A-frame

Aaberg, Denny

Aaberg, Kemp

Abberton, Koby

Abbruzzi, Sid

Abellira, Reno

Abubo, Megan

academia and surfing

Adler, Tom

advertising and surfing

Aeder, Erik

aerial

Aguerre, Fernando

Aichner, Scott

Aikau, Clyde

Aikau, Eddie

Aipa, Ben

air-drop

airbrush

Airshow

Ala Moana

Alabama

alaia board

Alaska

alcohol and surfing

Alexander, Kala

Allen, Chuck

Alms, Paige

aloha shirt

Alter, Hobie

Alvarez, Pepe

Ancell, Kevin

Andaman Islands

Andersen, Lisa

Anderson, Craig

Anderson, Simon

Andino, Kolohe

Angel, Jose

angle

Angola

Angourie

Antarctica

Apocalypse Now

Arabian Sea

Aragon, Janice

Arakawa, Eric

Archbold, Matt

Arena, Eduardo

Ashton, Juan

Association of Surfing Professionals (ASP)

Atlantic Ocean

August, Robert

Aurness, Rolf

Auster, Ken

Australia

Avalon, Frankie

Azores

backdoor

backside

backside attack, Pipeline

backwash

bail out

Bain, Rob

Baja California

Baker, Bernie

Baker, Grant “Twiggy”

Baker, Tim

Bali

Ball, John “Doc”

Ballard, Bill

Ballard, Rochelle

balsa

Baltic Sea

Banks, Jim

Barbados

Barilotti, Steve

Barland, Michel

Barreda, Sergio “Gordo”

Barry, Michael

Bartholomew, Wayne

Baxter, Jackie

Bay of Bengal

Beach Boys, The

Beacham, Debbie

beachboys

beachbreak

Beachcomber Bills Grand Prix

Beachley, Layne

beavertail

Becker, Phil

Bedford-Brown, Stuart

Belgium

Bells Beach

Bendall, Ma and Pa

Bennett, Barry

Benson, Becky

Benson, Blanche

Benson, Linda

Bermuda

Bertlemann, Larry

Short, blond, perpetually stoked cartoon surfer created in 1961 by 16-year-old California artist Rick Griffin. Murphy made his debut in the third issue of 

 magazine. He was "the archetypal Everysurfer," as surf journalist Steve Barilotti wrote in 1988. "A potbellied little grem, and an instant surf world hit."

 published 28 Murphy strips between 1961 to 1987; he was featured in every issue of

, save one, until early 1965. For Griffin and Murphy both, the early '60s consisted mainly of a long series of surf adventures ("Murphy and the Caveman," "Murphy and the Surf Spy," "Murphy and the Lost Continent of Atlantis"), with Murphy often shouting out "Cowabunga!" and "Yes, I'm stoked!" As 

 founder John Severson later recalled, "It was hard to tell where Griffin ended and Murphy started." Murphy made the 

 cover in 1962; Murphy stickers, T-shirts, and coffee cups were soon available; and Murphy was used on handbills for Southern California surf bands like the Challengers and the Belairs.

Murphy went on hiatus in 1965, just before Griffin moved to San Francisco where he helped create the psychedelic rock-art poster genre. Murphy returned in 1969, still upbeat, but reconfigured, as Griffin had been, by drugs and born-again Christianity. In a 1969 strip, Murphy rips into an overhead wave while wearing a stylized Hopi Indian mask, is visited by human-size rats, and briefly turns into a flaming eyeball.

For his final appearance in 1987, Murphy was sadly pushed to the background of his own strip as Griffin's pen-and-ink panels wandered from astrology to mermaids to Easter Island tiki heads, vortex theory, Alfred Tennyson, Merlin the Magician, and other "geographistoric enigmas." In the final panel, Murphy walks into a new morning, surfboard under arm. "But enough for now!" he exclaims. "It's dawn . . . I'm goin' surfin!"

Griffin died in a 1991 motorcycle accident.

In 2010, the Laguna Art Museum presented 

Chronicles of a Subculture: Rick Griffin, Murphy, and Surfer Magazine.

Murphy

Subscribe or Login

Encyclopedia of Surfing

History of Surfing

Interviews

Features

The Sunday Joint

Videos