The Collected Adventures of Harold Hedd is a very large (10.5 x 14") comic book featuring 34 one-page Harold Hedd comic strips by Rand Holmes that originally appeared in The Georgia Straight, a Vancouver underground newspaper with a fairly radical heritage (it is still a popular free weekly). Harold Hedd is a pothead character who became the everyman hero of the emerging counterculture in Vancouver in the early '70s. Hedd demonstrated much wit and ingenuity as he continually battled with the Vancouver government and police, especially its mayor, Tom Campbell, who was strongly anti-pot and anti-hippie.

In the course of the comics in this book, we are introduced to Harold's cousin Elmo, who Harold hasn't seen since grade school. Elmo shows up at Hedd's delapidated apartment dragging his motorcycle and a boisterous dog into the living room, and a lifetime friendship with Harold is born. Most of the rest of this book and all of the rest of Harold Hedd comics include cousin Elmo in panoramic adventures.

In many ways, The Collected Adventures of Harold Hedd is a great primer for the future exploits of Harold Hedd and Elmo, but it also stands as a document of Rand Holmes' fierce independence and anti-establishment nature during the dawn of the counterculture in Canada.



HISTORICAL FOOTNOTES:
There are seven printings of this comic book. The 1st printing (unknown copies but believed to be a low print run, maybe 2,000-5,000?) was printed by original publisher of the comic strips, The Georgia Straight. The 2nd through 7th printings (believed to be 10,000 copies each) were printed by Last Gasp. The 1st and 2nd printings both have a $1.00 cover price, but are easily distinguished, as the front cover art for the 2nd printing has additional color added to several areas, including all the characters' hair. The 2nd printing also has "Adults Only" added to the price circle. The 1st printing has copyright information on the bottom of the back cover that indicates "Georgia Straight" as the publisher. For the 2nd through 7th printings, the copyright information is found on the inside front cover and indicates "Last Gasp Eco-Funnies" as the publisher.

The 3rd through 7th printings are easily distinguished because they all have different cover prices. The 3rd printing is $1.25, the 4th printing is $1.50, the 5th printing is $1.75, the 6th printing is $2.00 and the 7th printing is $2.50.