ZAP COMIX #4 1969 CGC 9.6 NM+ 1ST PRINT FILE COPY TOP CENSUS UNDERGROUND COMIX

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ZAP COMIX #4 1969 CGC 9.6 NM+ 1ST PRINT FILE COPY TOP CENSUS UNDERGROUND COMIX :
$4499.99

SHOWPONYSYDNEE PRESENTSOffered for Sale:
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FROM THE UNDERGROUND VAULTOFSHOWPONYSYDNEE
AN ULTIMATE RARITY!
ZAP COMIX #4CGC 9.6HIGHEST CGC GRADED CENSUSTHE ONLY 1ST PRINT (1969)APEX NOVELTIES-FILE COPYLISTED ON GPA COMIC ANALYSISOFF-WHITE to WHITE PAGESCGC#0061802003*TOP STAPLE (2.3125) 2 5/16 INCHES FROM TOP EDGE
*ACTUAL COMIX BOOK LISTED FOR SALE**See posted photos for HIGH RESOLUTION SCANSI HAVE PROVIDED HIGHLY DETAILED SCANS OF BOTH FRONT AND BACK COVERSZAP COMIX #4APEX NOVELTIESFILE COPY(1969)CGC 9.6 NM+
HIGHEST CGC CENSUS GRADEFIRST PRINTINGOFF-WHITE to WHITE PAGES
COVER: VICTOR MOSCOSOINSIDE FRONT & BACK COVERS: ROBERT WILLIAMS
INTERIOR ART &STORIES by:GILBERT SHELTON, ROBERT WILLIAMS, VICTOR MOSCOSO,ROBERT CRUMB, S. CLAY \"WILSON\" & SPAIN RODRIGUEZ
1. Hocus Pocus with Mr. Peanut(Victor Moscoso)
2. Joe Blow(R. Crumb)
3. A Ball In The Bung Hole(S. Clay \"Wilson\")
4. The Supreme Constellation of Dormasintoria(Robert Williams)
5. Wonder Warthog Breaks Up The Muthalode Smut Ring(Gilbert Shelton)6. Mr. Natural Takes A Vacation (R. Crumb)
7. Mara Mistress Of The Void(Spain Rodriguez)
8. Horny Harriet(R. Crumb)9. Sparky SpermHe\'s Got the Power!!(R. Crumb)
10. Jam(ZAP ARTISTS)
11. Ooga Booga(R. Crumb)
12. Star Eyed Stella(S. Clay \"Wilson\")
ZAP COMIX #4
THE COMIC THAT DEFINED THE TERM:\"UNDERGROUND\"IN COMIX
THE FIRST COMIC TO RESULT IN THE ENFORCEMENT AND PROSECUTION OF\"The COMMUNITY STANDARDS DOCTRINE\"
Obscenity Case Files: Zap Comix #4
June 13, 2013By Joe SergiThis edition of the obscenity files turns to the world of comics (or rather, comix) to take a look at the arrest and prosecution of two salespeople who sold a Robert Crumb underground comic that featured an all-American incestual orgy to an undercover police officer. This case would not only stall the underground comix movement, but it also inspires today’s generation of creators to be vigilant against attack.
This is a story about a heinous crime. This is the story of People of New York v. Kirkpatrick.bookburning
In 1954, the Comics Code Authority instituted a series of industry-wide prohibitions as to what could appear in comic books. In short, the Comics Code stifled artistic creativity in the mainstream comic book industry. In response, several creators, inspired by the horror comics produced by EC that had borne the brunt of the public backlash, started what would be known as the underground comix movement. Underground comix presented a stark, uncensored commentary on society. The books focused on 1960s counterculture subjects like recreational drug use, politics, rock music, and free love. To avoid confusion with the mainstream all-ages books sold in convenience stores and newsstands, the publications were known as “comix.” Of course the “X” also emphasized the frequently X-rated nature of the books. Comix were only available in headshops (i.e., places that sold drug paraphernalia).
Zap Comix #1 premiered in 1968, coming from the creative mind of Robert Crumb, an underground comix visionary from San Francisco. The book had a false start when the original publisher of the work reportedly left the country with Crumb’s artwork. (Crumb would later use photocopies of the art and release them as Zap Comix #0.) With only 3,500 printed copies (printed by Beat writer Charles Plymell), Zap Comix #1 was released by publisher Don Donahue under the Apex Novelties imprint. In true underground fashion, the first issue was sold in San Francisco’s counterculture headquarters, Haight-Ashbury, out of a baby stroller pushed by Crumb’s wife, Dana. Randy Duncan and Matthew J. Smith, write in Icons of the American Comic Book: From Captain America to Wonder Woman:
Zap Comix first began to be sold on the street on February 25, 1968, in the Haight-Ashbury neighborhood by Robert Crumb’s very pregnant wife, Dana, pushing a baby carriage with some copies piled in it. Contrary to a popular myth, Robert Crumb never stood at the corner of Haight and Ashbury, huckstering Zap Comix that day, or ever. Dana was accompanied by Don Donahue and another friend, Marylin “Mimi” Jones McGrew. One of many street fairs was going on that day. They also got some Zaps placed into a few Haight-Ashbury stores, such as In Gear. Selling at 25 cents a copy, the first day sales totaled only $20.50.
