion'.
In 1988, Emerson published the political comic book 'You Are Maggie Thatcher', scripted by Pat Mills, at Titan Books. He was one of several cartoonists to make a contribution to 'Spitting Image. The Giant Komic Book' (Pyramid Book Ltd & Octopus Publishing Group, 1988), a comic book based on the satirical puppet TV show 'Spitting Image' by Peter Fluck and Roger Law. Emerson's main characters include 'Calculus Cat' (the cat that hates television), 'Firkin the Cat', (a sex satirical strip scripted by Tym Nanley that has run in Fiesta magazine since 1981), 'PussPuss', (yes - another cat!), 'Max Zillion' and 'Alto Ego', (a jazz musician and his saxophone), 'Alan Rabbit', and many more. His comic strips have been translated into ten languages, and he has been awarded several Comic Strip prizes. His work appears in publications as diverse as Fiesta, Fortean Times, and The Wall Street Journal Europe, and he has also worked in advertising.
