Counterculture and the 1960s Auction to Highlight Martin Luther King Jr.’s Letter From Birmingham City Jail, Underground Comics

In the United States, the underground comix scene emerged in the 1960s. The comics focused on subjects like counterculture, politics, free love, rock music, or more controversial topics like recreational drug use. The underground comix scene had its strongest success in the United States between 1968 and 1975. A central figure in the underground comix movement was Steve Clay Wilson (1941 – 2021), an American  cartoonist. Wilson attracted the attention of readers with aggressively violent and explicit panoramas that often depicted the wild escapades of pirates and bikers. Wilson’s Gems and Junk “Frank N. Stein” from 1985 is a leading lot in the upcoming Counterculture and the 1960s auction, presented by Potter & Potter Auctions. It is an original ink on paper with numerous white-out corrections and enhancements. A total of 11 panels complete the story on five layout pages. This complete story, published in Jump Start #2 (1987), features a drug user, “Itchy” Fenan, and his friend, R. Z., who rob and kill a jewel dealer to purchase heroin. 

Letter From Birmingham City Jail, a handsome copy of one of the most important and famous works written during the Civil Rights movement, is coming to auction this September. It was written by Martin Luther King Jr. and published by the American Friends Service Committee in 1963. This copy was the first edition, first printing with the “5-63” letter code on the rear cover. The lot has one light vertical crease to wrappers and text. The message delivered by the letter was “Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.” The sale offers an array of counterculture collectibles, from comic art to civil rights treasures. View the Counterculture and the 1960s auction catalog by visiting Potter & Potter Auctions, and browse other auction previews and news on Auction Daily.