In June 1967 (during the so-called
Summer of Love), Driggs created and self-published the pioneering underground comic
The Life and Loves of Cleopatra, an obscene 28-page narrative inspired by the
Elizabeth Taylor film
Cleopatra, and which featured artwork that today would be seen as
child pornography. The San Francisco
Diggers gave away the comic in their
Free Store at the corner of Cole and Carl in
Haight-Ashbury. By this time, Driggs had left for
New York City, where he joined the staff of the radical newspaper the
National Guardian. When he returned to San Francisco in 1969 he authorized
Don Donahue of the underground publisher Apex Novelties to release a new, smaller edition of
The Life and Loves of Cleopatra under Driggs' pseudonym "R. Diggs". and
Guy Colwell to draw for the paper. Throughout the 1970s, Driggs' strips and
political cartoons were distributed to underground and
student publications via the
Rip Off Press Syndicate. Two volumes of his political cartoons were published by
Rip Off Press in 1977 and 1979, under the title
Great Diggs. In the 1970s and '80s, Driggs contributed comix stories to such
anthologies as
Rip Off Comix and
Anarchy Comics, as well as to a number of
Leonard Rifas' projects, including
Itchy Planet,
Corporate Crime, and
Energy Comics. In 1991, Rip Off Press published
Greatest Diggs of All Time, collecting material from his post-1978 work. In the 1980s, Driggs joined the newly formed
Green Party, for which he designed posters, newsletters, and other materials, and did design work for local non-profits. In the late 1980s, he designed the leafy graphic logo for the San Francisco Greens, which later became the
Green Party of California. In the latter part of his career, Driggs operated "as a fine art painter and sculptor, specializing in portraits, nudes, and figurative ceramics." == Bibliography ==