From 1970 to 1975 Jean-François Bizot published Actuel, a monthly magazine dedicated to France’s burgeoning counterculture. After France's civil unrest of May 68, Bizot visited California, where he discovered alternative press. He returned to Paris, quit his job, and created France’s first “free press” publication; a moodboard of his fascination with the American underground. Bizot also brought back a passion for countercultural comix when he visited San Francisco, and Actuel featured strips and spot illustrations by Gilbert Shelton, S. Clay Wilson, and reluctant legend R. Crumb. This ushered in the rise of French-made underground comics such as L’Écho Des Savanes and Fluide Glacia.
I picked this copy up from Tripsichord, a used records store in Marseille run by a rambunxious rocker named Peter. This issue covers the difficulties of living in communes, the veterans of the hippy lifestyle, and a guide to the Parisian underground. One thing I love is the use of split fount inking, a screen printing technique that allows for subtle gradations of multiple colors, creating a psychedelic aura to match its groovy contents. The intro states, “If the political questions of the underground do not lead to any takeover of power, perhaps they will at least allow us to discuss their foundation, balance and methods.”
Radical, no?