Unauthorized: The Story of Rock ‘N’ Roll Comics is a 2005 documentary by director Ilko Davidov about one of the oddest characters in recent comics history, Todd Loren, the publisher of Revolutionary Comics, which published unauthorized comics bios of rockers like The Grateful Dead and Guns N’ Roses. Loren was eventually sued by some of his subjects, but the California Supreme Court upheld his right to publish the comics. Although legal, the comics were mostly a crime against esthetics, with crude underground-style art that didn’t have to worry about likenesses.
Victory was short-lived for Loren, however, as in 1992 he was stabbed to death by a killer still unknown, but possibly Versace’s killer, Andrew Cunanan.
The documentary, which features commentary from figures as disparate as Alice Cooper and Gary Groth, comes out in April on DVD, so clear out a spot on your very short “Movies About Really Weird Comics People” shelf.
There’s a lot more about Revolutionary and the making of the doc in this MTV Geek interview with Davidov and some old-time Revolutionaries.
Having happened to have referred to R&Roll Comics in a thread on this board only last week, sighting it as an example of what I consider a disturbing and challenging abuse of the laws that protect creative people in regard to satire & or parody works, I am certainly interested to know this movie even exists- and look forward to it perhaps even changing my mind.
..Can I write a run-on sentence or what?