William Henry Jackson Griffith (born January 20, 1944) is an American

cartoonist A cartoonist is a visual artist who specializes in both drawing and writing cartoons (individual images) or comics (sequential images). Cartoonists differ from comics writers or comic book illustrators in that they produce both the literary and ...

who signs his work Bill Griffith and Griffy. He is best known for his

surreal Surreal may refer to: *Anything related to or characteristic of Surrealism, a movement in philosophy and art * "Surreal" (song), a 2000 song by Ayumi Hamasaki * ''Surreal'' (album), an album by Man Raze *Surreal humour, a common aspect of humor * ...

daily comic strip A daily strip is a newspaper comic strip format, appearing on weekdays, Monday through Saturday, as contrasted with a Sunday strip, which typically only appears on Sundays. Bud Fisher's ''Mutt and Jeff'' is commonly regarded as the first daily ...

'' Zippy''. The

catchphrase A catchphrase (alternatively spelled catch phrase) is a phrase or expression recognized by its repeated utterance. Such phrases often originate in popular culture and in the arts, and typically spread through word of mouth and a variety of mass ...

"Are we having fun yet?" is credited to Griffith. Over his career, which started in the

underground comix Underground comix are small press or self-published comic books that are often socially relevant or satirical in nature. They differ from mainstream comics in depicting content forbidden to mainstream publications by the Comics Code Authority, ...

era, Griffith has worked with the industry's leading underground/ alternative publishers, including

Print Mint The Print Mint, Inc. was a major publisher and distributor of underground comix based in the San Francisco Bay Area during the genre's late 1960s-early 1970s heyday. Starting as a retailer of psychedelic posters, the Print Mint soon evolved into ...

Last Gasp Last Gasp or The Last Gasp may refer to * Last Gasp (publisher) Last Gasp is a San Francisco-based book publisher with a lowbrow art and counterculture focus. Owned and operated by Ron Turner, for most of its existence Last Gasp was a publi ...

, Rip Off Press, Kitchen Sink, and

Fantagraphics Books Fantagraphics (previously Fantagraphics Books) is an American publisher of alternative comics, classic comic strip anthologies, manga, magazines, graphic novels, and the erotic Eros Comix imprint. History Founding Fantagraphics was found ...

. He co-edited the notable

comics anthologies A comics anthology collects works in the medium of comics, typically from multiple series, and compiles them into an anthology or magazine. The comics in these anthologies range from comic strips that are too short for standalone publication to co ...

Arcade Arcade most often refers to: * Arcade game, a coin-operated game machine ** Arcade cabinet, housing which holds an arcade game's hardware ** Arcade system board, a standardized printed circuit board * Amusement arcade, a place with arcade games * ...

'' and '' Young Lust'', and has contributed comics and illustrations to a variety of publications, including '' National Lampoon'', '' High Times'', '' The New Yorker'', '' The Village Voice'' and '' The New York Times''.

Early life, family and education

Born in Brooklyn, New York City,

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States New York may also refer to: Film and television * ...

, Griffith grew up in

Levittown Levittown is the name of several large suburban housing developments created in the United States (including one in Puerto Rico) by William J. Levitt and his company Levitt & Sons. Built after World War II for returning white veterans and thei ...

on Long Island. He is the great-grandson and namesake of the photographer and artist William Henry Jackson (Jackson died at age 99 just two years before Griffith was born). One of Griffith's neighbors was

science fiction Science fiction (sometimes shortened to Sci-Fi or SF) is a genre of speculative fiction which typically deals with imaginative and futuristic concepts such as advanced science and technology, space exploration, time travel, parallel univers ...

illustrator Ed Emshwiller, whom Griffith credits with pointing him toward the world of art. Griffith, his father and his mother all served as models for Emshwiller at one time or another; a very young Griffith appears (along with his father) on the cover of the September 1957 issue of ''

Science Fiction Stories ''Future Science Fiction'' and ''Science Fiction Stories'' were two American science fiction magazines that were published under various names between 1939 and 1943 and again from 1950 to 1960. Both publications were edited by Charles Hornig f ...

