Description: The first-ever collection of comics and assorted artwork by Michael McMillan--not only a legendary underground cartoonist, but also a sculptor, painter, printmaker, filmmaker, animator, poster designer, and an avid rock climber.
Michael McMillan has said he's "not really a cartoonist," but the evidence suggests otherwise. Born and raised in California, he was a draftsman and industrial designer by trade before he plunged into the burgeoning San Francisco underground comix scene of the early 1970s. He drew for legendary publications such as Weirdo, Young Lust, Lemme Outa Here!, Arcade, and produced his own one-issue wonder, Terminal Comics. But just as often he drew for himself, playing with the form of comics out of the sight of readers. He reimagined the kinds of stories single-panel, two-panel, and many-panel strips could tell and blended favorite genres from his childhood (horror, sword-and-sandal, science fiction) with more mature themes (autobiography, dating, sex) to create new and striking forms. Terminal Exposure brings together McMillan's comics for the first time, alongside a selection of his electrifying sculptures, his eye-popping paintings, and stunning pages from his rock climbing journals. With an introduction by Dan Nadel, this volume offers a comprehensive portrait of an exceptional artist, sculptor, climber, and--yes--cartoonist.Review Quotes: "I am one of the people who has been waiting for this collection for a long, long time. I hope lots of us time travelers will find this book and enter Michael's unique, entrancing, gently enfolding world." --Gary Panter
"He is the purest artist I've ever known." --Bill Griffith"Veteran artist McMillan debuts with a quirky career-spanning collection of his surreal 1970s comics that showcases his restless creative energy and outside-the-box ethos . . . Adventurous readers will enjoy the wit and weirdness of McMillan's phantasmagorical funhouse." --Publishers Weekly "Reflecting his own life or rather his view of his life, these dream-like sagas often take place amid wide horizons, even amid some mild eroticism and occasional nudity . . . Remarkably, McMillan is also capable of straight-forward memory art, like his experience in climbing mountains of the West, in the half century from 1951 onward." --Paul Buhle, Comics Grinder "Like Gary Snyder if he could draw, McMillan's artistry conveys an implicit philosophy of openness--to experience, nature, new ideas--that is equally refreshing and heartening." --Eric Bies, Orange County Review of Books