Forty years before beat-lit supergroup Moorcock, Sinclair & Moore played standing-room-only London concert to new audience young psychogeographers - Michael Moorcock's free-to-use pop anti-hero character 'Jerry Cornelius' appeared as comic-strip in International Times (it or IT) 1969. Archive gives access to all IT's 'Cornelius' comic serials from hippie era.
Moorcock-edited New Worlds magazine remains little known driver '60's cultural revolutions East and West depicted in fiction, poetry and graphics. 'Jerry Cornelius' was visually represented by Malcolm Dean in black & white lo-fi. The it strip, initially scripted by Moorcock and drawn by Dean in his individualized style coincided with final issues of Marcus Morris' exemplar full-colour Eagle comic.
Besides, 'Jerry Cornelius cartoon' wasn't comparable with other juvenile adventure or funny weeklies, US comic books, nor syndicated daily newspaper cartoons and serials.
Jeff Nuttall's and Mal Dean's visual poetics became part of newer narrative form (commercially marketed twenty years later as 'graphic novel') .
Graham Keen, member of it's editorial collective heard voice of Blake with idea for comic book imprint Innocence and Experience. As with poetic Children of Albion - comics for the 'Underground' in Britain emerged.
Word got out metropolitan scene paperback writer and cut-up practitioner William S. Burroughs - My Own Mag, International Times contributor, Underground Press supporter/subscriber, London resident - sought visual collaborators for new and perhaps older work.
Invisible generation British illustrators/comic artists excited.
Five years later Allen Ginsberg figured Burroughs needed superhero rescue from London. Hippie generation poet considered psychogeographic capital of Blighty may have done aging beat writer's head in.
from beat generation ballads sequence
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