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RepositoryUniversity Archives and Special Collections Centre
Reference NumberLCO/1/5
TitleOne-shots, first issues and single issues
DescriptionThis series contains one-shots, first editions and single issue comics collected by Les Coleman. A one-shot comic is a one-off title and a stand-alone issue. Traditionally one-shot comics have been more common in counter-cultural comic book movements where artists and publishers have had to work with smaller budgets and have had fewer resources to commit to extended runs. Moreover one-shot comics have provided the opportunity for an artist or group of artists to experiment without committing to a long-term concept, idea or collaboration. Accordingly the majority of one-shots in the Coleman collection were produced by one artist or collaboration or centred on a specific character or subject matter.

Within the collection there are several one-shot comics from the underground comic-book era of particular note. These include Justin Green's three renowned and precedent setting autobiographical one-shot comics 'Binky Brown meets the Holy Virgin Mary', 'Sacred and Profane', and 'Show and Tell Comics'. Additionally there are notable one-shot comics from Rory Hayes, S Clay Wilson, Spain Rodriguez, Victor Moscoso and Dori Seda. Underground comic book artists would frequently collaborate to create one-shots, often in the name of a specific cause or to raise awareness or donations for charitable reasons. Notable cause driven collaborative one-shots in the collection include; 'It Aint Me Babe', a women's liberation comic created by a collaboration between various female underground cartoonists, 'Facts of Life Funnies', focuses on a range of sexual health and education related issues, and 'Energy Comics', draws attention to environmental issues.

As well as cause driven comics, underground comics would often collaborate around specific, sometimes esoteric, themes or subjects. For example 'Lemme Outta Here', a comic centred around the mundanity of American suburban life, 'Corporate Crime Comics', collects stories based on white collar criminals, and 'Tales from the Tube', a surfing themed comic. As with many of the underground comic books in the collection, several of the one-shots deal with adult and explicit themes.

Overall there are significantly more one-shots from the underground comic era than the alternative era in this series. It is difficult to fully ascertain whether this is due to the fact that one-shots fell out of fashion and were published with less frequency or whether Coleman had less interest in collecting them. Although there are fewer in the collection Coleman managed to accumulate several notable alternative era one-shots by artists such as Kaz, Joe Coleman, Jerry Moriaty, Dennis Worden, Jim Woodring and JR Williams.

In addition to one-shot comics this series also contains first issues or single issues from comic book runs of which Coleman did not collect subsequent or additional issues. There are myriad reasons as to why the collection contains only the first issue or single issues from a larger series though the most likely one is that Coleman simply lacked the resources or inclination to invest in a particular title or artist. These have been arranged alongside the one-shots because they are too few in number to make their own series yet still provide significant insight into Coleman's comic book tastes and collecting habits.
CreatorLes Coleman
Extent202 items (13 boxes)
LevelSeries
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