Zippy Stories

by First Last

Last Gasp edition of first collection of Zippy comics, with a new "Origins of Zippy" comic and an introduction by B. Kliban.

Genres: Comics, Humor, Graphic Novels, Fiction, Comic Strips, Cartoon, Pop Culture

100 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1981

Reviews

[Chris Andersen · Rating 2 out of 5]

I was sort of done with Zippy's dada-ist non-sequiturs the moment I saw them. Some of it is drawn quite well and there are occasional transcendent moments, but over all it was like, "yeah, I get it", page after page after page.

[Benn Allen · Rating 4 out of 5]

A combination of comic strips and excerpts from comix, this, the first collection of Zippy the Pinhead is, of course, weird, off the wall and nonsensical. And yet, it makes perfect sense. Sort of. Bill Griffith's artwork and story is excellent and keeps you interested, even if what you're reading makes no sense at all. Zippy isn't for everyone - not by a long shot. But if you're looking for an antidote to the "Family Circus" and "Garfield" comic strips you've just read, Zippy just might be what you need/want.

[Barry · Rating 5 out of 5]

Pinheads unite!
Your leader is here!

[Al McCarty · Rating 5 out of 5]

Zippy the early years! Mwah!

[Bob · Rating 5 out of 5]

When I read this when I was 23 years ago, I had a couple of at least minutes-long bouts of uncontrollable laughter. Most of the pieces are very short. Many of them are reprints of a Zippy newspaper strip Griffith was running. Zippy's brother, who dressed like Nixon and had many of Nixon's attitudes, appears to me to have organized and led today's Donald Trump presidential campaign. The only clunker in the book is a lengthy, elaborate narrative graphic story narrative in which the Z-Man gets involved with big-time drug dealers. I was working at a bookstore at the time. Other works of boundless hilarity from those days are:The Glass Teat and Other Glass Teat by Harlan Ellison. Ellison's piece about Brazil's television coverage of the moon landing (He was apparently stuck there on that glorious day.) is the single funniest short essay I have ever read, even today (I think it was in the second book.). Around this time I read Nick Tosches's Hellfire: The Jerry Lee Lewis story, a truly excellent biography of the early rock 'n' roll wild piano man, which lead me to Dino: Living High in the Dirty Business of Dreams, which has the funniest section in a full-length book, I've ever seen- his, Dean Martin's, description of his golf-retirement life about 4/5 of the way into the book.
This stuff is at the same quality level as Eudora Welty's widely anthologized "Why I Live at the P.O." which can be found in A Curtain of Green, and Other Stories.

[Artur Coelho · Rating 3 out of 5]

O absurdismo dadaísta de Alfred Jarry, a inversão da busca de sentido pelo non-sense verbal, jogos de palavras surrealistas que embaralham ideias e uma busca do absurdo pela remistura da iconografia pop são os elementos a partir dos quais se constrói Zippy. Clássico dos comics underground dos anos 60, Zippy é uma personagem absurda, reflexo das glossolalias interiores de cada um, criatura espelho de uma sociedade cuja eterna busca por rumos oculta a sua falta de sentido. Se as tiras do personagem atingem muitas vezes níveis geniais de surrealismo e nostalgia por um passado mitificado, a repetição em formato comic é algo cansativa. Há limites de paciência para glossolalias absurdistas.

[Nadine in NY Jones · Rating 4 out of 5]

I had several collections of Zippy back in the mid to late 80s, and honestly I can't remember which ones so I just checking off a few here. Zippy was ... different. It was bizarro humor but never off-putting. I loved Zippy. He showed me another world and kind of winked and told me it was okay.

[Tim · Rating 5 out of 5]

"My pants just went to high school in the Carlsbad Caverns!"

[Tim · Rating 5 out of 5]

best bathroom reading.

[Zmuda · Rating 5 out of 5]

I remember getting this strip inside my Bazooka Bubble Gum! Nothing beats Zippy.