East Village Other (April 16-May 1, 1967) |
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| Type | Newspaper |
|---|---|
| Format | Tabloid/Alternative newspaper |
| Founder | Walter Bowart, Allen Katzman, Sherry Needham, Ishmael Reed, John Wilcock |
| Publisher | Walter Bowart |
| Editor-in-chief | John Wilcock |
| Founded | 1965 |
| Ceased publication | March 1972 |
| Headquarters | New York, NY |
| Circulation | 60,000[1] |
The East Village Other (often abbreviated as EVO), was an American underground newspaper in New York City, New York, published biweekly during the 1960s. EVO was among the first countercultural newspapers to emerge, following the Los Angeles Free Press, which had begun publishing a few months earlier. It was an important publication for the underground comix movement, featuring comic strips by artists including Trina Robbins, Spain Rodriguez, Art Spiegelman, and Kim Deitch, before underground comic books emerged from San Francisco with the first issue of Zap Comix.
The paper's design, in its first years, was characterized by Dadaistic montages and absurdist, non-sequitur headlines.[2] Later the paper evolved a more colorful psychedelic layout that became a distinguishing characteristic of the underground papers of the time.
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The East Village Other was co-founded in late 1965 by Walter Bowart, Ishmael Reed (who named the newspaper), Allen Katzman, Sherry Needham, and John Wilcock.[1]
EVO was one of the founding members of the Underground Press Syndicate, a network that allowed member papers to freely reprint each other's contents.
In 1968, EVO published Spain Rodriguez's comics tabloid, Zodiac Mindwarp.
During 1969, EVO published eight issues of Gothic Blimp Works, an all-comics tabloid with some color printing, billed as "the first Sunday underground comic paper." Vaughn Bodé was the founding editor, with the first two issues featuring work by Bodé, Joel Beck, Roger Brand, Robert Crumb, Kim Deitch, Ron Haydock, Jay Lynch, Trina Robbins, Spain Rodriguez, Art Spiegelman, and S. Clay Wilson. Later contributors include Bhob Stewart (who became the publication's editor), Larry Hama, Michael Kaluta, George Metzger, Ralph Reese, Steve Stiles and Bernie Wrightson.
The paper published another short-lived spin-off title, Kiss, a sex-oriented paper that was designed to compete with Al Goldstein's tabloid Screw. Barry Manilow wears a T-shirt featuring the Kiss logo on one of his early albums.
As the year 1971 drew to a close, publication of EVO became more and more sporadic as it faced mounting financial difficulties along with increasing staff losses, and the paper ceased publication forever three months later in March 1972.[3]