The Fabulous Freak Brothers Return

The Fabulous Freak Brothers Return

http://www.publishersweekly.com/article/CA6580244.html?nid=2789

by Steve Bunche
Publishers Weekly
7/21/2008

This August, the U.K. comics publisher, Knockabout Comics will answer
the prayers of classic underground comics aficionados with the
publication of a massive 40th anniversary Freak Brothers Omnibus, a
624-page leviathan of laughs, straight from the mind of creator
Gilbert Shelton. The book collects every adventure of the hirsute
trio since their inception in 1968, as well as previously unpublished
material.

The book's first printing of 10,000 copies will feature an extra dust
jacket and an insert detailing how the interested fan can donate
funds and invest in Grass Roots, an upcoming animated film featuring
the characters, and even get their names inserted into the corner of
one of the film's frames in a promotion called "Name That Frame."
(The investor purchases a frame and their name will be visible only
when the film is slowed down on a DVD player). American distribution
of the book will be handled by Diamond, Last Gasp, and Rip Off Press
for the comics shop specialty market and by Atlas books for Barnes &
Noble, Amazon, Borders and independent general book retailers.

But exactly what is the Freak Brothers series and why does it warrant
such red carpet treatment? Simply put, The Fabulous Furry Freak
Brothers is the Rosetta Stone (no pun intended) of "stoner" humor as
we now understand the genre, predating Cheech & Chong's THC-based
antics by a few years and offering narratives that are often
hilarious without the aid of various illegal "party favors." The
series revolves around the eponymous characters, a trio related not
by blood, but by a common interest­the need for weed­and loony
adventures in a rollicking counter-culture universe. The trio
includes Phineas (the leftist intellectual), Freewheelin' Franklin
(the baked cowboy), and Fat Freddy (the "Curly" of the bunch). Their
lives are driven by marijuana and they spend virtually all of their
time trying to get stoned while avoiding the police or getting ripped
off by unscrupulous dealers.

But unlike many of its underground contemporaries that wallowed in
explicit sex, ultra-violence, and sometimes outright misogyny, the
Freak Brothers strips concentrated on solid laughs and earned them
and their creator an enduring following among the underground comix
cogniscenti and beyond. When asked about how he settled upon his
approach to the material Shelton reminisced, "I used to sell strips
to weekly leftist newspapers. I was in sympathy with them but they
were deadly dull, so I felt they could use a comic strip modeled on
old comics."

Shelton said at the time that he was "more into traditional comic
strips like Chester Gould's Dick Tracy, which seemed outrageously
weird when seen from a grownup perspective. Other strips I enjoyed
included Bob Montana's Archie, Peanuts, B.C., The Wizard of Id, Miss
Peach, and the old E.C. stuff, especially the original run of Mad
when it was still a comic book." That last influence must have been
particularly strong since Shelton's work on the Freak Brothers seemed
like the next logical step from its 1950's antecedent. The Freak
Brothers comics were infused with the same anarchic energy and
endearing silliness, only now unleashed in an era of free love and
psychedelic mind-expansion. As for the inspiration behind the trio's
comedic adventures, Shelton said, "I took the ambience from real life
and used gags that used to be based around alcohol and substituted
marijuana for the booze. Take the one about the hippy getting busted
on a possession charge and being told by the arresting officer that
he had one phone call. The guy uses that call to get a pizza
delivery." And when not focusing on the Brothers themselves, Shelton
turns his humorous eye to the antics of Fat Freddy's Cat, a
side-strip also featured in the omnibus that's every bit as
entertaining as the book's main event.

The enduring popularity of the Freak Brothers has led to the
production of Grass Roots, a stop-motion animated feature, but the
project has not had smooth sailing; according to Shelton. "Grass
Roots has been in progress for five years and Bolex Brothers, a
hugely talented studio in Bristol, England, is handling it while
actively raising money to fund it," Shelton explained. He said this
was the "6th or 8th time" the rights to a Freak Brothers film have
been sold, "including once having been in the hands of Universal some
thirty years ago. Obviously nothing came of that."

Hopefully the combined efforts of the Bolex Brothers and the series'
rabid fan base will result in a happy ending for Shelton and Freak
Brothers enthusiasts everywhere and the trio will finally make their
bong-hitting way onto the silver screen alongside such stoner
descendants as Cheech & Chong and Harold and Kumar. But until then,
there are always Shelton's stories to get us through these Freak-less
times. In fact, the book serves as an echo of Shelton's timeless
credo: "Dope will get you through times of no money better than money
will get you through times of no dope." Words to live by, especially
in the waning days of Dubya's America.

.