ABSTRACT
This chapter combines Animal Studies’ continuing inquiry into the uses of anthropomorphic art with Comics Studies’ recent re-assessment of the Underground comics movement and its sex- and gender-driven counterpublics of protest and empowerment. First, it explores the general epistemological influence of supposedly safe, “family-friendly” Funny Animal comics and considers their perverse suppression of sexual realities and gender diversity. Then, it traces the Underground deconstruction and desecration of Funny Animal, Anthropomorphic, and pet-centered narratives within a variety of sex-positive, gender-conscious, and hyper-erotic contexts, focusing especially on how various Underground creators resuscitated, reinvented, or rebelled against established codes of animal comics to suit their own countercultural interests.
