22 Facts About Clay Geerdes

Clay Geerdes was a writer, photojournalist, publisher, and teacher, who covered various events from anti-Vietnam war demonstrations in Berkeley, to productions of Freestore and The Cockettes, to the underground comics business.

Clay Geerdes grew up in Lincoln, Nebraska and was an avid collector of Batman, Superman, and Bugs Bunny comic books.

When Clay Geerdes was in his mid-teens, his father died after a long illness.

Clay Geerdes worked in a number of small jobs at cafes, hotels, and grocery stores in the Lincoln area.

Clay Geerdes enlisted in the US Navy in 1954 and served a 4-year tour.

Clay Geerdes served on the USS Chemung and visited numerous ports from Australia to Japan.

Clay Geerdes enrolled at the University of California, Berkeley, to study for a doctorate in English literature.

Clay Geerdes's dissertation was complete, but he was more interested in the growing political movement at Berkeley than completing his last few classes.

Clay Geerdes got a teaching job in 1965 in the English department at Fresno State College.

Clay Geerdes's classes were mostly for the freshmen student body, covering standard college literature.

Clay Geerdes left Fresno State College after nearly three years to teach at Sonoma State College in their English department, an appointment which had ended by 1972.

Clay Geerdes's first published work was in Michael Corrigan's Pillar, but his photojournalism career started in 1968 with the Los Angeles Free Press.

Clay Geerdes's articles covered a variety of subjects from the demonstrations in People's Park to the personalities in underground comic books.

Clay Geerdes was a long-time contributor to Adam, Hustler, and Knight magazines.

Clay Geerdes wrote articles on Brand, Ron Turner, Robert Crumb, Fred Schrier, Dave Sheridan, Gilbert Shelton, and other personalities in underground comix.

Clay Geerdes was heavily involved with Berkeleycon, the first comic book convention that really highlighted underground comix; held in 1973,1974, and 1976.

Clay Geerdes worked with numerous people in this new era of underground comics, such as Kevin Eastman, Jim Valentino, Par Holman, Bob Vojtko, David Miller, Brad Foster, and many others.

The last publication Clay Geerdes wrote for was the Anderson Valley Advertiser from 1995 to 1997.

Clay Geerdes was a frequent contributor, writing about aspects of his life and his observations of current events.

Clay Geerdes's photographs have appeared in numerous publications after his death in 1997.

Clay Geerdes shot the cover photograph for Michael Corrigan's hybrid memoir, Confessions of a Shanty Irishman.

Clay Geerdes died on July 8,1997, in San Francisco from liver cancer.