Underground comix broke all the rules of traditional American comics and defied the Comics Code Authority to create their own trail-blazing works. The American Comic dates to the 1880s, and since the 1920s, comics have gone “underground” with Tijuana bibles that tested censorship. In 1954 The Comics Code Authority was formed as a response to a cultural panic about how comics were affecting American Youth, and in particular targeted EC Comics, an inspiration to many comix artists. In the 1960s, the countercultural movement in America along with the birth of the Student Press Movement and printing processes being easier to do than ever before, Underground comix were born. Although comix artists came from all over the US, the central focus of the countercultural movement and much of Underground comix's creation in its heyday was in San Francisco. Joel Beck’s “Lenny of Laredo” was the first underground comix, but many cite Robert Crumb’s first issue of “Zap” in 1968 as the birth of underground comix as a movement. “Zap” inspired many comix artists and the number of comix grew rapidly after its debut. Women’s comix were created as a response to exclusion, with “Wimmen’s Comix” starting in 1972. 1973 was the year that comix crashed due to the counterculture movement's decline, the overproduction of comix, and the ruling of Miller v. California. Alternative comics live on as the legacy of underground comix and enjoy the freedom of artistic freedom and content that underground comix helped secure.  TIMELINE1880s  – Comics began publication in American newspapers 1895   – The Yellow Kid by Richard Outcault first published1914   – Krazy Kat by Geroge Herriman first published 1920s   – Tijuana Bibles began to be published 1930s   – Comic book began in America 1931   – Alice Schenker (born Alice Olsen) born in Racine, WI 1933   – Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster created Superman1936-1939   – The comic magazine format became popular1936  – Victor Moscoso born in Spain 1937  – Frank Stack born in Houston, TX1938  – Gary Arlington born in San Jose, CA 1938  – Trina Robbins born in Brooklyn, NY 1939   – “She Saw The World’s Fair” published by Wesley Morse 1939   – Harvey Pekar born in Cleveland, OH 1939  – Richard “Grass” Green born in Fort Wayne, IN1940-1950s   – Comic burnings became common in America 1940  – Gilbert Shelton born in Houston, TX 1940  – Manuel “Spain” Reodriguez born in Buffalo, NY 1941  – Vaughn Bodé born in Utica, NY 1941  – S. Clay Wilson (Steven Clay Wilson) born in Lincoln, Nebraska 1941  – Jack “Jaxon” Jackson born in Texas 1942   – Rand Holmes born in Nova Scotia 1942  – Dan O’Neil born 1943   – Joel Beck born in Ross, CA 1943  – Robert Williaams born in Los Angeles, CA 1944   – George Herriman dies 1944  – Howard Cruse is born in Birmingham, AL 1943  – Robert Crumb born in Philadelphia, PA 1944  – Rick Griffin born in California 1944   – Bill Griffith born 1944   – Kim Deitch born in Los Angeles, CA 1944   – Max Gaines establishes Educational Comics1944   – Mervyn “Skip” Williamson born in San Antonio, TX 1945  – Lee Mars born 1947   – Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster sued in NY Supreme Court to regain their rights to Superman; they lose the case and their jobs at DC Comics1947   – Jay Lynch born in Orange, NJ 1947   – Max Gaines dies in a boat crash; son William Gaines takes over EC Comics1948   – Art Spiegelman born in Stockholm, Sweden 1948  – Barbara “Willy” Mendes born 1948  – Aline Kominsky-Crumb born in Long Beach, NY1949  – Marry Wings born Mary Geller in Chicago, IL 1950s   – Student Press Movement starts 1950   – Educational Comics becomes Entertaining Comics under William Gaines 1950  – Gary Panter born in Durant, OK 1951  – Mary Fleener born1952-1956   – Harvey Kurtzman is the editor of MAD Magazine 1953  – Roberta Gregory born in Los Angeles, CA 1954   – “Seduction of the Innocent” by psychiatrist Frederick Werthan published  1954   – Comics Code Authority established 1954  – Victor Moscoso starts at Cooper Unio