Fantagraphics Books will release Inner City Romance, a collection of Guy Colwell’s underground comix from the 1970s, in February.
 
Colwell is a painter and occasional underground cartoonist, and the original Inner City Romance comix were published by Last Gasp from 1972-1978.  The stories were about prison, black culture, ghetto life, the sex trade, and radical activism.  It offered an unvarnished view of the unpleasant realities of life in the inner city at the lowest end of the economic ladder.  Coldwell spent two years at McNeil Island federal prison for draft refusal, and his time at  San Francisco’s Good Times underground newspaper gave him an inside view of the White Panthers, the Symbionese Liberation Army, and anti-war demonstrations.  
 
This collection includes a text piece by Colwell, where he recounts his personal journey to artistic maturity forged by radicalism and frustration.  The book also includes an essay, individual issue introductions, and an epilogue by comix historian Patrick Rosenkranz.
 
The 200-page, black and white softcover will have an MSRP of $24.99.