Famed underground cartoonist S. Clay Wilson passed away on Sunday, February 7, according to a Twitter post by his wife, Lorraine Chamberlain.  Wilson was one of the founders of the underground comix movement in San Francisco in the 1960s, and was a founding member of the Zap comics collective.  He contributed to every issue of Zap Comix, and was also a contributor to many other underground comics in the 60s, 70s, and beyond.

Wilson’s work broke every convention and norm of comics at the time, often all at once, with depictions of violence, sex, and outrageous characters doing outrageous things in an art style that assaulted the eyes.  Our favorite of his characters was The Checkered Demon, introduced in Zap Comix and later the star of his own comic.

Wilson’s passing is just the latest in a series of underground comics pioneers who have been lost in the last decade, including Wilson’s Zap colleague Spain Rodriguez in 2012 (see "R.I.P. Spain Rodriguez"), Howard Cruse in 2019 (see "R.I.P. Howard Cruse"), and Richard Corben last December (see "R.I.P. Richard Corben").