Terminal Exposure Comics, Sculpture, and Risky Behavior

<b>The first-ever collection of comics and assorted artwork by Michael McMillan—not only a legendary underground cartoonist, but also a sculptor, painter, printmaker, filmmaker, animator, poster designer, and an avid rock climber.</b><br><br>Michael McMillan has said he’s “not really a cartoonist,” but the evidence suggests otherwise. Born and raised in California, he studied architecture and design before a visit in 1969 to an exhibition of Chicago’s Hairy Who and encounters with the bourgeoning San Francisco underground comix scene convinced McMillan to make his own comics.<br><br>He plunged in, drawing for legendary publications like <i>Weirdo</i>, <i>Young Lust</i>, <i>Lemme Out Here</i>, <i>Arcade</i>, and eventually his own one-issue wonder, <i>Terminal</i>. Over the following decades, McMillian kept playing with the form of comics. He reimagined the kind of stories single-panel, two-panel, and many-panel strips could tell, blending favorite genres from his childhood (horror, swords and sandals, science fiction) with more mature themes (autobiography, dating, sex) into new and striking forms.<br><br>In <i>Terminal Exposure, </i>McMillan’s comics are collected for the first time, alongside a selection of his electrifying sculptures, eye-popping paintings, and stunning pages from the journals he kept during his years rock climbing in California’s Sierra Nevada. With an introduction by Dan Nadel, this volume offers a first-time portrait of the great “not really a cartoonist” cartoonist.