Art, Politics and Punk: An Interview with Elizabeth Fiend, aka Luna Ticks

In a scene reminiscent of a London ravaged during the worst of the Blitz, a young punk named Vera boldly rides her skateboard. In this space, Vera encounters a pack of feral, non-speaking children and requests ‘Brain,’ a psychedelic drug made from the neural tissue of a pigeon abused to death. Taking the drug while having sex with her partner, Vera embarks on a journey via astral projection. As her consciousness wanders, she witnesses her sister Singe hit herself with a whip as part of the ‘flagellant cult,’ a group “purif[ied] thru pain” and “transformed by faith.” These events make up parts 1 and 2 of Brain: A Tender Tale of Two Sisters, a comic by ‘Luna Ticks’ for Weirdo #20 and #21 (Last Gasp, 1987). The story has painterly qualities and a dark yet psychedelic stiltedness and flatness that differentiates it from the slick ‘cartoony’ comics by Dori Seda, William Clark or Carol Tyler in the same issues.

Luna Ticks is Elizabeth Fiend, a proudly Philadelphian bibliographic specialist whose work in comics dates back to handing out xeroxed strips under the banner title "The Young and the Frustrated" at '80s punk shows, and who now produces journalistic nonfiction articles on healthful living, extolling the benefits of washing one’s hands ("Stop the Flu, Stop Colds, Stop Getting Sick - Wash Your Hands!") or offering instruction on how to order from garden catalogs ("The Do’s and Don’ts of Ordering from Garden Catalogs"). You can find her current writing on her blog SLAW.me. After discovering Luna Ticks’ backstory, I wondered how the same mind could imagine dystopian fiction combining A Boy and His Dog with Hellraiser and then discuss how to host vegetarian Super Bowl parties. So a conversation was necessary.

With the relatively recent releases of Jon B. Cooke’s The Book of Weirdo (Last Gasp, 2019) and an omnibus collection of Joyce Farmer’s and Lyn Chevli’s 1972-87 pro-sex feminist anthology Tits & Clits (Fantagraphics, 2023)—the final issue of which also contained a story by Luna Ticks—I felt that interviewing a contributor with little information about her in public would add to comics scholarship, especially since she was also a highly active participant in the fanzine scene of the 1980s. In the following article, we discuss the effects of punk on her comics, how her comics are more like her later journalistic output than one might expect, and how censorship stalled her work in comics (and may continue to do so). That last point is particularly relevant when authorities seem increasingly interested in censoring graphic memoirs like Gender Queer and Maus.

On April 27, 2023, I sent an invitation to meet with Elizabeth Fiend via video conference, and she agreed. Through email, Fiend gave me written consent to record the conversation on May 13, and I spoke with her on May 15. I used Zoom to host the discussion, interacting with her for 1 hour and 32 minutes.

-Edward Dorey

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EDWARD DOREY: In his description of post-punk and hardcore in the book The Other Eighties [Hill and Wang, 2011], Bradford Martin observes, "Visual images associated with post-punk ranged from the Butthole Surfers’ films, showed at live performances and depicting penis reconstruction surgery, to the all-women band L7s T-shirts picturing a dominating female forcing cunnilingus on a submissive male." Hence, visual imagery was not new to the post-punk scene when you were giving out your minicomics at punk shows in the mid to late '80s. Why did you choose to produce comics when you could have focused on other forms of visual art?

ELIZABETH FIEND: I was not opposed to other art forms. Alternative mediums that you are not aware of also interested me.

Let me emphasize that punk was an anti-bourgeois movement. When making comics, punkness was a core part of my identity. The music scene stresses the importance of do-it-yourself (DIY) production. For example, in 1980, there was no established infrastructure - no punk stores, clothes, venues, etc. Acquaintances, not hired staff, would hand out posters and collect money at shows.

