OSBORNE, Jim. D.O.A. Comics.

(San Francisco, CA): Saving Grace / Keith Green Industrial Realities, 1976. First edition. Softcover. 25cm by 18cm. [44] pages. The first issue of this underground comic that combined historical grotesquerie, horror, social satire, surrealism, and psychological narrative, the comic reflects the darker and more literary direction taken by portions of the underground comix movement during the later 1970s. Contents include the historical strips “Caterina Sforza” and “Sawney Beane,” together with a series of surreal and often disturbing short narratives including “Dementia Americana,” “Morning in Mallorca,” and “The Harbinger.” Although never achieving the commercial profile of Crumb, Shelton, or Wilson, Osborne’s dense pen work and macabre sensibility has attracted increasing critical and collector attention in recent years, particularly among specialists in underground horror and transgressive comix. A very good copy in stapled wrappers.