Most people consider Jack Jackson, who signs his work Jaxon, to be the first underground comix artist. In the early years of his career, he used to publish horror and ecological science fiction comics, in underground magazines like Skull, Slow Death, Fantagor, Mother Oats and Insect Fear. His first real underground comic, 'God Nose', appeared in 1964. These 'God Nose' stories were a series of philisophical discussions between God and the "fools he rules". Jackson used the pseudonym Jaxon to protect his day job. In 1969, Jackson co-founded publishing house Rip-Off Press together with Gilbert Shelton, Fred Todd and Dave Moriaty. He met a young Richard Corben and encouraged him to draw underground comix, printing them in full color.
'God Nose'.
Later on, Jaxon moved to Texas and made Native American strips such as 'Comanche Moon' (1979), 'Recuerden el Alamo', 'Los Tejanos', 'The Secret of San Saba', 'Indian Lover: Sam Houston & the Cherokees' and 'Lost Cause', in which he depicted the horrible crimes the Americans committed while taking over control of the land formerly ruled by the native Indians.
In June 2006, Jaxon's body was found outside the Pleasant Valley Cemetery in Stockdale, Texas. He had presumably commited suicide.
Jaxon wrote a personal homage to Robert Crumb in Monte Beauchamp's book 'The Life and Times of R. Crumb. Comments From Contemporaries (St. Martin's Griffin, New York, 1998).