To me, comics were the only anti-bourgeois art form that replicated the DIY philosophy of punk. They were not typically showcased in galleries at that time. So the comics medium was the only one for me. Also, independently produced fanzines, which often included comics and were massively produced, were an integral outlet of artistic creativity unburdened by corporate interest in the '80s. These fanzines provided an outlet for my cartoons, and thousands of these zines were in circulation.

I also want to highlight that my comics enabled me to connect with people across the United States. In the '80s, longform communication by letter was common, and writing to fanzines was a way to get to know other punk bands and people. My comics helped me stand out and connect with people whom I never saw nor met in person.

Did you observe when or whether comics ceased being ‘anti-bourgeois’?

No, I stopped creating comics around 1991. I crafted another story, a really good one, that Aline [Kominsky-Crumb, artist and editor] accepted for Weirdo, but then the publication folded.

I ought to preface my answer by stating something curious: comics were and are not of particular interest to me. I never seriously indulged in any comics before producing mine. Comics were not part of my reading material during the creative process, and I still maintain this tradition. I have only visited two comic stores in my entire life.

Nevertheless, an avid reader is talking to you. For much of my life, a library has served as my employer. As a child, I obsessively read science fiction books. I take pleasure in looking at pictures and words, yet when those two items are combined, I can merely focus on one at a time. If I truly wish to delve into a comic, I will read the text first, then go back and peruse the illustrations.

Do you believe that this apathy towards the medium provided you with a perspective that differentiates you from other artists in the field?

Art assignments are not for me, for I can only illustrate what I want to.

Comics did not appeal to me because cartoonists in the '60s, '70s, and early '80s did not design comics for women. As a feminist and politically engaged individual since elementary school, I despised the simplicity and sexism found throughout the medium.

I read Heavy Metal, but it portrayed women as mere giant-breasted sex objects and violent people. Finding Tits & Clits was possible, but that series never crossed my path as a young woman.

Indeed, Trina Robbins has shared some intriguing tales about the not-so-easy life of a female comics enthusiast in the mid to late 20th century.

Your narratives often include characters who are detached from mainstream society, seeking solace in sexual or drug-induced euphoria - e.g., Vera’s use of the psychoactive drug ‘Brain’ in Brain: A Tender Tale of Two Sisters and "The Young and the Frustrated"’s protagonist’s reliance on sex hotlines in Tits & Clits #7 (Last Gasp, 1987). Comparatively, your posts on the SLAW.me blog and the Big Tea Party show [a Philadelphia local television segment hosted and written by Fiend from 1998 and later online] reflect your passion for political action and factual nonfiction related to causes such as environmental protection and the effort to end the AIDS epidemic. Why are the fictional figures in your comics so different from you?

Would you expect Stephen King to be like the characters in his stories?

Actually, many of his books’ protagonists are writers.

Damn! And I do write about punks…

To go against your misconception, I will say my works embody a punk aesthetic. My stories are the kinds of ones that captivate me: post-apocalyptic tales in Mad Max-esque dystopian worlds! During the '80s, I lived with individuals who seemed to inhabit a world after its demise. Additionally, as with Vera, mainstream society seemed very much apart from me throughout my 20s. There were the punks and the other people; I lived with the punks.

Note that politics do subtly permeate my cartoons. For example, many of the punks in my stories are diverse in a way atypical for popular media: no matter the racial or sexual background, everyone coexists.

In my Big Tea Party videos, that radicalism continued. After watching my productions, strangers approached me, remarking, ‘Those videos are so powerful because the interviewees and those in the background are just people.’ Big Tea Party never focused on, say, African history; rather, we put our efforts into making everyone feel equal, pointing out commonalities rather than differences.

Regarding the aforementioned Tits & Clits piece, it is political because it serves as the inception of my ‘One-Woman Vegetable-Awareness Campaign,’¹ renouncing sugary candies and bad food, encouraging more people to go down the produce aisle. While the protagonist in "The Young and the Frustrated" in Tits & Clits #7 may not directly purchase vegetables (I wanted to be realistic), she does switch from candy to fruit (Figures 1 and 2).