''. For over a decade, starting in 1957, Griffith's mother Barbara had an affair with cartoonist

Lawrence Lariar Lawrence Lariar (December 25, 1908 – October 12, 1981) was an American novelist, cartoonist and cartoon editor, known for his ''Best Cartoons of the Year'' series of cartoon collections. He wrote crime novels, sometimes using the pseudonyms Mich ...

; this formed the basis of a 2015 graphic novel by Griffith.“I Had Moments Where I Just Broke Down Crying”: An Interview with Bill Griffith
by Chris Mautner, in '' The Comics Journal''; published November 23, 2015; retrieved December 16, 2015 While attending Brooklyn's Pratt Institute in 1963, Griffith saw a screening of the 1932 Tod Browning film '' Freaks''. As he said in a later interview, "I was fascinated by the pinheads in the introductory scene and asked the projectionist (who I knew) if he could slow down the film so I could hear what they were saying better. He did and I loved the poetic, random dialog. Little did I know that Zippy was being planted in my fevered brain." Griffith graduated with an

Associate of Applied Science An associate degree is an undergraduate degree awarded after a course of post-secondary study lasting two to three years. It is a level of qualification above a high school diploma, GED, or matriculation, and below a bachelor's degree. The fi ...

Degree in

Graphic Design Graphic design is a profession, academic discipline and applied art whose activity consists in projecting visual communications intended to transmit specific messages to social groups, with specific objectives. Graphic design is an interdiscip ...

from Pratt in 1964.

Career

Underground comix

For a short period in the late 1960s, Griffith joined a team of artists that included

Kim Deitch Kim Deitch (born May 21, 1944 in Los Angeles, California)Donahue, Don and Susan Goodrick, editors. Deitch bio, ''The Apex Treasuet of Underground Comics'' (Apex Novelties, 1974), p. 127. is an American cartoonist who was an important figure in ...

, Drew Friedman, Jay Lynch,

Norman Saunders Norman Blaine Saunders (January 1, 1907 – March 7, 1989) was a prolific 20th-century American commercial artist. He is best known for paintings in pulp magazines, paperbacks, men's adventure magazines, comic books and trading cards. On occasi ...

Art Spiegelman Art Spiegelman (; born Itzhak Avraham ben Zeev Spiegelman on February 15, 1948) is an American cartoonist, editor, and comics advocate best known for his graphic novel ''Maus''. His work as co-editor on the comics magazines ''Arcade'' and '' Raw ...

Bhob Stewart Robert Marion Stewart, known as Bhob Stewart (November 12, 1937 – February 24, 2014) was an American writer, editor, cartoonist, filmmaker, and active fan who contributed to a variety of publications over a span of five decades. His articles a ...

and Tom Sutton, who designed

Wacky Packages ''Wacky Packages'' are a series of humorous trading cards featuring parodies of consumer products. The cards were produced by Topps beginning in 1967, first in die-cut, then in peel-and-stick sticker format. There were 16 series produced betwee ...

trading cards for the

Topps The Topps Company, Inc. is an American company that manufactures chewing gum, candy, and collectibles. Formerly based in New York City, Topps is best known as a leading producer of American Football Card, American football, Baseball card, baseb ...

Company. Later, Griffith drew new "Wacky Packages Old School Sketch Cards" for Topps. In 1969, Griffith began making

, first in New York City. His first

comic strip A comic strip is a sequence of drawings, often cartoons, arranged in interrelated panels to display brief humor or form a narrative, often serialized, with text in balloons and captions. Traditionally, throughout the 20th and into the 21st ...

s, which appeared in the '' East Village Other'' and '' Screw'' magazine, featured an angry amphibian named Mr. The Toad, who showed up later in a solo comics series and then as a recurring character in '' Zippy''. Griffith ventured to San Francisco, California in 1970 to join its burgeoning underground comix movement. He quickly gained a reputation for his willingness to collaborate and organize: one of his first acts upon arriving in San Francisco was to help form the United Cartoon Workers of America,Goodrick, Susan. "Introduction," ''The Apex Treasury of Underground Comics'' (Links Books/Quick Fox, 1974). along with

Robert Crumb Robert Dennis Crumb (; born August 30, 1943) is an American cartoonist and musician who often signs his work R. Crumb. His work displays a nostalgia for Folklore of the United States, American folk culture of the late 19th and early 20th c ...

