After serving in the United States Air Force, Richards moved in 1969 to San Francisco when he was 23, (the same year Rip Off Press was launched).
[4] The nucleus of the Air Pirates collective began to form in 1969–1970 when Bobby London met Richards at the office of the Berkeley Tribe, an underground newspaper where both were staff cartoonists.
As a member of the collective, Richards lived together with founder Dan O'Neill, London, Gary Hallgren, and Shary Flenniken in a warehouse on Harrison Street in San Francisco.
[5] Richards' Dopin' Dan comics, produced during this period and published by Last Gasp in 1972–1973, imitated the art style (and military theme) of Mort Walker's Beetle Bailey.
When the Give Me Liberty project was completed, Ted went to work drawing the adventures of The Forty Year Old Hippie for the Rip Off Comics Syndicate.
Two comic collections eventually appeared and sold out, with a major hiatus in between the two as a year of Ted's working life went down the tubes while he and fellow Air Pirates defended themselves against a massive lawsuit by Disney Corporation (the suit alleged copyright infringement as Air Pirates Funnies depicted Disney-esque characters having sex and taking illicit drugs).
[1][2] In 1977, Richards graduated from San Francisco State University, where he studied philosophy, creative writing, anthropology and industrial design.