The dieting that I feature in the Tits & Clits comic is like elimination diets that many subscribe to these days - e.g., the keto or paleo diets. Both food restrictions emerge from the fact that people have a hard time controlling the number of calories they ingest, so they have to put many things in the ‘No!’ category. My cartoon parodies this concept by proposing an alternative ‘elimination diet’ that involves masturbating when one feels hungry.

The moral of the Tits & Clits piece is that one should attempt to be healthy for oneself, not others. I was always the ‘healthy-party-punk,’ the ‘healthy-party-girl.’

My development followed a linear progression. I made cartoons in the '80s. Then, I was in the band More Fiends for years and later had my own television show. Eventually, a leadership role within the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME) labor union opened for me. One ages: one’s identity in their 20s differs from that in their 30s. Some people do not evolve, but most mature.

What were the subtle political elements of Brain: A Tender Tale of Two Sisters? After all, that seems to be about a woman simply pursuing pleasure via psychedelics.

What an offensive assessment! Jesus wants you to say things like that! Imagine if you chose to prepare a delicious dinner for your friends and if you grew your own tomatoes. Then, think about having to peel those tomatoes, make them into sauce, stew the sauce for hours, and place these special seasonings in the concoction. Afterward, you would make your own pasta. If you invite your friends over and share this glorious, homemade meal, then you are acting in a collectivist manner - no one would label that as a selfish pursuit of pleasure.

In Vera’s case, her encounter with 'Brain' goes beyond individual gratification. It involves forging a psychic connection with her sister and sexually sharing her body with someone else while on a trip. Additionally, now, much talk exists regarding using mushrooms in clinical settings to treat PTSD or trauma.

What did you know about Last Gasp [the publisher] when you submitted your work to Weirdo?

Nothing. I did not know anything. While I had heard of Robert Crumb and was familiar with Fritz the Cat, fanzines introduced me to comics. The underground and alternative comic press had much crossover with fanzines. Prominent figures like Mary Fleener, Dennis Worden, Peter Bagge and Kaz, who were influential in the underground scene, also contributed to various fanzines. I corresponded with many individuals involved in both domains.

The thought of putting my work into a ‘real’ comic book never occurred to me. And I was lucky to get into any! If Peter Bagge had been the editor of the Weirdo issues to which I submitted my work, he probably would have rejected them. Comparatively, Aline proved to be the perfect fit.

What was the milieu of the '80s like when you were producing your work for underground comics?

The case of Robert Mapplethorpe illustrates the animosity directed toward avant-garde art in the era. Mapplethorpe, known for his photography of gay bathhouses, held an exhibit that started in Philadelphia with no problems. But when Mapplethorpe’s traveling gallery got to Washington D.C., some Republicans saw the art and panicked, partly due to Mapplethorpe’s inclusion of numerous photographs depicting gay men during the AIDS pandemic. Consequently, conservatives began to push to defund PBS, the public arts and NPR. They wanted to get rid of art.

What do you think of art galleries?

Due to their exclusivity, I am not always a fan of art shows. Comics are mass-produced and accessible to a wider audience. While one can likely find a Mapplethorpe book showcasing his photographs, art exhibits remain confined to restricted environments. I always yearned to share my work with the masses.

Comics are great because they are tangible objects. In contrast, with painting, one person may own the piece and usually exhibit it briefly rather than give it to others to touch and interact with.

In part 1 of Brain, you portray children in a manner like another creative - Doris Lessing. When Vera searches for ‘Brain,’ she encounters ‘packs of kids’ who torture pigeons to create the substance (Figure 3). These minors resemble those in Lessing’s The Memoirs of a Survivor, which also portrays gangs of bestial youth with "no friendships… only minute-by-minute alliances." In your SLAW.me overview of your comic career, you mention that Lessing’s book inspired you. Why did you want to use a Lessing-esque depiction of juveniles in this story?

