View source for Frank Stack

{{short description|Cartoonist}}
{{Other people|Frank Stack}}
{{Infobox comics creator
| image         = 
| caption       = 
| alt           = 
| birth_name    = 
| birth_place   = [[Houston, Texas]], U.S.
| birth_date    = {{Birth date and age|1937|10|31}}
| death_date    =
| death_place   =
| area          = Cartoonist, Printmaker, Painter
| cartoonist    = y
| art = y
| alias         = Foolbert Sturgeon
| notable works = {{plainlist|
*''The Adventures of Jesus''
*''[[Our Cancer Year]]''}}
| awards        = [[Harvey Award]], 1995<br />[[Haxtur Award]], Artist That We Love, 2006<br />[[Inkpot Award]], 2011
| website       = 
| spouse = Mildred Roberta "Robbie" Powell<ref>Wilder, Amy. [http://www.columbiatribune.com/arts_life/ovation/artists-consider-balance-boundaries-when-depicting-the-human-body/article_fc1fda34-d557-11e2-b50c-10604b9f6eda.html?m=inline_content "Artists consider balance, boundaries when depicting the human body,"] ''Columbia Daily Tribune'' (June 16, 2013).</ref> (m. 1959–1998; her death)
}}

'''Frank Huntington Stack''' (born October 31, 1937, in [[Houston, Texas]])<ref>[http://deniskitchen.com/Merchant2/merchant.mvc?Screen=CTGY&Category_Code=bios.stack Frank Stack / Foolbert Sturgeon Biography and Information: Comic Book Art - Underground Comix<!-- Bot generated title -->]</ref> is an American [[underground comix|underground]] [[cartoonist]] and fine artist. Working under the name '''Foolbert Sturgeon''' to avoid persecution for his work while living in the [[Bible Belt]], Stack published what is considered by many to be the first underground comic, ''The Adventures of Jesus'', in 1964.<ref name="Shelton">{{Cite book | last1=Stack | first1=Frank | authorlink1=Frank Stack | last2=Shelton | first2=Gilbert | authorlink2=Gilbert Shelton | title=The New Adventures of Jesus | date=25 December 2006 | publisher=[[Fantagraphics Books]] | page=[https://archive.org/details/newadventuresofj00fran/page/9 9] | chapter=Introduction | isbn=978-1-56097-780-3 | chapter-url=https://archive.org/details/newadventuresofj00fran/page/9 }}</ref><ref name="Skinn-34">{{Cite book | last=Skinn | first=Dez | authorlink=Dez Skinn | title=Comix: The Underground Revolution | date=20 May 2004 | publisher=[[Thunder's Mouth Press]] | page=34 | chapter=Heroes of the Revolution | isbn=978-1-56025-572-7}}</ref>

Stack's main artistic influences were [[Gustave Doré]], [[Roy Crane]], and [[V. T. Hamlin]].<ref name=UMOlibrary>[http://library.missouri.edu/specialcollections/bookcol/comic/stack/ "Special Collections and Rare Books: Frank Stack Collection,"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170417194552/http://library.missouri.edu/specialcollections/bookcol/comic/stack/ |date=2017-04-17 }} University of Missouri Libraries. Accessed Dec. 29, 2016.</ref> He is widely known as a [[printmaker]], specializing in [[etchings]] and [[lithographs]], and his sketchy comics style evokes Stack's background as an etcher. (His technique of creating etchings on-site was featured in ''[[The Artist's Magazine|American Artist]]'' magazine.){{cn|date=December 2016}} His oil paintings and watercolors mostly feature landscape and figure compositions. He lives in [[Columbia, Missouri]], where he was a longtime professor at the [[University of Missouri]].

== Education and teaching career ==
Stack graduated from the [[University of Texas at Austin]] with a BFA in 1959.<ref>[http://www.askart.com/AskART/artists/biography.aspx?artist=124757 Frank Stack - Artist, Art - Frank Huntington Stack<!-- Bot generated title -->]</ref> He received his M.A. at the [[University of Wyoming]], and also studied at the [[School of the Art Institute of Chicago]] and the [[Académie de la Grande Chaumière]] of Paris.<ref name=UMOlibrary />

He was a long-time professor of art at the [[University of Missouri]], where he taught from 1963 to 2001, and is now a [[professor emeritus]]. In addition, he did teaching stints at [[Appalachian State]] and [[Virginia Tech]].{{cn|date=December 2016}}

== Comics ==
While at the University of Texas, Stack joined the staff of ''[[The Texas Ranger (magazine)|The Texas Ranger]]'' student humor magazine in 1957,<ref name=Holland>Holland, Richard A. ''The Texas Book: Profiles, History, and Reminiscences of the University'' (University of Texas Press, 2006), pp. 223–299.</ref> and was editor of the magazine in 1958–1959. As editor, Stack aspired for the ''Ranger'' to emulate the humor exemplified by ''[[The New Yorker]]'' and ''[[Punch (magazine)|Punch]]''.<ref name=Holland /> He published comic strips by fellow UT student [[Gilbert Shelton]], later known for [[Wonder Wart-Hog]] and ''[[The Fabulous Furry Freak Brothers]]''. 

