Gods Boston

This commendable collection covers the work of underground-comics artist Jackson from the 1970s to the 1990s. Jackson was one of the original 1960s San Francisco underground cartoonists, and he commemorates that bunch and the beginnings of Rip Off Press, their legendary countercultural publishing entity (i.e., broken-down presses, wild parties and drugs), in the very funny story ``Rip Off Press: The Golden Era.'' But Jackson, a native Texan, is at his best in his fictional and factual re-creations of 17th-century Texas, the wars to settle the territory and the resulting brutality of whites and Indians. And while some stories juxtapose straight historical narrative and contemporary wisecracking dialogue, Jackson's works invariably bring the historical record vividly to life. ``God's Bosom'' is the horrific account of one of two survivors of 300 Spaniards shipwrecked in Texas in 1560 and massacred by Karankawa Indians. In the fictional ``The Good Life,'' an 18th-century Christianized Indian--only too happy to assimilate--must return to the forests after wreaking gruesome vengeance on his adulterous wife and her lover. Jackson's black-and-white drawings are assured and strikingly expressive, rendering the details of period life with humor and great drama. (April)