The story takes place in a world similar to Mad Max. I felt like we could live in a kind of post-apocalyptic world due to the alarming nature of the '80s. Sure, the present is unnerving, but the '80s had a unique quality. Going from Jimmy Carter, a liberal unfortunately neutered by the Iranian hostage situation, to Ronald and Nancy Reagan, represented a distressing shift to the right. The culture war unfolded during Reagan’s presidency, though thankfully punk was there.

I am not making up things when I say that people would attempt to harm me and my punk friends throughout the decade. Our friend group was comprised of a tall, flamboyant Mexican man who was openly gay, a Black woman, another gay man, a dwarf, and my husband and me. At intersections, people would stop their cars, run out of their vehicles, and shout at us, yelling, ‘Why are you doing this to me?’ This situation is similar to how people will openly treat immigrants whom they feel are taking a piece of the pie.

Furthermore, we truly thought that Russia might bomb the United States. The Cold War felt hot in the '80s, even though much of this fear was imaginary. In comparison, mass shootings occur frequently and are real in a way that bombs from Russia to the United States were not.

With the novel’s roving gangs and slow degradation of the government and normal hierarchies, I felt that Memoirs of a Survivor was one of the most realistic depictions of the breakdown of society that seemed to be coming about in the '80s.

Do you see your punk group as like the roving gangs of children in Brain?

Honestly, my punk group of friends did not perceive ourselves like that. Undeniably, we were outsiders, appearing strange. The police treated me and my community horribly, surveilling us and busting our parties (which we may or may not have deserved at times).

However, akin to the children in Memoirs, punk provided me with the chance to help create a subculture rather than step into one already made. I was at the right age and time.

Going back to my question regarding the political elements of Brain, I must emphasize that, to me, Vera was selfish because she wants children to murder a pigeon in order to get a psychedelic drug. Were you trying to present Vera as an anti-hero or display her moral ambiguity?

The pigeon represents punks. Outsiders would label us ‘pigeons’ or ‘rats.’ I saw preppies and yuppies attending punk shows and then declaring us to be those animals. Like the pigeon in the story, many perceived punks as disposable.

Making that narrative, I was stepping out of my comfort zone. I do not eat animals because I hate killing them.

Did the growth in the popularity of sadomasochism inspire your portrayal of the flagellant cult (Figure 4)?² What encouraged you to talk about the flagellants in 1987?

I know nothing about S&M.

What other than S&M encouraged you to have the flagellants in the narrative?

They simply came to me. The flagellants are very punk: many people in the movement would do things like put safety pins through their lips. But I have no other conscious reason to include the flagellants.

According to the introduction of the recent Tits & Clits re-release, Ron Turner [the owner of Last Gasp, which published the later issues of Tits & Clits] claimed that your original story for Tits & Clits #7 contained "passe" elements in the form of S&M, yet the [later, 1988] piece that you shared with me is more about prostate massage than sadomasochism (Figure 5). What do you think motivated Turner to be so against your story? Do you think it was the blunt, anal stimulation of a man? Ron Turner agreed to publish your portrayal of the vaguely S&M (to me) flagellant cult in Weirdo #20.

Ron’s decision was likely an economic one, so I understand why he omitted the image. Upon overviewing the introduction to the Tits & Clits re-release, one will see that it includes little discussion regarding the culture of the '80s. But the decade was a gruesome time for those who supported artistic freedom in comics. Crumb and Weirdo were caught up in a lot of battles related to censorship, although publishers, not the creators, more often faced prosecution. Mainstream America thought that comics were for children, so legislators often assumed that comics not for kids were innately offensive. As an example, in Chicago, a case occurred [Illinois v. Correa] wherein some police raided a comic book store that they thought was selling ‘pornographic’ comics; a state statute allowed prosecution for selling or distributing ‘obscene’ material. At first, the comic book store’s manager [Michael Correa] was merely arrested for selling works with sexual elements [like Omaha the Cat Dancer], but he would later face charges for retailing less overtly sexual works [e.g., Ms. Tree and Elfquest]. The law seemingly wanted to attack all black & white comics, and that is why creatives began to work with this comic form less.

