Underground Comics: Mr.Natural

The comics Mr. Natural basically surrounded this one character--Mr. Natural and his journeys. First I read the Mr. Natural's 719th meditation, I realized how he actually wrote in the language of mindfulness meditators. He used a lot of words such as "karma," "raise awareness of higher-self," etc. It tapped into the meditation culture well, but it was somewhat cynical towards the people who meditate or the religious groups who believe in higher-self. 

Mr. Natural's characterization is funny, when he was going to refuse the offer by the meditator, he said, "I left a pie in the oven; otherwise I would..." At the same time, he was kind of annoying because he messed up the meditator guys' practice. It seemed like wherever he went, there would be a drama and a mess. His visual characteristic is also pretty iconic-- bald, long white bear, a gown, fat and short body. It's easily recognizable, and I think it might be one of the reasons why he got so famous. 

There were black people in some of the characters in the comics, and they weren't portrayed nicely. One story centered on how a group of black people robbed a beggar's money and required him to give them more later on. They were portrayed as rude and violent. Even the visuals of the black people were portrayed as animals. I don't quite like the stereotypes about the black people here. 

There is another story from Mr. Natural-- Little Johnny Fuckerfaster in the Mr. Natural's comics. It showed a young boy teasing a girl from the street and forced her to perform oral sex for him. The girl seemed to be obedient and ignorant and did so. She was portrayed as a retarded adult baby. I don't like how it portrays women in the context, and I think the visuals are pretty nasty. I don't appreciate how the novel portrays the sex scenes; I think they are pretty disgusting. 

I also took a glance at some other underground comics such as Harold Hedd No.1 and Air Pirates Funnies. The Air Pirates Funnies seemed like a re-creation of Mickey Mouse's stories. The majority of the underground stories contained a lot of sexual violence elements and added a "ruffian mood" in them. It is almost a counter-cultural comics at that time.