Rip Off Press

Rip Off Press, Inc. began as a seminal publishing company that specialized in adult-themed comic books and graphic novels. The company was one of the first to produce what became known as underground comix.

Overview

The company was founded January 17, 1969, in San Francisco by Fred Todd, Dave Moriaty, and cartoonists Gilbert Shelton and Jack Jackson. The initial plan was to print rock-band promotional posters on an old press and do comix on the side, but by 1972 the printing business had faded away and the company had become a publishing house. During 1972 Rip Off Press, now Rip Off Press, Inc., published a magazine/comic book called The Rip Off Review of Western Culture under Dave Moriaty's supervision. Rip Off Press resided at 1250 17th Street in San Francisco from 1970 until 1985. By the mid-1970s Moriaty and Jackson had long since gone back to Texas, and by the time it moved from 17th Street Gilbert Shelton had relocated to France. The company moved to a smaller space on San Jose Avenue near the city's southern border in mid-1985, with warehouse space across town at the Bayview Industrial Park. This 3-story, block-square building, which housed over a hundred other businesses, burned to the ground on April 6, 1986 following an explosion in an illegal fireworks factory in the basement.