ZAP Comix #0, First Printing, Apex Novelties - Original Owner

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ZAP Comix #0, First Printing, Apex Novelties - Original Owner:
$1058.00

ZAP COMIX, NO. 0

FIRST PRINTING

APEX NOVELY

I am the originalowner.

Kept bagged and boarded in a non-smoking pet-free home for50 years!

Please see photos for condition. I am not a professionalcollector/dealer so can’t provide an accurate grade.

Sent carefully packed.

Happy offerding!

Notes from Comixjoint.com:

Zap Comix #0 was published in the latter half of 1968,sometime between a few weeks and a few months after Zap Comix #2 was publishedin August. But if not for the fact that Brian Zahn (publisher of Yarrowstalks)had kept Crumb\'s artwork for Zap #0 when he traveled to India in 1968, thiswould have been the first book in the Zap Comix series. If it had been, wouldZap Comix #0 have made the same impact that Zap #1 did when it was published?In all likelihood, yes, it would. But it would\'ve been just a little moredicey.

Though still revolutionary for a comic book in 1968, Zap #0is not quite as controversial as Zap #1, but it does get progressively moreoutrageous as you get deeper into the book. The inside front cover featuresRobert Crumb (as \"Mr. Sketchum\") introducing \"Zap Comics\"as \"Audacious! Irreverent! Provocative!\" But the first story,\"Meatballs,\" is about as provocative as a good Mad magazine story ofthe same era. Sure, there\'s a \"beatnik who was always high\" in three panels,but even Mad would be bold enough to do that.

The five-page \"Mr. Natural in Death Valley\" thatfollows is a little more adventurous, as Mr. Natural advises Flakey Floont totake LSD and take a shit, which we know would never fly in any other comic.It\'s also a very funny story, but if all Crumb did was publish a funny comic itwouldn\'t have made the same impact that Zap immediately made.

The next story is \"Ducks Yas Yas,\" a three-pagerthat really exemplifies the social Environment of its time, as it features abroke hippie in New York who gets high, steals shit, hitches a ride to SanFrancisco and drops acid for three weeks. The briskly paced story is repletewith the slang and jargon of the era, though it might just as easily have beenpublished in an underground tabloid as Zap. To some degree, that could be saidabout most of the comics in Zap; the comic-book format really helped Zap standout from similar types of comics publications.

\"Freak Out Funnies\" is one of the more mediocrestories in the issue, but it does push the envelope as it introduces (theuncredited) Angelfood McSpade in the second half of a two-pager. Angelfood willalways be controversial because she is a racist stereotype. But it should benoted that the term \"nigger\" isn\'t used anywhere in this issue, unlikeZap #1. Not that Crumb needed to rely on that slur to create controversy, butits usage is certainly one of the elements that blew people\'s minds (or pissedthem off) in the first issue.

Near the end of the book, the five-page \"City of theFuture\" may be the best story in the issue, as it presents a fanciful peekat the benefits of a modern society, including \"everyone will be tuned into everything that\'s happening all the time!\" and \"fantasy machineswill manufacture any world you ask for in a matter of seconds!\" There willalso be androids built for fucking, clocks built into your brain, andbabysitting robots with TV heads, but world population control will requireeveryone to die at 65!

Zap Comix #0 may have been belatedly published, but overallit doesn\'t disappoint. The first half of the book is relatively tame, but thesecond half really is quite inspired, so it fits right in with the rest of theseries. I don\'t think there\'s any doubt that the Zap Comix freight train wouldhave gotten rolling if Zap #0 was the first book published, but it probablyworked out for the best that it was the third issue that came out. It also gaveall the comic creators working on Zap Comix #3 time to produce what wouldbecome the best issue yet in the series.

HISTORICAL FOOTNOTES:

There are 11 known printing variations of this comic book,though there are several more that cannot be distinguished from one another.Kennedy\'s Price Guide states there were 16 total printings by The Print Mint,totaling 280,000 copies, and that was only through 1982 (and eight identifiedprinting variations produced by The Print Mint). Don Donahue of Apex Noveltiespublished the first printing of 5,000 copies. The following describes theidentified print variations:

1st printing - 35-cent cover price, 1/4-inch hairline markin bottom leg of \"Z\" in \"ZAP\" on the front cover, interiorpages are numbered in upper right corner (except page 17), the back cover hasvisible yellow ink in upper-left-corner lettering

2nd printing - 35-cent cover price, hairline mark isremoved, interior pages are not numbered, yellow ink on the back cover\'supper-left-corner lettering is removed