In Memoriam: Frank H. Stack (1937-2026)

Frank Stack displaying caricature

 he drew of Xu Ying. Gijón, Spain. 

October 2006

 by John A. Lent

In a news world where we incessantly hear of the bad guys--mass murderers, crooked, two-faced politicians, warmongers, greedy, self-serving corporations, and the lot, the good among us do not get their due attention.

Being affiliated with the comics art community for a considerable time, I have been fortunate to have known many individuals who have been a credit to humanity. On that list was Frank Huntington Stack (1937-2026), who died April 12.

Frank was part of the University of Texas triumvirate credited with ushering in underground comics while with the university’s humor magazine, The Texas Ranger. Frank was the magazine’s editor in his sophomore year, 1958-1959, followed by Gilbert Shelton (1940- ) in 1962. Jack Edward Jackson (Jaxon, 1941-2006) was a staff member a few years later before being fired over a censorship violation.

Left to right:  John A. Lent, 

Frank Stack, and Gilbert Shelton, 

with their awards. 

Gijón, Spain. October 2006.

The threesome was variously and integrally intermingled:  Stack published Shelton’s early work in The Texas Ranger during his editorship; Shelton returned the favor in 1962, bringing out Stack’s comic strip, “The Adventures of Jesus,” first in the Ranger, and in 1964, collecting about a dozen of the strips in a 14-page, Xerox zine of 40 copies that he handed out around campus. Shelton and others consider Stack’s strip to be the first underground comic, although in contention among some is Jackson’s 42-page, satirical comic book, God Nose, one thousand copies of which were printed surreptitiously at the Texas State Capital print shop in 1964. Other connections were that Jackson and Shelton were two of the four co-founders of Rip Off Press in 1969, and Jackson and Stack used pseudonyms to protect their jobs, Jaxon and Foolbert Sturgeon, respectively.

Stack taught art and printmaking at the University of Missouri, from 1962 to 2001, retiring as professor emeritus, was an accomplished watercolor painter, and a regular contributor to Harvey Pekar’s American Splendor.

I spent time with Frank and Gilbert from Oct. 11 through 14, 2006, in Gijón, Spain. We were among about 20 individuals being honored at the XXX Salón Internacional del Cómic del Principado de Asturias.

 Both were casual, engaging, and unpretentious, down-to-earth types of guys that it is a pleasure to fraternize with. However, after Gijón, Frank and I did not keep contact, but I admirably followed his endeavors over the years.

Left to right:  John A. Lent, Gilbert Shelton, and Xu Ying, Gijón, Spain. October 2006.

Caricature of Xu Ying by Frank Stack. 

Gijón, Spain. October 2006.

Gilbert and I crossed paths a few times since 2006. While attending a conference in Paris in 2008, he arranged for me to meet him in his studio, where he introduced me to his studio partner and showed me around. We adjourned to a nearby restaurant where my wife, Xu Ying, and I dined with Shelton and his spouse, Lora Fountain (1944- ), an important literary agent. Over the course of the next couple decades, Gilbert agreed to be on the advisory board of the International Journal of Comic Art, and, in 2019, sent me at unsolicited (but welcomed) manuscript he wrote in his whimsical style about a Soviet Union underground cartoonist’s exhibit of which he was a part in 1990, for publication in IJOCA.

We, the staff of the International Journal of Comic Art, express our deepest condolences to the family of Frank Stack, and to his many fans and students. We are proud to have known him.

________________________

John A. Lent is the founder, publisher, and editor-in-chief of the International Journal of Comic Art and professor emeritus of communications, having taught in universities in Canada, China, Malaysia, Philippines, and the U.S., from 1960-2011.