Dope Rider: A Fistful of Delirium is an enticing doorway into the spellbinding unreality of Paul Kirchner.» In December 1973, Ralph Reese introduced Kirchner to Wally Wood, for whom he worked as assistant for several years. This book also features a broad selection of the covers Kirchner made for the pornographic tabloid Screw in the 1970s. In the 1970s and early 1980s, Kirchner did several dozen covers for the pornographic magazine Screw. He regularly did illustrations for The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, and other publications.

Dope Rider - Blogger

In 1981, through his brother Thomas Kirchner, a Zen Buddhist monk, Paul Kirchner met the Zen practitioner and author Janwillem van de Wetering. Together they produced a graphic detective novel, Murder by Remote Control (Ballantine, 1986). [3]

If a few of Kirchner's Screw covers evoke psychedelic transformation, more fail to transcend their initial publisher's inherent sexism. In the most offensive example, an old bald man lounges at his leisure on furniture made of young naked women (there's even a "footrest"). In his postscript to Collapse, Kirchner says that he considered the work for Screw humorous, not pornographic, but it's worth noting that he signed most of it with the pseudonym "Kurt Schnürr."

Dope Rider: A Fistful of Delirium (© Paul Kirchner - SEA Dope Rider: A Fistful of Delirium (© Paul Kirchner - SEA

The same year “Dope Rider” found its way to High Times, where it reached its largest audience and also used color images for the first time, which certainly improved its impact on the magazine’s baked readers.Kirchner would later find more regular work at Heavy Metal, where he turned out a brilliant, surrealistic comic series called “The Bus” for several years. (That series is available in book form.) a b c d Kirchner, Paul (2015). "Strange Trip: A '70s memoir in comic book form" The Boston Globe (June 26, 2015).