After Ron made his decision, Mary Fleener [the co-editor of the issue] called me up, saying, ‘Just do another story.’ The final piece was fluffy, but the theme of healthy eating found a place within the work.

I was prideful that my cartoon was on the other side of the line, that it was too raunchy for Tits & Clits. Yet, later, I discovered that Ron said he considered the comic too ‘old-fashioned,’ too last decade. I would have preferred that he expressed his honest fears and reluctance to take an economic risk with the comic.

Beyond the health-conscious element of the story that actually made it into Tits & Clits, what do you like about the comic?

Its focus on a woman masturbating was challenging for the status quo. Eighties culture considered female masturbation an untouchable topic, though every woman was doing it. So I felt as if I were contributing to broader social acceptance by creating this work.

My Tits & Clits piece belonged to a series I made called "The Young and the Frustrated," which was feminist in that it showed women being ‘on top.’ "The Young and the Frustrated" featured women who were naughty, alluring, and horny.

What was the truth in the blue chapbook (1986) [installment of] your series Flash of Frustration? Did a woman punk, in fact, rape a suburban man and go to jail for her crime in the late '80s (Figure 6)? Or was this ‘rape’ that you mention in the piece a metaphor?

No, I made that plot point up. It was a flip! Concurrently to the story’s publication, women would go to the suburbs and get raped. The woman punk says that she molested the man from the ‘burbs because ‘he was a trendy with a headband.’ Men might justify assaulting a punk girl based on her idiosyncratic style. By describing him as ‘a trendy with a headband,’ I was highlighting the irrationality of this flawed logic. (Lib [the protagonist] is a bad girl.) The cartoon was unpopular as many punks were men, and they did not care for my reversal.

In [the comments to] a Facebook post, you mentioned being afraid of people having extensive knowledge about your comic work. What is the reason behind this fear?

I have concerns about getting doxxed, that someone will come to my house and shoot me. In the '80s, no one made threats, although creepy individuals would write letters to me praising the sexual elements in my cartoons because they found those things intriguing. I was censored many times by editors or even print shop owners. And there were negative letters to editors and other reactions by readers - but these weren’t violent actions, which are much more common today.

Nowadays, I do not think the world is safe. The fact that my comics are commonly about feminism, idiosyncratic future-now worlds, and alternative sex—gay, anal, woman-on-top, group, or interracial— makes me uneasy in today's anti-women, anti-sexual minority, and censoriously politically motivated society. Someone could target an artist, making that creative the poster child for heinous accusations and violent actions. I have seen this happen to some of my friends who are AIDS activists.

I do not want to face similar persecution. My hope is for this culture war to end with people finally accepting sexual minorities, women and ‘weirdos.’

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The interviewer would like to thank Kelly Russell and Elizabeth Mateshuk for their assistance in
looking over this transcript. Moreover, Ben Saunders aided the interview by helping refine my
questions for Elizabeth Fiend.

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‘About Us’ (2022) Heavy Metal. Available here. (Accessed: 4 June 2023).

A Boy and His Dog (1975). LQ/Jaf Productions.

ACT UP, Fight Back: Ending an Epidemic (2016). Available here. (Accessed: 5 June 2023).

Clark, W. (1987) ‘Beach Blanket’, Weirdo #21, pp. 9–14.

Cooke, J.B. (2019) The Book of Weirdo: A Retrospective of R. Crumb’s Legendary Humor Comics Anthology. San Francisco, California: Last Gasp.

Farmer, J. et al. (2023) Tits & Clits: 1972-1987. First Fantagraphics Books edition. Edited by S. Meier. Seattle, WA: Fantagraphics Books.

Fiend, E. (1986) ‘Flash of Frustration’, Flash of Frustration.

Fiend, E. (1987a) ‘Come to Me’, Weirdo #21, pp. 40–42.

Fiend, E. (1987b) ‘The Young and the Frustrated’, Tits & Clits #7, pp. 27–29.

Fiend, E. (1987c) ‘The Young and the Frustrated’, Weirdo #20, pp. 25–26.

