Cave Nudes is the infamous one-page comic with Flintstones characters that portray them in a more adult scenario than is typical in the Flintstones franchise. It was created by both the legendary and controversial animator John Kricfalusi of Ren & Stimpy fame, as well as fellow cartoonist and animator Bill Wray.
Overview
Let’s give a brief backstory of this bawdy one-page interpretation of the Flintstones. The comic was conceived and created by Kricfalusi in 1984 when he was working at Hanna-Barbera as both a designer and a lay-out supervisor. He also brought along fellow animator Bill Wray to ink the comic. Kricfalusi made the comic out of his frustration and disappointment with the company culture and rules at Hanna-Barbera. Kricfalusi apparently decided that his talents were being wasted and thought it would be fun to prank the managers. He made sure to use the pseudonym “Billy Bunting” in order to remain anonymous and ensure ultimate chaos in the office. A short paragraph above the comic states that the comic was sent to the department by an employee of Hanna-Barbera with the following note: “A fine funny fellow pinned copies of this up all over the producers wing at H&B in order to create havoc and chaos. Nothing was ever said about them, but all were gone within an hour.” Allegedly all copies of the comic were collected by Kricfalusi’s colleagues within less than one hour, of course due to the humor and especially the sexual content contained in the comic. Thus the legend of Cave Nudes was born.
The comic depicts the very familiar gag of the paper boy, known as Arnold, throwing a stone newspaper at Fred, thus knocking poor Fred down. However, viewers of Cave Nudes are instead instantly greeted to a clearly naked Fred jumping out of fear of the approaching Arnold. Fred attempts to hide behind a door, which is of no avail as the paper boy’s mail is apparently made of titanium because it instantly destroys the door and knocks Fred down anyway. Arnold then seizes his chance to rush to an also naked Wilma and proceeds to have sexual intercourse with her, much to Wilma’s delight. The last panel showcases an angry Fred with a bruised head and ego, with Wilma giving Arnold compliments in the love making department.
(Below is John Kricfalusi’s Facebook post with an image of Cave Nudes)
It’s unknown if the popular account of the comic being collected by Kricfalusi’s colleagues in less than one hour is true, or when he was found out to be “Billy Bunting”, or if he and Wray faced any consequences at all for the comic. One thing was clear though, the comic was starting to get a reputation among both animators and fans of cartoons alike. The controversial comic would further its reputation when cartoonist Jeff John sent a copy of Cave Nudes to Peter Bagge, the chief editor of the popular and also controversial comic magazine Weirdo. Bagge published the comic in issue #9 of Weirdo magazine sometime in the winter of 1983.
Trivia
- Even though Betty and Barney appear in the first panel of the comic, they don’t appear in the main story at all. Neither are they mentioned by the other characters.
- While it’s unknown why Fred and Wilma were naked to begin with, it could be speculated that they were engaging in some naughty action together before the events of the comic. This is only a theory of course.
- This is notably one of the few if not the only official adult depictions of the Flintstones characters in the franchise, despite it being a gag comic not meant to be seen by the public. However, it’s interesting to note that the Flintstones franchise, which began with its successful television series of the 1960’s, was actually originally geared towards adults according to Hanna-Barbera Productions. Though children and teens still watched and enjoyed the original series as much as the adults.
Personal Thoughts
Cave Nudes is an interesting spectacle into the mind and creative process of John Kricfalusi, especially before he became more widely known for making the hit Nickelodeon television series Ren & Stimpy. The fact that he effectively made a NSFW version of the Flintstones and then decided to place this comic on the walls for everyone to see, while remaining anonymous, really shows that he likes to engage in mayhem and mischief when given the opportunity. While I myself don’t mind a practical joke every now and again, the whole story behind Cave Nudes is still very interesting to me, and I wonder if Kricfalusi ever made more “humorous” and pornographic parodies in his animation career.
I’m also somewhat skeptical of the whole premise that his colleagues collected the comic in less than an hour. While I have no personal evidence to refute that claim, knowing about Kricfalusi and all the controversies he has been in – which is so long that I will just let you all do your own research in that area – I can’t help but think that he could’ve just exaggerated the whole ordeal. After all, we don’t hear from his other peers who allegedly devoured the comic within only an hour after viewing it in their work space. Kricfalusi is famous, or infamous rather, for being someone who thinks so highly of himself, like so much of the entertainment elite in the animation industry, and thus it would make sense to for him to say that his peers absolutely enjoyed his one-page raunchy comic. But again these are just my personal opinions on the matter, and I invite all of you to make your own conclusion about Cave Nudes.
What do you all think about Cave Nudes? Is it an entertaining and hilarious piece of art, or did John Kricfalusi go too far this time? Are there any other interesting or insane pieces of media in the magazine Weirdo that you know of or remember? Please let me know down in the comments section below!
Sources
The Hidden Vault 
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