When Joel Beck published the Lenny Bruce-inspired comic LENNY OF LAREDO in 1965, he entered into history as the creator of the second underground comic ever published: Jack Jackson had preceded him with GOD NOSE, but Beck beat Robert Crumb's seminal ZAP by a good two years. He also produced the solo comics MARCHING MARVIN and THE PROFIT (1966).

Beck made his first national mark as a contributor "Public Gallery" in Harvey Kurtzman's HELP! magazine in the '60s. He went on to contribute strips to such alternative California institutions as THE BERKELEY BARB and satirical posters (notably a sexy "Odalesque" with a reclining Daisy Duck) and comix such as YELLOW DOG for The Print Mint.

Joel Beck was an early and regular contributor to the Kitchen Sink Press underground anthologies SNARF, BIZARRE SEX and DOPE COMIX and the Kitchen/Marvel experiment COMIX BOOK, as well as the 1978 one-shot BANZAI! co-created with Kim Deitch and the late Roger Brand. Kitchen Sink also collected his earliest work under the title Joel Beck's Comics and Stories.

Though Beck was prolific early in his career, his output dropped precipitously in the last two decades of his life, due in large part to illness and chronic homelessness. Later in his abbreviated life he produced mainly commissioned drawings and paintings for a small circle of friends and connoisseurs.