On sale date: December 6, 2014
This is a more-than-complete collection of the quintessential underground comic book.
There scarcely was an underground comics world before Robert Crumb's classic solo first issue ofZap. By Zap #2, he had begun assembling a Seven Samurai of the best, the fiercest, and the most stylistically diversified cartoonists to come out of the countercultural kiln. All of them were extremists of one sort or another, from biker-gang member Rodriguez to Christian surfer Griffin, but somehow they produced a decades-long collaboration: a mind-blowing anthology of abstract hallucination, throat-slashing social satire, and shocking sexual excess, that made possible the ongoing wave of alternative cartoonists like Daniel Clowes, Chris Ware, and Charles Burns. The Complete Zap Comix collects every issue of Zap — every cover and every story, and even the Zam mini comic jam among the Zap artists — in a five-volume, slipcased hardcover set. Plus, an introduction by founder R. Crumb and an oral history of Zap by Patrick Rosenkranz. Zap is the most historically and aesthetically important comics series ever published.
Also included exclusively in this boxed set is a portfolio of Zap covers by the eight artists, replicated from high resolution scans and proofs, and specially printed for this edition on acid-free, 100% cotton fine-art paper utilizing archival pigment inks.
The Complete Zap Comix Boxed Set is part of the Zap Comix series.
Praise
"Yes, this is $500. Yes, it will absolutely blow some budding underground cartoonists mind. A monumental achievement." — Joe Gross - Austin American-Statesman
"Far f***ing out." — David Pescovitz - Boing Boing
"The irony of turning something that was once sold in dirty bookstores into a $500 collectible is delicious, but I can't think of a more deserving title than Zap. The production quality of The Complete Zap Comix is first rate and the pages are clearer than they've ever been… Seeing the whole of the Zap run laid out like this, it seems obvious — so very, very obvious — what a profound and truly American cultural treasure this is. This is great art of historical and cultural importance that changed people, blew their minds and inspired them. … Zap Comix deserves to be reappraised and valued for what it's truly worth and Fantagraphics has done an amazing job with this stunning box set." — Richard Metzger - Dangerous Minds
"Provocative, filthy and unquestionably excellent, this collection is a crown jewel in comics history." — Sean Edgar - Paste
"…The Complete Zap [is]… strikingly designed… While the early issues stand as rowdy documents of the 1960s counterculture, Zap was also more. In reinventing the comic book, it set off legal battles and conversations over censorship, brought attention to cartoonists as artists, and set an example for generations of alternative comics creators…" — Dana Jennings - The New York Times
Specs
- Pages
- 920
- Format
- Hardback
- Color
- Partial color
- Dimensions
- 10" × 13.4"
- ISBN-13
- 9781606997871