1969 founders fred todd dave moriaty gilbert shelton jack jackson headquarters location san francisco 1969 1987 auburn california 1987 present publication types comics imprints iguana comics 1 official website http www.ripoffpress.com rip off press inc. was a seminal publishing company that specialized in adult themed underground comic books and graphic novels . they now operate as a mail order retailer and distributor . rip off press is also notable for being the original company to publish the fourth edition of the principia discordia a discordian religious text written by gregory hill and kerry thornley . it was also an early publisher of the infamous booklet on drug manufacturing psychedelic chemistry . contents 1 history 2 selected titles and artists 3 references 4 external links history edit the company was founded january 17 1969 in san francisco by four expatriate texans fred todd dave moriaty and cartoonists gilbert shelton and jack jackson . the initial plan was to print rock band promotional posters on an old press and do comix on the side in some ways the company was formed as a sort of cartoonists cooperative as an alternative publishing venue to burgeoning bay area publishers like apex novelties print mint and company & sons . 2 the four men purchased a used davidson 233 offset printing press and set up shop in the same space as don donahue s apex novelties located on the third floor ballroom of the former mowry s opera house at 633 laguna street in hayes valley . 3 early works published by rip off press included comix by dave sheridan all co published with gary arlington s san francisco comic book company the rip off review of western culture omnibus and shelton s the fabulous furry freak brothers . after a fire almost destroyed the former opera house in late 1969 rip off moved to the decaying former headquarters of the family dog psychedelic rock music promotion collective 3 which jaxon had been a member of starting in 1966 . rip off press was located at 1250 17th street in san francisco from 1970 until 1985 . by 1972 the poster printing business had faded away and the company had become a publishing house . by the mid 1970s moriaty and jackson had long since gone back to texas and by the time the company moved from 17th street shelton had relocated to france . cartoonist jay kinney joined the company as an editor in 1981 4 but left after a few months on the job . 5 the company moved to a smaller space on san jose avenue near the city s southern border in mid 1985 with warehouse space across town at the bayview industrial park . this three story block square building which housed over a hundred other businesses burned to the ground on april 6 1986 following an explosion in an illegal fireworks factory in the basement . 6 thus freed of a 17 year accumulation of comix and other paraphernalia fred todd who at this point was the only original partner still working in the business decided to relocate rip off press to auburn california where he and his wife kathe could continue to run the company while raising their two small children in more pleasant surroundings . the move was made in june 1987 and during the next few years rip off press continued to publish shelton s the fabulous furry freak brothers plus the rip off comix anthology magazine larry gonick s cartoon history of the universe matt howarth s those annoying post brothers and many other titles . the popularity of x rated comics in the late 1980s early 1990s led to such titles as strips by chuck austen the girl by kevin j. taylor and doll by classic underground comix creator guy colwell . after the collapse of the direct market in the early 1990s 7 fueled by marvel comics withdrawal of its 40 % market share from the distribution system 8 9 rip off press began taking steps to cut costs and gradually retreated from publishing . they shifted their business to selling backlist comics in its store and to mail order customers plus to the many fans finding them online . 10 the todds moved the business to much smaller quarters adjoining their home in 1999 where they continue to sell comix mostly through the company website . the website was disabled for a time in 2011 2012 during which time it was completely redesigned and a large number of collectors items including historic ad pieces rare press sheets publisher s overlay proofs from the company s publishing history and more were added to its offerings . selected titles and artists edit rip off comix 30 issues 1977 1991 the rip off review of western culture 1972 edited by dave moriaty chuck austen strips 1989 1991 guy colwell doll 8 issues 1989 1992 central body the art of guy colwell 1991 ss crompton demi the demoness 1993 1997 larry gonick cartoon history of the universe 9 issues 1978 1992 matt howarth savage henry 17 issues 1989 1993 those annoying post brothers 20 issues 1991 1994 carol lay good girls 1991 gilbert shelton the fabulous furry freak brothers 13 issues 1971 1997 fat freddy s cat 12 issues 1977 