Predecessor Hassle Free Press Country of origin United Kingdom Publication types Comics | Founded 1975 Headquarters location London | |
Founder Tony Bennett
Carol Bennett | ||
Knockabout Comics is a UK publisher and distributor of underground and alternative books and comics. They have a long-standing relationship with underground comix pioneer Gilbert Shelton.
Contents
History
The company was founded in 1975 by Tony and Carol Bennett as Hassle Free Press, a U.K. publisher of underground titles like Gilbert Shelton's The Fabulous Furry Freak Brothers and Fat Freddy's Cat, as well as work by British creators such as Hunt Emerson and Bryan Talbot. Around 1978 or 1979 the company changed its name to Knockabout Comics. It has published works by Robert Crumb (My Troubles With Women, R. Crumb Draws the Blues, R. Crumb's America). In the 1980s 13 issues of the eponymous Knockabout anthology were produced.
Graphic designer and cartoonist Rian Hughes was the company's chief designer from 1985 to 1992.
Knockabout has frequently suffered from prosecutions from U.K. customs, who have seized work by creators such as Crumb and Melinda Gebbie, claiming it to be obscene.
The company currently has a diverse catalogue of titles and, with Top Shelf Productions co-published The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, Volume III: Century by Alan Moore and Kevin O'Neill. (The previous installments were published by Wildstorm, Vertigo, and America's Best Comics, all of which are imprints of DC Comics.)
Since the late 1990s, when Rip Off Press essentially stopped publishing comics, Knockabout has become the main English-language publisher for Gilbert Shelton, including such titles as The Fabulous Furry Freak Brothers, Wonder Wart-Hog, Fat Freddy's Cat, and Not Quite Dead.