Page two of the third issue of The Sunday Paper introduces a new feature that delivers tidbits of news from around the world, culled from the pages of newspapers in Europe, India and South America. Whether it's arrests of Nazi war criminals or arms shipments in Cyprus, the brief articles are rather interesting and may cause today's readers to delve into additional research (as I did when I looked up the mess that's been brewing in Cyprus for the past 40 years). International news would hereafter become a regular feature of the paper.

Page four features Trina Robbins' brief review of Ralph Bakshi's Fritz the Cat movie, which she says she really enjoyed. Robbins, a noted antagonist of Robert Crumb, declares that "the really good parts are the scenes that have absolutely nothing to do with Crumb." She does warn that it's a very uneven animated cartoon, ranging from the banal to the "totally off the wall," but concludes that it's the most original major animation film since Yellow Submarine (which came out just four years prior). I can't say I disagree with her general assessment.

Other articles include describing the obscenity bust of one of the most unusual porn films of the '70s, What About Alice; Peter Edler singing the praises or peyote; and the potential for war if anything bad was to happen to President Nixon during his visit to China (the visit went very well and is considered Nixon's premier achievement in foreign policy). A brief article called "How to Be a TV Revolutionary" ridicules John and Yoko Lennon and Jerry Rubin for being money-grubbing publicity whores (maybe it's just me, but the article seems to have misdirected its anger).

There's an article that seems like its going to review the Cockettes' new show, hilariously titled Journey to the Center of Uranus, but its really about the performance group's struggle to make money and issues with theater venues. Later, Martin Russell provides a positive review of Stanley Kubrick's A Clockwork Orange. The record review column "Pop 'n' Roll" includes a review of the debut album of Dr. Hook & the Medicine Show, but it consistently mis-spells the name of the band and doesn't get the name of the album (Doctor Hook) right. They did like the music though!

An extended article examines the government's (Nixon's) preparation for a national police force, which seems to be mostly about expanding the FBI. Patti Brown writes a personal account about young women who work in the adult entertainment industry (primarily titty bars), and how those women perceive the customers they're entertaining. And Nancy Griffith writes a column about Fits #2 (which she helped produce) that provides first-hand insight into the Fits Collective.

Comics Section Update: Trina Robbins' "Speed Queen" concludes this issue, making it roughly the equivalent of a two-page comic story. To be honest, I was a little confused and disappointed by the ending. But I'm even more disappointed that this is the last cartoon by Trina Robbins in The Sunday Paper, as she stops contributing after this issue. Larry Todd continues his Dr. Atomic strip about Dr. Atomic's "non-violent guardian of humanity" robot, which has been decent but not outstanding. Willy Murphy has another winner with his "Henry Henpeck" comic and Art Spiegelman does a strip about his odd dream as a cartoonist.

The Sunday Paper failed to work out many of the production issues that appeared in the second issue and there are several easily noticed flaws in the third (one egregious flaw applies to a record review of Carol Hall that morphs into a record review of Patti Dahlstrom without any segue or identification of the Dahlstrom album; looks like a terrible paste-up error). And it's always frustrating when you turn a page and learn that the article you begin reading is actually a continuation of an article that begins later in the issue (yet this is clearly an intentional layout "solution").

So, The Sunday Paper still has its minor issues, but the third issue delivers a mostly solid underground paper with news and events that are relevant to the counterculture.



HISTORICAL FOOTNOTES:
It is currently unknown how many copies of this newspaper were printed. None of the seven issues were reprinted.

COMIC CREATORS:
Willy Murphy
Art Spiegelman
Larry Todd
Trina Robbins
Shary Flenniken