Zap Comix #1, labeled “Fair Warning: For Adult Intellectuals Only,” was a big success. And while there were others before it (such as Jack Jackson’s God Nose, Das Kampf, Robert Ronnie Branaman, Bacchanal, The Adventures of Jesus, and Lenny of Laredo), Zap Comix is frequently considered to be the true beginning of the popular underground comix movement. Zap Comix was eventually expanded to include to several other artists, including S. Clay Wilson, Robert Williams, “Spain” Rodriguez, Gilbert Shelton, and two artists with reputations as psychedelic poster designers, Victor Moscoso and Rick Griffin.
Despite the growing popularity of Zap Comics aand limited distribution, there was an ongoing attack against underground comix. As Mark James Estren describes in A History of Underground Comics:
zap 15Some local authorities have decided that the underground comics are indeed the threat to puritanical American values which the cartoonists want them to be. . . . this decision has led some of them to attempt obscenity busts involving the underground comics. . . . these arrests have hit at the distributors and dealers of the comics, this being the most efficient way of preventing the material from reaching the public. Moe’s Bookstore in Berkeley was busted for selling Snatch Comics and Zap Comix. The Phoenix Gallery (also in Berkeley), after developing an art show featuring the work of numerous underground cartoonists, was busted for displaying obscene materials. In Encino, California, an employee of the Third Eye bookstore was arrested for selling Zap Comix No. 2. And so on, and on, and on and on.
In almost every case, the obscenity busts have come to nothing. In the Third Eye bookstore case, a judge in Division 21 of the county court ruled that the strip which allegedly made Zap No.2 obscene . . . was not obscene because it did not arouse one’s prurient interests.
Despite the attempts to shutdown underground comix, the success of Zap Comix continued. But with issue #4, released in August 1969, the book would become infamous. That was because of a story by Crumb called “Joe Blow” that attacked social conventions. “Joe Blow” was drawn in a simple, Walt Disney style and featured a white-collar executive who, after a hard day at the office, enjoyed spending quality time with his nuclear family. Of course, this quality time consisted of an incestual orgy (with the motto “the family that lays together, stays together”), thus providing a unique commentary on the hypocrisy of America.Almost immediately, Zap Comix #4was targeted by a law enforcement in effort to remove it from circulation. There were a series of arrests on the West Coast, but the charges were quickly dropped.
On the East Coast, Zap Comix #4was the subject of a sting operation by the so-called Morals Squad in New York. On August 25, 1969, Patrolman Megna, an undercover policeman from the Morals Squad, walked by the East Side Bookstore and saw a showcase in front of the sales counter with copies of Zap Comix #4. In trial, Megna testified that he bought a copy from Terrence McCoy for 50 cents. On August 25 and again on September 17, 1969, Officer Megna made similar purchases from Peter Kirkpatrick, a 23-year-old bookshop manager who was behind the counter at the New Yorker Bookstore. Also on September 17, Menga purchased a copy of the Zap Comix #4from Peter Dargis at the East Side Bookstore and“observed numerous copies” of that magazine in a glass case.Megna personally arrested McCoy. Kirkpatrick was arrested for “promoting obscenity.” Across town, Peter Dargis, manager of East Side Bookstore was also arrested for selling Zap Comix #4. The police also arrested the owner of the New Yorker Book Store, Pete Martin and the owner of the East Side Bookstore, James Rose but the charges against Martin and Rose were dropped.
The case was assigned to Judge Joel Tyler, former Commissioner of Licenses who previously issued the ruling that labelled the movie Deep Throat obscene (thus, making it famous). The people of New York were represented by Manhattan Assistant District Attorney Richard Beckler, who had a unique trial strategy. As the Court stated, “The People introduced no evidence, whatsoever, as to the character or contents of Zap No. 4, but merely urged the court that its examination would reveal that the material contained therein is obscene ‘as a matter of law.’” Basically, Beckler simply provided the Court with a copy of Zap Comix #4 and asked for it to be found obscene. Under New York law at the time, “A person who promotes obscene material, or possesses the same with intent to promote it in the course of his business, is presumed to do so with knowledge of its content and character.” Thus, any ruling that Zap Comix #4 was obscene as a matter of law would have the effect of shifting the burden of proof back to the accused to prove that they did not know the book was obscene when it was sold it to the undercover police officer.At trial, Kirkpatrick and Dargis were represented by Robert Levine and Stephen Rohde, who argued that Zap Comics #4 had redeeming social value and thus could not be declared obscene under the law. To prove its case, the defense relied on the testimony of four expert witnesses. First, Gil Kane, a mainstream DC Comics artist, expressed his admiration of Crumb and compared his work to that of an expressionist painter. Second, Robert M. Doty, curator of New York’s Whitney Museum of American Art, testified that he displayed Crumb’s art at the Whitney Museum’s exhibit, “Human Concern and Personal Torment: The Grotesque in American Art.” Third, Steven Marks, a teacher and writer, stated that he regularly used Crumb’s strips in his humanities course at Columbia University. Fourth, Sidney Jacobson, an editor at children’s publisher Harvey Publications, argued that underground comix should be respected as a medium to express adult stories and adult situations. (I should add that during trial, Judge Tyler admitted to regularly reading Harvey Comics and took issue with the fact that Jacobson said they were intended for the lowest age group.)The ONLY1ST PRINT (1969)ZAP 4 FILE COPYLISTED onTHE GPA COMIC ANALYSIS CENSUS
THIS Early Silver Age Underground Comix ISRARE IN HIGH GRADETHE BESTKNOWN EXAMPLEfor any HIGH-GRADE COMPLETIST!
CASE IS IN PERFECT CONDITION!
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