View source for Jay Kinney

{{Short description|American author, editor and cartoonist}}
{{Infobox comics creator
| image =
| caption       = 
| birth_name    = 
| birth_date    = {{birth year and age|1950}}
| birth_place   = 
| death_date    = 
| death_place   = 
| nationality   = American
| area          = Writer, cartoonist, editor
| cartoonist    = y
| write         = 
| art           = 
| ink           = 
| letter        = 
| color         =
| edit          = y
| alias         = 
| notable works = ''[[Bijou Funnies]]''<br />''[[Young Lust (comics)|Young Lust]]''<br />''[[Anarchy Comics]]''
| awards        = 
| website       = [http://www.jaykinney.com/ jaykinney.com]
| collaborators = 
}}
'''Jay Kinney''' (born 1950) is an American author, editor, and former [[underground comix|underground]] [[cartoonist]]. Kinney has been noted for "adding new dimensions to the political comic" in the [[underground comix]] press of the 1970s and '80s.<ref name="Dooley-Heller">{{cite book |title=The Education of a Comics Artist |editor1-first=Michael Patrick |editor1-last=Dooley |editor2-first=Steven |editor2-last=Heller |date=June 30, 2005 |publisher=Skyhorse Publishing |location=New York, NY |isbn=1-58115-408-9 }}<!--|accessdate=July 21, 2011--></ref> 

==Career==
Kinney was a member, along with [[Skip Williamson]], [[Jay Lynch]] and [[Robert Crumb|R. Crumb]], of the original ''[[Bijou Funnies]]'' crew.<ref>Pahls, Marty. "Introduction," ''The Best of Bijou Funnies'' (inks Books/Quick Fox, 1975).</ref> ''Bijou Funnies'' was heavily influenced by ''[[Mad (magazine)|Mad]]'' magazine,<ref name="Sabin-92">{{cite book |last1=Sabin |first1=Roger |title=Comics, Comix & Graphic Novels: A History Of Comic Art |year=1996 |publisher=[[Phaidon Press]] |location=[[London]], [[United Kingdom]] |isbn=0-7148-3008-9 |pages=[https://archive.org/details/comicscomixgraph00sabi/page/92 92; 94–95; 103–107; 110; 111; 116; 119; 124–126; 128] |chapter=Going underground |chapter-url-access=registration |chapter-url=https://archive.org/details/comicscomixgraph00sabi/page/92 }}</ref> and, along with ''[[Zap Comix]]'', is considered one of the titles to launch the underground comix movement.<ref name=comixjoint>Fox, M. Steven. [http://comixjoint.com/bijoufunnies.html "Bijou Funnies,"] ComixJoint. Accessed Oct. 21, 2016.</ref> Kinney contributed to the first four issues (1968–1970), as well as the eighth and final issue (1973).

Next, Kinney and [[Bill Griffith]] co-edited ''[[Young Lust (comics)|Young Lust]]'', an underground comix anthology published sporadically from 1970 to 1993. The title, which parodied 1950s [[romance comics]] such as ''[[Young Love (comics)|Young Love]]'', was noted for its explicit depictions of sex. Unlike many other sex-fueled underground comix, ''Young Lust'' was generally not perceived as misogynistic.<ref>Kerekes, David. "Thrill to Stories of Graphic Lust! Two Decades of Pornographic Comic Books", in ''Critical Vision: Random Essays & Tracts Concerning Sex, Religion, Death'' (Critical Vision, 1995), p. 10.</ref> Griffith and Kinney gradually morphed the title into a satire of societal mores.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Sacks |first1=Jason |last2=Dallas |first2=Keith |title=American Comic Book Chronicles: The 1970s |date=2014 |publisher=TwoMorrows Publishing |isbn=978-1605490564 |page=33}}</ref> According to Kinney, ''Young Lust'' "became one of the top three best-selling underground comix, along with ''Zap Comix'' and Gilbert Shelton's ''[[The Fabulous Furry Freak Brothers]]''".<ref>Kinney, quoted in [http://shanghaiist.com/2012/03/03/found_on_flickr_cultural_revolution.php#photo-1 "Gallery: Cultural Revolution Young Lust comix from 1977 (NSFW!),"] ''The Shanghaist'' (March 3, 2012).</ref> Kinney contributed comics stories to all eight issues of ''Young Lust.''

In the mid-1970s, Kinney began working with fellow comics artist [[Paul Mavrides]] on "Cover-Up Lowdown", originally a weekly [[panel cartoon]] that was collected and published by [[Rip Off Press]] in November 1977. "Cover-Up Lowdown" satirized political cover-ups of the day, as well as those of recent history, such as the [[assassination of John F. Kennedy]]. Kinney and Mavrides then collaborated on the political [[Comics anthology|anthology]] ''[[Anarchy Comics]]'', which was published sporadically by [[Last Gasp (publisher)|Last Gasp]] between 1978 and 1987. Kinney founded, edited, and contributed to all four issues of ''Anarchy Comics''.

Though a member of the first wave of the American underground comix movement, Kinney largely moved away from cartooning after the 1980s, first as editor of ''[[CoEvolution Quarterly]]'' from 1983 to 1984, and then as publisher and editor in chief of the magazine ''[[Gnosis (magazine)|Gnosis]]'' from 1985 to 1999. Since the end of ''Gnosis'', Kinney has written two books and edited an anthology, all focusing on aspects of Western esoteric traditions.

== Books ==
*''The Best of Bijou Funnies'' (Quick Fox, 1975)
*''Hidden Wisdom: A Guide to the Western Inner Traditions'', with [[Richard Smoley]] (Quest Books, 2006)
*''The Inner West: An Introduction to the Hidden Wisdom of the West'' (Tarcher/[[Penguin Books|Penguin]], 2004)
*''The Masonic Myth: Unlocking the Truth about the Symbols, Secret Rites, and History of Freemasonry'' (HarperOne, 2009)
*''Anarchy Comics: The Complete Collection'' ([[PM Press]], 2013)

== References ==
{{reflist}}

==External links==
*{{official website|http://www.jaykinney.com}}
*[http://lambiek.net/artists/k/kinney_jay.htm Lambiek Comiclopedia]
*[http://www.gnosismagazine.com/ ''Gnosis Magazine''{{'}}s web site]
*[http://www.10zenmonkeys.com/2007/10/05/is-the-net-good-for-writers/ Kinney answers the question, "Is the Internet Good for Writers?"]

{{Underground comix cartoonists}}
{{hmcontribs}}
{{Whole Earth}}

{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Kinney, Jay}}
[[Category:1950 births]]
[[Category:Living people]]
[[Category:Underground cartoonists]]

{{US-comics-creator-stub}}