@#$%&*! grawlixes

This is the cover of the zine Autosomatix: programming with grawlixes, by Marc van Elburg. You can read an on-line version here.

Grawlix is a term invented by Mort Walker in 1964 to describe the symbols used to replace swearing in comics.

Marc explains some of the history of grawlixes, & where they sit in the broader categories of maladicta & indicia. He suggests that the shapes typically used as grawlixes are logical representations of an urge to swear which is suppressed. Further, he connects his ideas about symbols in comics to his earlier work in treating his body as a programmable drawing tool. Examples of Marc's earlier experimental drawings are at his blog.