After the unconscionable crimes against Charlie Hebdo, a celebration of Fantagraphics' The Complete Zap Comix is more than timely. Zap founder R. Crumb has lived in France for 25 years. His response to the killings was titled The Cowardly Cartoonist — a caricature of himself holding a drawing of Muhammad's hairy ass while making excuses. Few have ever considered Crumb faint of heart. Zap first emerged in the Haight in 1968, dripping with an amniotic ooze of sex, drugs, and social satire. It pushed buttons, expanded minds, and laid a new track for the comics underground. By Zap Comix #4, which included artists such as former Army medic S. Clay Wilson and Marxist biker "Spain" Rodriguez, the moral brigade was scared. Shopkeepers on both coasts were brought up on obscenity charges (Lawrence Ferlinghetti just paid a fine and kept on stockin'). Find out what made it one of the most historically significant comics ever published through Zap artists Victor Moscoso, Robert Williams, and Paul Mavrides in conversation with publishers Gary Groth and Ron Turner.
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