 Gilbert's first comic stories were printed in 1973 in his self-published underground, "New Paltz Comix".He began drawing for several Star Reach and Kitchen Sink titles; a mix of underground comix ("Slow Death", "Bizarre Sex", "American Splendor" issues #4 and #6 by Harvey Pekar) and ground-level comics such as "Star*Reach" and "Quack!