Created by Gilbert Shelton, The Fabulous Furry Freak Brothers was a popular underground comix that presented the wacky, drug-fueled (or at times, drug-seeking) adventures of three unrelated hippies living together in San Francisco. Freewheelin’ Franklin Freek is the most laid-back of the trio. He wears a cowboy hat and boots, has long brown hair and a mustache, and has a pronounced nose and chin. Phineas T. Phreak is the most politically active. He has black hair and beard and a prominent nose that looks like a joint. Fat Freddy Freekowtski is the most hedonistic and the dumbest. He has curly blonde hair and a mustache. Fat Freddy’s Cat was spun-off into in his own strips.
Buy The Fabulous Furry Freak Brothers: Times of No Money: The Early Years (Vol. 1)Fantagraphics is collecting Shelton’s work in a new seven-book series, Freak Brothers Follies. Each deluxe hardcover features a special die-cut cover. Times of No Money: The Early Years (Volume 1, although the sixth to be released) contains Brothers strips and stories ranging from May 1968 through 1973, Cat strips, and miscellaneous strips, songs, jams, posters, pin-ups, and covers. The book opens with an Introduction about Shelton’s early days.
The first strip is titled “Those Lovable Furry Freak Brothers” and finds the boys dealing with a common dilemma: pay rent or buy grass? Franklin says, “screw the rent…because grass will carry you through times of no money better than money will carry you through times of no grass.” But Freddy pulls a Jack in the Beanstalk move and comes back with a giant magic marijuana seed. In a later strip, a similar premise plays out as Freddy takes their $15 for grass, spends $8 on beer at a bar, and comes home with…parsley.
Freddy being the cause of the brothers problems is a common theme. While most of the strips don’t have titles, “Passions of a Paranoid”offers a funny plot. Rumors of the cops having to use warrants before they expire cause Franklin and Phineas to get rid of all their grass, but it turns out Freddie started the rumor to drive prices down. While Franklin and Phineas are in the middle of a 256-hour hallucinogenic binge, they decide to sneak into the woods to steal some grass from a pot patch they know. They leave a trail of amphetamine pills to find their way back, which seemed like a good idea until they see Freddy picking them up as he approaches them.
In the longer serial, “The Freak Brothers Visit Their Parents,” readers learn about the Brothers’ families when they go home after getting evicted. Phineas’ dad is a member of right-wing Birch Society. Freddie hasn’t been home in five years and ends up naked in a tub with a hot chick whose name he should have asked for. Franklin doesn’t know his parents, though may encounter one of them. During this serial, the strips appear at the bottom of page, presumably how they originally appeared, but some have writing so small, I needed a magnifier to read them.
Shelton parodies his “peers” in a strip from 1970 where young comic characters like (unnamed) Charlie Brown, Nancy, and Dennis the Menace want drugs. He also drew strips starring Tricky Prickears, the blind, deaf cop; Little Orphan Amphetamine; and spoofed S. Clay Wilson’s the Checkered Demon.
In addition to the counterculture comedy and commentary, Shelton’s skill as an artist is showcased. Many of the strips run four or five panel rows to a page. He draws good facial expressions and body language that makes clear the emotion of the characters. The setting details evoke the the location. The stories where he gets three rows also the panels to breathe as he takes advantage of the space.
Towards the end of the book is “First Appearances,” which provides a history of the strips and explains the sources for the remastered comics. Of note is a mention of the “ in-character / author-ironic disparagement of women” that “becomes almost non-existent in the following volumes,” which is a relief as the females are poorly written caricatures.
Times of No Money is a very good introduction to Shelton’s strip. Those who lived through the times or have/had similar experiences will identify with the characters and situations, but it’s not required to enjoy the stories and humor.