Fiend, E. (1988) The Young and the Frustrated [Comic book].

Fiend, E. (2012) ‘Democracy and the 51ft Inflatable Joint Come to the Mummers Parade’, SLAW.me. Available here. (Accessed: 20 June 2023).

Fiend, E. (2014) ‘Buy Local, or Buy Organic?’, SLAW.me. Available here. (Accessed: 5 June 2023).

Fiend, E. (2016) ‘How “the Tea Party” Ruined “Big Tea Party”’, SLAW.me. Available here. (Accessed: 4 June 2023).

Fiend, E. (2017) ‘I Once Was a Super Bowl Party Expert’, SLAW.me. Available here. (Accessed: 4 June 2023).

Fiend, E. (2019) ‘What Makes Luna Tick? The Book of Weirdo Essay by Elizabeth Fiend aka Luna Ticks’, SLAW.me. Available here. (Accessed: 5 June 2023).

Fiend, E. (2020a) ‘Stop the Flu, Stop Colds, Stop Getting Sick — Wash Your Hands!’, SLAW.me. Available here. (Accessed: 4 June 2023).

Fiend, E. (2020b) ‘The Do’s and Don’ts of Ordering from Garden Catalogs’, SLAW.me. Available here. (Accessed: 4 June 2023).

Fiend, E. (2023a) Elizabeth Fiend [Facebook] 25 January. Available here. (Accessed 5 June 2023).

Fiend, E. (2023b) Email to Edward Dorey, 13 May.

Fiend, E. (2023c) Email to Edward Dorey, 5 May.

Gomez, B. (2013) ‘CBLDF Case Files — Illinois v. Correa’, Comic Book Legal Defense Fund. Available here. (Accessed: 5 June 2023).

Gunning, C. (2021) ‘Why So Many of Stephen King’s Protagonists Are Writers’, Screen Rant. Available here. (Accessed: 5 June 2023).

Hellraiser (1987). Entertainment Film Distributors.

Ishizuka, K. (2022) ‘Banned Books—“Gender Queer,” “Maus,” “Antiracist Baby”—See Jump in Sales’, School Library Journal, 23 May. Available here. (Accessed: 4 June 2023).

Lessing, D. (1974) The Memoirs of a Survivor. 1st American Ed. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, Inc.

Mad Max (1979). Roadshow Film Distributors.

Martin, B.D. (2011) The Other Eighties: A Secret History of America in the Age of Reagan. 1st ed. New York: Hill and Wang.

Meier, S. (2023) ‘A Tip of the Teat to Nanny Goat Productions’, in S. Meier (ed.) Tits & Clits: 1972-1987. Fantagraphics Books, Inc., pp. xi–xliv.

‘People v. Correa’ (2012) Comic Book Legal Defense Fund. Available here. (Accessed: 5 June 2023)

Robbins, T. (2016) ‘Babes & Women’, in The Complete Wimmen’s Comix. Fantagraphics Books, Inc., pp. vii–xiii.

‘Sadomasochism’ (2023). Google Books Ngram Viewer. Available here. (Accessed: 5 June 2023).

Seda, D. (1987) ‘How My Family Encouraged Me to Become an Artist!’, Weirdo #20, pp. 1–2.

Tannenbaum, J. (1991) ‘Robert Mapplethorpe: The Philadelphia Story’, Art Journal, 50(4), pp. 71–76. Available at: https://doi.org/10.2307/777326.

‘Tits and Clits 1972-1987’ (2023) Publishers Weekly. Available here. (Accessed: 7 June 2023).

Tyler, C. (1987) ‘Un-Covered Property, Weirdo #21, pp. 27–32.

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1. See more information about Fiend’s ‘One-Woman Vegetable Awareness Campaign’ in her SLAW.me article "Democracy and the 51ft Inflatable Joint Come to the Mummers Parade" (2012).
2. According to the Google Books Ngram Viewer, the word ‘sadomasochism’ grew in popularity exponentially from 1959 to 1995.