20 funny comics to lighten your mood and make you laugh

8. The Adventures of Jesus/The New Adventures of Jesus

Underground comics are a different beast entirely, compared to their more mainstream counterparts. Often, these comics have something about them that’s unpalatable to big comics publishers. They’re too much for standard channels — perhaps they’re too violent, or too strange, or the subjects they cover are just too controversial.

Probably all three of these factors qualify for Frank Stack’s work. In fact, Frank Stack’s The Adventures of Jesus was one of the first underground comics to ever be published, starting in 1962. These early offerings were published in The Texas Ranger, as well as counterculture sources like The Austin Iconoclastic and The Charlatan.

When I say “published,” however, the process is a little different from, say, Marvel’s. Texas Ranger editor Gilbert Shelton took a few of Stack’s Jesus strips, made a cover, and distributed about 50 copies of the collection on the University of Texas campus. This also makes The Adventures of Jesus one of the earliest comics zines we have known.

Like many underground works of art, The Adventures of Jesus took on many of the values beloved by middle America. Essentially, Jesus returns to Earth as promised, yet meets with very little fanfare. He determines to continue on with his mission of saving mankind anyway. However, he must face the strangeness of the modern world in doing so. But, for all that Jesus wants to help make things right, is humanity too far gone?

Both the original Adventures of Jesus and its follow-up, The New Adventures of Jesus, follow this general storyline. The central character of Jesus is pretty different, too. He’s not exactly that guy in the stained glass window you may have seen in church, or the oddly blonde and clean-cut version seen in so many illustrated Bible stories. Stack’s Jesus is ruffled, even dirty and often gets pretty angry. But, then again, wouldn’t you get pretty upset at the 20th century, too?