, Justin Green,

, Spain Rodriguez,

Roger Brand Roger Brand (January 5, 1943 – November 23, 1985) was an American cartoonist who created stories for both mainstream and underground comic books. His work showed a fascination with horror and eroticism, often combining the two. Biography Ea ...

Michele Brand Michele Wrightson, also known as Michele Brand, was an American artist who worked in the comic book industry. The former wife of underground cartoonist Roger Brand, she started out as an underground comix cartoonist. Later, when she was married to ...

, and Griffith's wife Nancy. (The U.C.W. of A. brand appeared on a number of comix from that era.) '' Young Lust'', an "

X-rated An X rating is a rating used in various countries to classify films that have content deemed suitable only for adults. It is used when the violent or sexual content of a film is considered to be potentially disturbing to general audiences. Aust ...

parody of girl's romance comics" that Griffith co-founded and edited with cartoonist

Jay Kinney Jay Kinney (born 1950) is an American author, editor, and former underground cartoonist. Kinney has been noted for "adding new dimensions to the political comic" in the underground comix press of the 1970s and '80s. Kinney was a member, along wi ...

, was a huge hit upon its 1970 debut,Rosenkranz, Patrick. ''Rebel Visions: The Underground Comix Revolution, 1963-1975'' (Fantagraphics, 200), p. 153. with the first issue enjoying multiple printings. The title eventually published eight issues, with the last one appearing in 1993 (with a ten-year gap between issues #6 and #7). In 1973, Griffith was one of the founding members of Cartoonists' Co-op Press, along with

, Jerry Lane, Jay Lynch,

Willy Murphy William "Willy" MurphyMurphy entry
''Who's Who of American Comic Books, 1928–1999''. Acc ...

Diane Noomin Diane Robin Noomin ( Rosenblatt, May 13, 1947 – September 1, 2022) was an American comics artist associated with the underground comics movement. She is best known for her character DiDi Glitz, who addresses transgressive social issues such as ...

, and Spiegelman. The press was a short-lived self-publishing cooperative that operated out of Griffith's apartment. It was founded as an alternative to the existing underground presses, which were perceived as not being honest with their accounting practices. (For example, Griffith's popular

anthology In book publishing, an anthology is a collection of literary works chosen by the compiler; it may be a collection of plays, poems, short stories, songs or excerpts by different authors. In genre fiction, the term ''anthology'' typically catego ...

, ''Young Lust'', ran through three publishers —

Company & Sons Company & Sons was an early underground comix publisher based in San Francisco, ran by John Bagley. The company operated from 1970 to 1973, publishing a total of 15 titles, all but one of them consisting of a single issue. Company & Sons was t ...

, and

— in its first three issues.) Griffith's solo title, ''Tales of Toad'', had a three-issue run from 1970 to 1973, published first by the

and then Cartoonists' Co-op Press. The main character, Mr. Toad, is a humanoid toad who embodies blind greed and selfishness. Griffith's weekly

''Griffith Observatory'' (a play on the tourist attraction of the same name) was distributed by the Rip Off Press Syndicate in the late 1970s.Fox, M. Steven
"Rip Off Comix — 1977-1991 / Rip Off Press,"
Comixjoint. Retrieved Dec. 5, 2022. Material from the strip was published in '' Rip Off Comix'' ( Rip Off Press) and ''Arcade'', and then collected, first by Rip Off Press in 1979, and then in an expanded edition by Fantagraphics in 1993.

''Arcade''

In 1975, after many years of gestation,"Bill Griffith: Politics, Pinheads, and Post-Modernism," ''The Comics Journal'' #157 (Mar. 1993), p. 73. Griffith and Spiegelman debuted the magazine-sized anthology '' Arcade, the Comics Revue'', published by the

. Arriving late in the underground era, ''Arcade'' stood out from similar publications by having an ambitious editorial plan, in which Spiegelman and Griffith attempted to show how comics connected to the broader realms of artistic and literary culture.Fox, M. Steven
"Arcade, The Comics Revue,"
ComixJoint. Accessed June 19, 2018. ''Arcade'' also introduced comic strips from ages past, as well as contemporary literary pieces by writers such as

William S. Burroughs William Seward Burroughs II (; February 5, 1914 – August 2, 1997) was an American writer and visual artist, widely considered a primary figure of the Beat Generation and a major postmodern author who influenced popular cultur ...

and

Charles Bukowski Henry Charles Bukowski ( ; born Heinrich Karl Bukowski, ; August 16, 1920 – March 9, 1994) was a German-American poet, novelist, and short story writer. His writing was influenced by the social, cultural, and economic ambience of his adopted ...

