Zippy The Pinhead

A collection of Zippy the Pinhead strips from the early '80s. An excellent introduction Bill Griffith's popular comic strip. From his first appearance in Tales of the Toad, Zippy has lived a true American Success Story.

A graphic biography of the real-life sideshow performer who inspired Zippy the Pinhead: “An uplifting, wonderfully humane book.” —The New York Times From Coney Island and the Ringling Bros. Circus to small-town carnivals and big-city sideshows, Nobody’s Fool follows the long, legendary career of Schlitzie, today best known for his appearance in the cult classic film Freaks, the making of which is a centerpiece of the story. In researching Schlitzie’s life, Griffith has tracked down primary sources and archives throughout the country, conducting interviews with those who worked with him and had intimate knowledge of his personality, his likes and dislikes, how he responded to being a sideshow “freak,” and much more. This graphic biography provides never-before-revealed details of his life, offering a unique look into his world and contributions to popular culture, including the immortal phrase “Are we having fun yet?” “Virtuoso comic-strip artist Bill Griffith gives voice to a true outcast—the sideshow attraction born Simon Metz (probably) in the Bronx (probably) in 1901.” —The New York Times “The underlying message of Nobody’s Fool? I get it—underneath our grandiose opinions of ourselves we’re all pinheads and freaks . . . The best graphic novel of the year.” —R. Crumb “A captivating labor of love that integrates American sideshow history and autobiographical segments . . . an astonishing life, beautifully told. Or, as Schlitzie would say, it’s boffo!” —Booklist (starred review) “A masterpiece of absurdity and humanity. After all these years Schlitzie still triggers laughter and tears.” —Steve Heller, Print

In our latest collection of the Zippy the Pinhead daily comic strip, Zippy is visits his home town, Dingburg: the only city in the US inhabited entirely by pinheads (well, aside from Washington, DC. And some sections of Newark). Reader response to this new Dingburg "story thread" has been loud and approving, with many asking for directions to the fabled enclave, somewhere "17 miles west of Baltimore". Detailed maps will be provided on the new book's endpapers.Also in this issue: the revealing "Little Zippy" series, in which Zippy's magical and very weird childhood is laid bare. And, finally, Zippy and J. Edgar Hoover (remember him?) cavort in tutus and play with loaded guns.

Bill Griffith's Zippy the Pinhead is a pop culture icon. The surrealist-leaning character is one of the most recognizable figures on the newspaper pages, seen by tens of millions of people a day. Syndicated by King Features since 1986, Zippy is read in hundreds of daily newspapers across the country, while the Pinhead's trademark non-sequitur, "Are we having fun yet?," has become so often repeated it's inBartlett's Familiar Quotations. His likeness has been grafittied on the Berlin Wall and aped for Saturday Night Live's classic "Conehead" sketches. This new Zippy collection features approximately a year's worth of strips, from November 2003 through November 2004, including full-color Sundays. Follow Zippy as he weaves in and out of "Bushmiller Country" (the land formerly inhabited by Ernie Bushmiller's classic Nancy comic strip) and as if things weren't strange enough he suddenly begins spouting Japanese, French, Russian, Farsi, Hungarian, Greek, Finnish and Latin! Zippy meets aliens, revisits Levittown (his birthplace) with Griffy, confronts the evil "Ziggy" and frolics with advertising icons like Reddy Kilowatt, Mr. Bubble, Colonel Sanders and the long-forgotten Unifax Astroboy. Oh, yeah, and he takes a long, hot bath (without Mr. Bubble).

Glitz-2-Go finally collects nearly 40 years of comics stories by Diane Noomin, best-known for her work as cartoonist and editor of the women comics anthology Twisted Sisters. Noomin’s career in underground comix began in 1972 and included appearances in Wimmen’s Comix, Young Lust, Short Order, Arcade, Real Girl, Lemme Outta Here, El Perfecto, True Glitz, Aftershock, Mind Riot, Titters, and Weirdo. Glitz-2-Go stars Noomin’s signature character, DiDi Glitz, the frustrated middle-aged glamour-puss and anxiety-ridden suburban Sisyphus. All of her stories, beginning with her debut “Restless Reverie” in 1974’s Family Fun Comics, are finally back in print for the first time in over 30 years.

Cartoons offer a satiric look at art, modern music, carnivals, politics, work, public scandals, comic strips, and modern life

In Type "Z" Personality, Zippy's new collection of daily and Sunday strips, Zippy dabbles in haiku, visits the malls of Australia, talks to Albert Einstein, lampoons "Manga" and goes into a deep trance while bowling. And if all that wasn't enough, Zippy insults Dick Cheney while imagining he's the hood ornament on a 1931 Studebaker.

In Zippy’s latest collection of daily and color strips (with additional pages!), the tour of “Dingburg” continues; we drop in on dozens of Dingburgers and observe them in their natural habitat. The city “inhabited entirely by pinheads” can be seen as a metaphor for the world we live in today — or not. In any event, we watch as Zippy and his fellow Dingburg residents hunt and bag “Speedy Alka Seltzer,” hear voices in their refrigerators, become addicted to Riboflavin, enjoy fondling newsprint, believe that “wahoo bark” attracts the opposite sex, and worship Joan Rivers.