Zap Comix #0

Zap Comix #0 was written and drawn by artist Robert Crumb. Originally set to be released in 1967 as issue #1, the art for the issue was lost due to the disappearance of Brian Zahn (Yarrowstalk) who had originally agreed to publish the book. Crumb would later redraw these pages and comic would eventually see release after issue #3, renumbered to #0 to keep continuity, in Dec. of 1968. 

Although Zap wasn’t the first underground comic, it was the first to become a successful ongoing series. With its first issue seeing print in 1967, the comic was a counter-attack to 1954’s Comics Code Authority. This “Authority” was a self censoring collective formed within the comic book publishing community in response to women’s groups and governing bodies declaring that comics were responsible for the degradation of the day's youth.

Zap brought with it a fierce satire of racism, sexism, violence (including sexual violence), the idealism of the 50’s and 60’s, and hippy culture. In contrast to the young and hip generation that found the push against the status quo humorous, there was quite the uproar from those who found it merely profane. This caused mounting criticism towards Crumb as well as those who would help distribute the rag.

After discovering that newspaper printers could print small runs of comics for cheap, tensions began rising with authorities. Crumb (along with his first wife) pawned his comics throughout the Haight-Ashbury area in San Francisco out of a baby stroller, later making their way into head shops, street vendors, and art galleries. Things came to a head as vendors of Zap would be arrested and charged with selling pornography. Many of these charges were later dropped in court. Crumb and his contributors were never formally charged.

Through Zap Comics, Crumb, and later such greats as Spain Rodriguez, Robert Williams, S. Clay Wilson and more, helped expand the rights of artists and creators to execute their own visions as they see fit. Zap also set the precedent for how to procure small independent publishing. The influence that Zap Comics has on later generations of cartoonists can not be overstated. The underground comics revolution truly started here.

January 26, Nicole Rudick | and 2015. “The Complete Zap Comix.” The Comics Journal. Accessed November 3, 2024. https://www.tcj.com/reviews/the-complete-zap-comix/.

Rosenkranz, Patrick. “Zap: Censorship and Suppression.” The Comics Journal, November 10, 2014. https://www.tcj.com/zap-censorship-and-suppression/.

McCabe, Caitlin. “A Full-Frontal Assault on Censorship: Zap Comix and the Underground Movement.” National Coalition Against Censorship (blog), November 17, 2014. https://ncac.org/news/blog/a-full-frontal-assault-on-censorship-zap-comix-and-the-underground-movement.

Doherty, Brian. “Zap Comix Were Never for Kids.” Reason.Com (blog), June 14, 2022. https://reason.com/2022/06/14/zap-comix-were-never-for-kids/.