ArchivesSpace at the University of Iowa

Scope and Contents Publishers Weekly: Panter has been a leading figure in underground comics for more than 25 years, and he's had a profound influence on everyone from Chris Ware to Matt Groening. He's generally credited with giving a graphic identity to the L.A. punk scene, and he was the lead designer for the vibrant world of the television show Pee Wee's Playhouse. Like R. Crumb, Panter stands as a beacon of artistic and literary genius in the medium. This oversized work is an amalgamation of Dante's Purgatorio, Boccaccio's Decameron, Panter's own fictional universe and various pop culture icons. Jimbo, a cross between Candide and Virgil, makes his way through a vast science fiction--like infotainment-testing center constructed as Mount Purgatory. Here Jimbo encounters Frank Zappa, John and Yoko, robots and dragons, among others, and each character is a stand-in for a personage in Dante's Divine Comedy. They each quote a fragment of text (cited at the bottom of each page) that furthers the plot....