, and illustrated nonfiction pieces by writers like Paul Krassner and J. Hoberman. Soon after the magazine's debut, however, co-editor Spiegelman moved back to his original home of New York City, which put most of the editorial work for ''Arcade'' on the shoulders of Griffith and his new partner (later wife),

. This, combined with distribution problems, retailer indifference, and a general failure to find a devoted audience, led to the magazine's 1976 demise after seven issues. Nonetheless, many observers credit ''Arcade'' with paving the way for the Spiegelman-edited anthology '' Raw'', the flagship publication of the 1980s

alternative comics Alternative comics cover a range of American comics that have appeared since the 1980s, following the underground comix movement of the late 1960s and early 1970s. Alternative comics present an alternative to mainstream superhero comics which i ...

movement.

''Zippy''

The first ''Zippy'' story appeared in the underground comic ''Real Pulp'' #1 (

) in 1971. As Griffith said of that story, "I was asked to contribute a few pages to ''Real Pulp Comics'' #1, edited by

. His only guideline was to say 'Maybe do some kind of love story, but with really weird people.' I never imagined I'd still be putting words into Zippy's fast-moving mouth some 38 years later." Zippy's original appearance was partly inspired by the

microcephalic Microcephaly (from New Latin ''microcephalia'', from Ancient Greek μικρός ''mikrós'' "small" and κεφαλή ''kephalé'' "head") is a medical condition involving a smaller-than-normal head. Microcephaly may be present at birth or it ...

Schlitzie, from the film ''Freaks'', which was enjoying something of a cult revival at the time; as well as the

P. T. Barnum Phineas Taylor Barnum (; July 5, 1810 – April 7, 1891) was an American showman, businessman, and politician, remembered for promoting celebrated hoaxes and founding the Barnum & Bailey Circus (1871–2017) with James Anthony Bailey. He wa ...

sideshow performer

Zip the Pinhead William Henry Johnson ( – April 9, 1926), known as Zip the Pinhead, was an American freak show performer known for his tapered head. Early life William Henry Johnson was born one of six children to a very poor African-American family. ...

, who may not have been a microcephalic but was nevertheless billed as one. The ''Zippy'' strip went weekly in 1976, first in the

underground newspaper The terms underground press or clandestine press refer to periodicals and publications that are produced without official approval, illegally or against the wishes of a dominant (governmental, religious, or institutional) group. In specific rec ...

the ''

Berkeley Barb The ''Berkeley Barb'' was a weekly underground newspaper published in Berkeley, California, during the years 1965 to 1980. It was one of the first and most influential of the counterculture newspapers, covering such subjects as the anti-war mov ...

'' and then syndicated nationally through the Rip Off Press Syndicate."Zippy Congratulates Rip-Off Press," ''Rip Off Comix'' #21 (Winter 1988), p. 50. At this point, Zippy strips began appearing regularly in '' High Times'' magazine . In 1979, Griffith added his

alter ego An alter ego (Latin for "other I", "doppelgänger") means an alternate self, which is believed to be distinct from a person's normal or true original personality. Finding one's alter ego will require finding one's other self, one with a different ...

character, Griffy, to the strip. He describes Griffy as "neurotic, self-righteous and opinionated, someone with whom Zippy would certainly contrast. I brought the two characters together around 1979, perhaps symbolically bringing together the two halves of my personality. It worked. Their relationship seemed to make Zippy's random nuttiness more directed and Griffy's cranky, critical persona had his foil, someone to bounce happily off of his constant analysis of everything and everyone around him." In 1979–1980,

published a three-issue Zippy comics series, with much of the material made up of strips that had appeared in ''High Times''. At first titled ''Yow'' (which is Zippy's exclamation when he is surprised), the title was changed to ''Zippy'' for the final issue. The first full-length Zippy collection, ''Zippy Stories'', was published in 1981 by

And/Or Press And/Or Press was an independent small press publisher based in the San Francisco Bay Area that operated from 1974 to 1983. The company published books on personal development, guides to the countercultural lifestyle, and consciousness expansion. A ...

