Clay Geerdes

Clay Geerdes (May 25, 1934 – July 8, 1997) was a writer, photojournalist, publisher, and teacher, who covered various events from anti-Vietnam war demonstrations in Berkeley, to productions of Freestore and The Cockettes, to the underground comics business.

Biography

Early years

Geerdes was born in Sioux City, Iowa, United States, and was the oldest of three children. He grew up in Lincoln, Nebraska and was an avid collector of Batman, Superman, and Bugs Bunny comic books. When Geerdes was in his mid-teens, his father died after a long illness. Geerdes worked in a number of small jobs at cafes, hotels, and grocery stores in the Lincoln area. Geerdes enlisted in the U.S. Navy in 1954 and served a 4-year tour. and visited numerous ports from Australia to Japan. San Francisco became his new home at the end of his Navy tour.

College years

In 1958, Geerdes enrolled at San Francisco State College and received his B.A. in literature. He continued his enrollment at SF State College to complete a M.A. in English. Geerdes wrote articles on Brand, Ron Turner, Robert Crumb, Fred Schrier, Dave Sheridan, Gilbert Shelton, and other personalities in underground comix. The articles appeared in the Los Angeles Free Press, The Staff, and the Berkeley Barb newspapers throughout the early-to-mid 1970s. and ended in 1984. held in 1973, 1974, and 1976 (when it was known as "Underground '76").

Geerdes started the Comix Wave newsletter in 1983, which concentrated on the “newave” era with minicomics. Minicomics were self-published books by the artists, and many new artists were inspired from Geerdes's newsletters to publish their own work. Comix Wave ended regular publication in 1995. He worked with numerous people in this new era of underground comics, such as Kevin Eastman, Jim Valentino, Par Holman, Bob Vojtko, David Miller, Brad Foster, and many others.

The last publication Geerdes wrote for was the Anderson Valley Advertiser from 1995 to 1997. The Snatch Comics Treasury from Apex Joint Ventures reprinted Robert Crumb's work while adding some photographs from Geerdes.

Geerdes shot the cover photograph for Michael Corrigan's hybrid memoir, Confessions of a Shanty Irishman (America House, 2001).

Geerdes died on July 8, 1997, in San Francisco from liver cancer.