The Adventures of Jesus

A photocopied fanzine by cartoonist Frank Stack using (for obvious reasons) the nome-de-plume "F.S." Later as Foolbert Sturgeon; the cover was drawn by its publisher, Gilbert Shelton in the style of and initialled F.S.
Arguably the first ever underground comic; only 42 copies were printed in 1962 (50 copies were intended but the photocopy machine proved erratic) consisting of 14 single sided pages, 8.5" x 11"; with a further edition of around 20 copies in 1963, photocopied from a first print (the original artwork was thought lost).

There was a further 'facsimile' edition produced in 1978

Stack's Jesus strips would later appear on the back covers of Gilbert Shelton's fanzine 'The' ('THE AUSTIN Iconoclastic NEWSLETTER, BLUNDERBUSS, ONE-EYED SNAKE & ADULT COMIX') 1964. Much of the artwork was reconfigured when the stories were reprinted in The New Adventures of Jesus (Rip Off Press, 1969 series)

Information about this original version per a letter of authenticity supplied by William J. Helmer, Contributing Editor (former Senior Editor) Playboy Magazine, dated January 10, 1994, on Playboy headed notepaper, which accompanied a first edition copy (See Heritage Auction, August 14, 2004, Lot: #2552), with information about the publication supplied by Jay Kennedy's Official Underground and Newave Comix Price Guide, 1982
in a foreword to "The New Adventures of Jesus: The Second Coming" (Fantagraphics, 2006 series), Gilbert Shelton gives the year as 1964.