. The collection was brought back to print by Last Gasp in 1984, and had multiple printings (up through 1995). In 1986, the "Zippy Theme Song" was composed and performed, with lyrics by The B-52s'

Fred Schneider Frederick William Schneider III (born July 1, 1951) is an American singer, songwriter, arranger, and musician, best known as the frontman of the rock band The B-52's, of which he is a founding member. Schneider is well known for his ''sprechge ...

and vocals by The Manhattan Transfer's Janis Siegel. Also on the cut are singers Phoebe Snow and Jon Hendricks. The daily ''Zippy'' strip (syndicated by

King Features Syndicate King Features Syndicate, Inc. is a American content distribution and animation studio, consumer product licensing and print syndication company owned by Hearst Communications that distributes about 150 comic strips, newspaper columns, editorial c ...

to over 200 newspapers worldwide) started in 1986. Griffith compares the creation of the strip to jazz: "When I'm doing a ''Zippy'' strip, I'm aware that I'm weaving elements together, almost improvising, as if I were all the instruments in a little jazz combo, then stepping back constantly to edit and fine-tune. Playing with language is what delights Zippy the most." In October 1994 Griffith toured Cuba for two weeks, during a period of mass exodus, as thousands of Cubans took advantage of President Fidel Castro's decision to permit emigration for a limited time. In early 1995, Griffith published a six-week series of "

comics journalism Comics journalism is a form of journalism that covers news or nonfiction events using the framework of comics, a combination of words and drawn images. Typically, sources are actual people featured in each story, and word balloons are actual quot ...

" stories about Cuban culture and politics in ''Zippy''. The Cuba series included transcripts of conversations Griffith had conducted with various Cubans, including artists, government officials, and a Yoruba priestess. Years ago, as continuity comic strips gave way to humor strips, typeset episode subtitles vanished from strips. Griffith keeps the tradition alive by always centering a hand-lettered subtitle above each ''Zippy'' strip. In 2007, Griffith began to focus his daily strip on Zippy's "birthplace," Dingburg. In 2008, Griffith presented a talk on Zippy at the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor. In it, he laid out his "Top 40 List on Comics and their Creation,” which has been reposted on numerous comics blog posts.

Personal life

Griffith's first wife, Nancy, was also involved in the underground comix community. His second wife was cartoonist

, whom he began dating in 1973 and married in 1980. In 1998, Griffith and Noomin moved from San Francisco to East Haddam, Connecticut."About Bill Griffith," '' Current Biography'' (2001)
Archived at Zippy the Pinhead official Website
Accessed Dec. 11, 2019. Noomin died in 2022.

Bibliography

In January 2012, Fantagraphics published ''Bill Griffith: Lost and Found, Comics 1969-2003'', a 392-page collection of Griffith's early work in underground comics from the ''East Village Other'' to his pages for ''The New Yorker'' and the ''National Lampoon'' in the 1980s and 1990s. Griffith's mother's affair with cartoonist

formed the basis of Griffith's 2015 graphic novel memoir, ''Invisible Ink: My Mother’s Secret Love Affair With a Famous Cartoonist'', published by Fantagraphics. ''Invisible Ink'' depicts various other details and incidents involving Griffith's family, including Griffith's relationship to William Henry Jackson. In 2019, Griffith's graphic biography of Schlitzie, ''Nobody's Fool: The Life and Times of Schlitzie the Pinhead'', was published by

Abrams ComicArts Abrams, formerly Harry N. Abrams, Inc. (HNA), is an American publisher of art and illustrated books, children's books, and stationery. The enterprise is a subsidiary of the French publisher La Martinière Groupe. Run by President and CEO Michael ...

