Over the last few months, in my own research into anti heroic figures, I’ve been obsessing about the Science fiction writer Philip K Dick. I love his books and find him quite fascinating as a character. During this reasearch I kept happening across a photo him standing up against a wall wearning a t-shirt bearing the strange words ‘Rozz Tox’. On further investigation I discovered ‘Rozz Tox’ referred to the Rozz Tox manifesto, written in the early 80’s by multi talented illustrator, painter, designer and part-time musician, Gary Panter. The manifesto is great, a real rant, and not your predictable rant either, rather than wallow in frustrated isolation we’re told to ‘infiltrate popular mediums,’ something which his good friend Matt Groening might just have taken to heart. It really swerves all over the place but manages to sound remarkably prescient given that it was written nearly 30 years ago.
To cut a long story short, I thought the Rozz Toxx manifesto would work really well in our publication so contacted Gary. He told us that while he was suprised anyone would take it seriously, he would be honoured if we included it. And no booklet claiming to explore the disenfranchised can be without a ranting manifesto, so thanks Mr Panter!