Soon after graduating from UT, Stack entered the [[U.S. Army]], stationed at [[Governors Island]], New York, in 1961–1962.<ref name=Holland /> 

Although he had already graduated in 1959, starting in 1962, (using the pen-name Foolbert Sturgeon) he published  ''The Adventures of Jesus'' in ''The Texas Ranger'' (as well as early counterculture publications like ''The Austin Iconoclastic'' and ''The Charlatan''). In 1964, then ''Texas Ranger'' editor Gilbert Shelton collected about a dozen of the ''Jesus'' strips, designed a cover, and made 50 photocopies of the collection, giving them to associates around the UT campus.<ref>Fox, M. Steven. [http://comixjoint.com/godnose-2nd.html "God Nose."] ComixJoint. Accessed Dec. 5, 2016.</ref>

Stack's most prolific period as a cartoonist was in the late 1960s and early 1970s. During this period, [[Rip Off Press]] (co-founded by Shelton and fellow UT cartoonist [[Jaxon (cartoonist)|Jaxon]]) published three issues of Stack's ''Jesus Comics,'' as well as such solo titles as ''Feelgood Funnies'' and ''Amazon Comics''. In 1972 Stack contributed to ''[[The Rip Off Review of Western Culture]]'' with "Jesus Goes To The Faculty Party." In addition to publishing several articles in ''[[The Comics Journal]]'', Stack contributed comics to such anthologies as ''[[Zero Zero (comic)|Zero Zero]]'', ''[[Blab!]]'', ''[[Snarf (comics)|Snarf]]'', ''[[Rip Off Comix]]'', and ''[[Weirdo (comics)|Weirdo]]''. His strips ''The Case of Dr. Feelgood'' and ''Dorman's Doggie'' were syndicated by the [[Underground Press Syndicate]] in 1976–1978.<ref name=UMOlibrary />

From 1986 to 2001, Stack was a regular contributor to [[Harvey Pekar]]'s ''[[American Splendor]]''. He also illustrated the acclaimed nonfiction graphic novel ''[[Our Cancer Year]]'', written by Pekar and his wife [[Joyce Brabner]], which won the 1995 [[Harvey Award]] for best original [[graphic novel]].<ref>[http://www.harveyawards.org/awards_1995win.html Harveyawards.org] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100716172409/http://www.harveyawards.org/awards_1995win.html |date=2010-07-16 }}</ref>

== Personal life ==
Stack met his future wife Robbie Powell at the University of Texas, where they were both staffers on ''The Texas Ranger''. Stack and Powell were married from 1959 until her death in 1998.<ref name=Holland/>

== Exhibitions ==
* 2012 – 2013: [[State Historical Society of Missouri]] ([[University of Missouri]], Columbia, Missouri) — "Frank Stack at 75"<ref>{{cite web|title=Exhibition - Frank Stack at 75|url=http://www.missourilife.com/events/exhibition--frank-stack-at-75/|website=Missouri Life|access-date=2016-06-22|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160814083642/http://www.missourilife.com/events/exhibition--frank-stack-at-75/|archive-date=2016-08-14|url-status=dead}}</ref>

==Comics and books ==
*''The Adventures of Jesus'' (published in [[zine]] form by [[Gilbert Shelton]], 1964)
* ''Jesus Comics'' ([[Rip Off Press]], 1969–1972)
** #1: ''The New Adventures of Jesus'' (1969)
** #2: ''Jesus Meets the Armed Services'' (1970)
** #3: ''Jesus Joins the Academic Community'' (1972)
*''Feelgood Funnies'' (2 issues, Rip Off Press, 1972, 1984)
*''Amazon Comics'' (Rip Off Press, 1972)
*''Dorman's Doggie'' (Rip Off Press, 1979) {{ISBN|9780878160976}}
*''[[Our Cancer Year]]''  ([[Four Walls Eight Windows]], 1994) — written by [[Harvey Pekar]] and [[Joyce Brabner]]
*''Naked Glory: the Erotic Art of Frank Stack'' ([[Eros Comix]], 1998) {{ISBN|9781560972297}}
*''The New Adventures of Jesus: The Second Coming'' ([[Fantagraphics]], 2007) {{ISBN|9781560977803}}

==Filmography==
* 2010 - [[A Horrible Way to Die]] - Elderly Man
* 2012 - [[V/H/S]] - Old Man (segment "Tape 56")

== Notes ==
{{reflist}}

== Further reading ==
* Mayer, Olivia. "Frankly Speaking." ''Scene Magazine'' (''Columbia Daily Tribune'') (Sept. 27, 1990), cover and pp. 10–11.
* "50 Plus Spotlight: Frank Stack." ''Columbia Daily Tribune'' (Aug. 13, 1992), suppl. p. 7.
* "Frank Stack," ''Comic Book Superstars'' (Kraus Publications, 1993), pp. 200–201.
* "Sketchbook," ''The Comics Journal'' #162 (Oct. 1993), pp. 115–119.
* Pekar, Harvey. “Frank Stack, an Appreciation.” ''Inks'' (Feb. 1996), pp. 24–29.
* "The Authoritative Frank Stack, or, Foolbert Sturgeon on Jesus, Crumb and Cancer," ''The Comics Journal'' #189 (Aug. 1996), pp. 92-110.

==External links==
*{{IMDb name|3400177}}
* [https://www.lambiek.net/artists/s/stack_frank.htm Stack bio] at Lambiek's Comiclopedia
*[https://library.missouri.edu/specialcollections/collections/show/27 Frank Stack Collection] at the University of Missouri Libraries

{{Underground comix cartoonists}}
{{Inkpot Award 2010s}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Stack, Frank}}
[[Category:American cartoonists]]
[[Category:Underground cartoonists]]
[[Category:American comics artists]]
[[Category:Virginia Tech faculty]]
[[Category:University of Missouri faculty]]
[[Category:1937 births]]
[[Category:Living people]]
[[Category:University of Texas at Austin alumni]]
[[Category:Artists from Houston]]
[[Category:Artists from Columbia, Missouri]]
[[Category:University of Wyoming alumni]]
[[Category:School of the Art Institute of Chicago alumni]]
[[Category:Alumni of the Académie de la Grande Chaumière]]
[[Category:Appalachian State University faculty]]