Underground Culture Classic To Be Revived In Animation

One of the most popular underground comics was the "Fabulous Furry Freak Brothers", first carried in Austin's underground newspaper (The Rag) in 1968. It was about Phineas, Fat Freddy (and his cat), and Freewheelin' Franklin as they searched for drugs and dodged the law. It was satire, and it was very funny to those of us in the counter-culture.

The cartoon is being revived in an eight episode animated series. From Forbes.com:

Long-time underground comix stars The Fabulous Furry Freak Brothers are about to emerge into the light with an eight-episode animated series, with help from key creative talent behind Rick & Morty, Silicon Valley andWorkaholics, among others.

Gilbert Shelton, the Freak Brothers' creator, will be an executive producer on the animated project. The show will be built around his comic's original story lines, which follow the misadventures of three pharmacologically impaired non-siblings (and their cat) as they try to find more drugs, It is both celebration and satire of alternative culture, and remains a cult favorite. Freak Brothers comics have been translated into 14 languages with more than 40 million copies sold.

The Freak Brothers debuted in 1968 in The Rag, an Austin, Texas, alternative paper. Three years later, the first stand-alone Freak Brothers comics were published, with new issues from Shelton and eventual collaborators David Sheridan and Paul Mavrides arriving through1992, including runs in publications such as High Times and Playboy. Compilations of the work have been in print in one form or another ever since. 

The eight 22-minute episodes of adult-oriented animation are expected to be ready by early next year. The project has not lined up distribution yet, but has enlisted a lengthy list of Hollywood veterans of notable TV and film projects. 

NOTE -- Those of us in the counter-culture referred to ourselves as "freaks". "Hippie" was a word invented and used by straight people to describe us (and made popular by the mainstream media).