Jack Jackson

Jack Edward Jackson, better known by his pen name Jaxon, was an American cartoonist, illustrator, historian, and writer. He co-founded Rip Off Press, and many consider him to be the first underground comix artist.Jackson was born in 1941 in Pandora, Texas. He majored in accounting at the University of Texas and was a staffer for its Texas Ranger humor magazine, until he and others were fired over what he called "a petty censorship violation".In 1964, Jackson self-published the one-shot God Nose, which is considered by many to be the first underground comic. He moved to San Francisco in 1966, where he became art director of the dance poster division of Family Dog. In 1969, he co-founded Rip Off Press, one of the first independent publishers of underground comix, with three other Texas transplants, Gilbert Shelton, Fred Todd, and Dave Moriaty. Despite this, most of his underground comics work (heavily influenced by EC Comics) was published by Last Gasp.Jackson was also known for his historical work, documenting the history of Native America and Texas, including the graphic novels Comanche Moon (1979), The Secret of San Saba (1989), Lost Cause (1998), Indian Lover: Sam Houston & the Cherokees (1999), El Alamo (2002), and the written works like Los Mesteños: Spanish Ranching in Texas: 1721–1821 (1986), Indian Agent: Peter Ellis Bean in Mexican Texas (2005), and many others.