1993 wonder wart hog 1973 1975 not quite dead 5 issues 1993 1995 dave sheridan mother s oats comix 1970 1976 with fred schrier and others skull comics 1 1970 with fred schrier and others ; later picked up by last gasp the balloon vendor 1971 with fred schrier kevin j. taylor model by day 1990 11 the girl 1991 references edit newswatch show them your lizard the comics journal 160 june 1993 p. 17 . estren mark james 1993 1974 . a history of underground comics 2 ed . . ronin publishing p. 250 . isbn 978 0 914171 64 5 . a b rosenkranz patrick . don donahue mowry s the comics journal website november 9th 2010 . jay kinney becomes rip off press editor the comics journal 63 may 1981 p. 26 . jay kinney resigns from rip off editorship the comics journal 64 july 1981 p. 18 . rip off press burns to the ground the comics journal 108 may 1986 p. 17 . miller john jackson . nov. 17 1992 a 30 million day and the days after the 1900s 10 biggest events from 100 years in comics cbgxtra.com dec. 12 2005 . gray bob . newswatch marvel buys 3rd largest distributor heroes world purchase signals fundamental changes in the direct market the comics journal 174 february 1995 p. 15 22 . gertler nat . marvel buys heroes world hogan s alley v. 1 no. 2 1995 p. 17 . newswatch rip off press offers no risk the comics journal 175 mar. 1995 pp. 29 30 . model by day at don markstein s toonopedia . archived from the original on april 16 2012 . external links edit official website rip off press at the grand comics database rip off press at the comic book db v t e underground comix publishers apex novelties company & sons kitchen sink press last gasp print mint rip off press san francisco comic book company v t e comic book publishers in north america active major boom studios dark horse comics dc comics dynamite entertainment idw publishing image comics marvel comics active minor aardvark vanaheim ac comics action lab comics ait planet lar alias enterprises alternative comics another rainbow publishing antarctic press arcade comics archaia entertainment archie comics aspen mlt avatar press azteca productions beyond comics black mask studios bluewater productions bongo comics group creative impulse entertainment conundrum press darby pop publishing devil s due publishing drawn and quarterly eureka productions fantagraphics books first second books hermes press kodansha usa last gasp legendary comics milestone media mirage studios nbm publishing oni press papercutz platinum studios radical comics radio comix rip off press seven seas entertainment shadowline sirius entertainment slave labor graphics tokyopop top cow productions top shelf productions udon entertainment valiant comics vertical viper comics viz media warp graphics zenescope entertainment former aircel comics all american publications american comics group atlas comics atlas seaboard comics awesome comics blackthorne publishing caliber comics catalan communications centaur publications chaos comics charlton comics harry a chesler comico comicsone continuity comics crossgen defiant comics dell comics del rey manga disney comics ec comics eclipse comics eternity comics fantaco enterprises fawcett comics fiction house first comics fox feature syndicate gladstone publishing gemstone publishing gilberton gold key comics harvey comics highwater books holyoke publishing hyperwerks innovation publishing kitchen sink press mainline publications malibu comics millennium publications nedor publishing now comics pacific comics print mint crestwood publications quality comics renegade press revolutionary comics skywald publications standard comics timely comics topps comics tundra publishing vortex comics warren publishing wildstorm retrieved from https en.wikipedia.org w index.php title rip off press & oldid 744005800 categories comic book publishing companies of the united statesunderground comixentertainment companies based in californiacompanies based in san franciscopublishing companies established in 19691969 establishments in california navigation menu personal tools not logged intalkcontributionscreate accountlog in namespaces article talk variants views read edit view history more search navigation main pagecontentsfeatured contentcurrent eventsrandom articledonate to wikipediawikipedia store interaction helpabout wikipediacommunity portalrecent changescontact page tools what links hererelated changesupload filespecial pagespermanent linkpage informationwikidata itemcite this page print export create a bookdownload as pdfprintable version languages fran ais edit links this page was last modified on 12 october 2016 at 14 53 . text is available under the creative commons attribution sharealike license ; additional terms may apply . by using this site you agree to the terms of use and privacy policy . wikipedia is a registered trademark of the wikimedia foundation inc. a non profit organization . privacy policy about wikipedia disclaimers contact wikipedia 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