. ''Zippy'' comics and books are now published by

Zippy titles (selected)

* ''Zippy Stories.'' Berkeley:

, 1981. . San Francisco:

, 1984. * ''Nation of Pinheads.'' Berkeley: And/Or Press, 1982. Reprinted, San Francisco: Last Gasp, 1987. Zippy strips, 1979–1982. * ''Pointed Behavior.'' San Francisco: Last Gasp, 1984. Zippy strips, 1983–1984. * ''Are We Having Fun Yet? Zippy the Pinhead's 29-Day Guide to Random Activities and Arbitrary Donuts''. New York: Dutton, 1985. Reprinted, Seattle: Fantagraphics, 1994. * ''Pindemonium.'' San Francisco: Last Gasp, 1986. Zippy strips, 1985–1986. * ''King Pin: New Zippy Strips.'' New York: Dutton, 1987. Zippy strips, 1986–7. * ''Pinhead's Progress: More Zippy Strips.'' New York: Dutton, 1989. Zippy strips, 1987–8. * ''From A to Zippy: Getting There Is All the Fun.'' New York: Penguin Books, 1991. Zippy strips, 1988–90. * ''Zippy's House of Fun: 54 Months of Sundays.'' Seattle: Fantagraphics, 1995. (Color strips, May 1990 - September 1994) * ''Zippy and beyond: A Pinhead's Progress - Comic Strips, Stories, Travel Sketches and Animation Material.'' San Francisco:

Cartoon Art Museum The Cartoon Art Museum (CAM) is a California art museum that specializes in the art of comics and cartoons. It is the only museum in the Western United States dedicated to the preservation and exhibition of all forms of cartoon art. The permanen ...

, 1997. * ''Zippy Quarterly'' (eighteen collections, published from January, 1993 until March, 1998) - no ISBN identification for these publications * ''Zippy Annual: A millennial melange of microcephalic malapropisms and metaphysical muzak.'' ("Vol. 1", "Impressions based on random data".) Seattle: Fantagraphics, 2000. * ''Zippy Annual 2001.'' ("Vol. 2", "April 2001 - September 2001".) Seattle: Fantagraphics, 2001. * ''Zippy Annual 2002.'' ("Vol. 3", "September 2001 - October 2002".) Seattle: Fantagraphics, 2002. * ''Zippy Annual 2003.'' ("Vol. 4", "October 2002 - October 2003".) Seattle: Fantagraphics, 2003. * ''Zippy: From Here to Absurdity.'' ("Vol. 5", "November 2003 - November 2004".) Seattle: Fantagraphics, 2004. * ''Type Z Personality.'' ("Vol. 6", "December 2004 - December 2005".) Seattle: Fantagraphics, 2005, * ''Connect the Polka Dots.'' ("Vol. 7", December 2005 - August 2006".) Seattle: Fantagraphics, 2006. * ''Walk a Mile in My Muu-Muu.'' Seattle: Fantagraphics, 2007. * ''Welcome to Dingburg''. Seattle: Fantagraphics, 2008. * ''Ding Dong Daddy from Dingburg''. Seattle: Fantagraphics, 2010. * ''Zippy the Pinhead: The Dingburg Diaries''. Seattle: Fantagraphics, 2013.

References

External links

Official ''Zippy The Pinhead'' site
* Griffith's "Top 40 List on Comics and their Creation”
part 1part 2part 3part 4"On the Road with Zippy the Pinhead"
''

Boston Globe ''The Boston Globe'' is an American daily newspaper founded and based in Boston, Massachusetts. The newspaper has won a total of 27 Pulitzer Prizes, and has a total circulation of close to 300,000 print and digital subscribers. ''The Boston Glob ...

'' (2011)
Review of ''Bill Griffith: Lost and Found, Comics 1969-2003'' by novelist Paul Di Fillipo
Barnes & Noble ''In The Margin'' blog (Feb. 12, 2012)
Zippy Meets Mick Jagger

Interviews

Radio interview relating to Griffith's book on the real "Zippy."
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Griffith, Bill 1944 births American cartoonists American comics artists American surrealist artists Artists from New York City Artists from San Francisco Inkpot Award winners Living people Pratt Institute alumni People from Brooklyn People from Levittown, New York People from East Haddam, Connecticut Underground cartoonists