Bill Griffith

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For the Australian rules footballer, see Bill J. Griffith.

Bill Griffith
Griffith in 2012
BornWilliam Henry Jackson Griffith
(1944-01-20) January 20, 1944 (age 80)
Brooklyn, New York City, New York, U.S.
Area(s)Cartoonist
Pseudonym(s)Griffy
Notable works
Young Lust
Arcade
Zippy the Pinhead
Invisible Ink
Nobody's Fool
AwardsInkpot Award (1992)[1]
Reuben Award (2023)[2]
Spouse(s)
​
​
(m. 1980; died 2022)​
Signature
Signature of Bill Griffith

William Henry Jackson Griffith (born January 20, 1944) is an American

surreal daily comic strip Zippy.[3] The catchphrase "Are we having fun yet?" is credited to Griffith.[4]

Over his career, which started in the

comics anthologies Arcade and Young Lust, and has contributed comics and illustrations to a variety of publications, including National Lampoon, High Times, The New Yorker, The Village Voice and The New York Times
.

Early life, family and education

Born in Brooklyn, New York City, New York, Griffith grew up in Levittown on Long Island. He is the great-grandson and namesake of the photographer and artist William Henry Jackson[5][6] (Jackson died at age 99 just two years before Griffith was born).

One of Griffith's neighbors was

Science Fiction Stories.[8]

For over a decade, starting in 1957, Griffith's mother Barbara had an affair with cartoonist Lawrence Lariar; this formed the basis of a 2015 graphic novel by Griffith.[6]

While attending Brooklyn's Pratt Institute in 1963, Griffith saw a screening of the 1932 Tod Browning film Freaks. As he said in a later interview, "I was fascinated by the pinheads in the introductory scene and asked the projectionist (who I knew) if he could slow down the film so I could hear what they were saying better. He did and I loved the poetic, random dialog. Little did I know that Zippy was being planted in my fevered brain."[9]

Griffith graduated with an

Graphic Design from Pratt in 1964.[10][11]

Career

Underground comix

For a short period in the late 1960s, Griffith joined a team of artists that included

trading cards for the Topps Company. Later, Griffith drew new "Wacky Packages Old School Sketch Cards" for Topps.[citation needed
]

In 1969, Griffith began making underground comix,[3] first in New York City.[13] His first comic strips, which appeared in the East Village Other and Screw magazine, featured an angry amphibian named Mr. The Toad,[3] who showed up later in a solo comics series and then as a recurring character in Zippy.

Griffith ventured to

Michele Brand, and Griffith's sister Nancy.[15]
(The U.C.W. of A. brand appeared on a number of comix from that era.)

X-rated parody of girl's romance comics"[16] that Griffith co-founded and edited with cartoonist Jay Kinney, was a huge hit upon its 1970 debut,[17] with the first issue enjoying multiple printings.[18]
The title eventually published eight issues, with the last one appearing in 1993 (with a ten-year gap between issues #6 and #7).

In 1973, Griffith was one of the founding members of Cartoonists' Co-op Press, along with Kim Deitch, Jerry Lane, Jay Lynch, Willy Murphy, Diane Noomin, and Spiegelman.[19] The press was a short-lived self-publishing cooperative that operated out of Griffith's apartment.[20] It was founded as an alternative to the existing underground presses, which were perceived as not being honest with their accounting practices.[21] (For example, Griffith's popular anthology, Young Lust, ran through three publishers — Company & Sons, Print Mint, and Last Gasp — in its first three issues.)

Griffith's solo title, Tales of Toad, had a three-issue run from 1970 to 1973, published first by the Print Mint and then Cartoonists' Co-op Press. The main character, Mr. Toad, is a humanoid toad who embodies blind greed and selfishness.[22]

Griffith's weekly

Rip Off Press Syndicate in the late 1970s.[23] Material from the strip was published in Rip Off Comix (Rip Off Press) and Arcade, and then collected, first by Rip Off Press in 1979,[24] and then in an expanded edition by Fantagraphics
in 1993.

Arcade

In 1975, after many years of gestation,[25] Griffith and Spiegelman debuted the magazine-sized anthology Arcade, the Comics Revue, published by the Print Mint. Arriving late in the underground era, Arcade stood out from similar publications by having an ambitious editorial plan, in which Spiegelman and Griffith attempted to show how comics connected to the broader realms of artistic and literary culture.[26][27] Arcade also introduced comic strips from ages past, as well as contemporary literary pieces by writers such as William S. Burroughs and Charles Bukowski,[28] and illustrated nonfiction pieces by writers like Paul Krassner and J. Hoberman.

Soon after the magazine's debut, however, co-editor Spiegelman moved back to his original home of New York City,[29] which put most of the editorial work for Arcade on the shoulders of Griffith and his new partner (later wife), Diane Noomin. This, combined with distribution problems, retailer indifference, and a general failure to find a devoted audience,[27] led to the magazine's 1976 demise after seven issues. Nonetheless, many observers credit Arcade with paving the way for the Spiegelman-edited anthology Raw, the flagship publication of the 1980s alternative comics movement.[27]

Zippy

Main article: Zippy the Pinhead

The first Zippy story appeared in the underground comic Real Pulp #1 (Print Mint) in 1971.[30] As Griffith said of that story, "I was asked to contribute a few pages to Real Pulp Comics #1, edited by Roger Brand. His only guideline was to say 'Maybe do some kind of love story, but with really weird people.' I never imagined I'd still be putting words into Zippy's fast-moving mouth some 38 years later."[9]

Zippy's original appearance was partly inspired by the microcephalic Schlitzie, from the film Freaks, which was enjoying something of a cult revival at the time; as well as the P. T. Barnum sideshow performer Zip the Pinhead, who may not have been a microcephalic but was nevertheless billed as one.[31]

The Zippy strip went weekly in 1976, first in the

Rip Off Press Syndicate.[32][3] At this point, Zippy strips began appearing regularly in High Times
magazine .

In 1979, Griffith added his alter ego character, Griffy,[16] to the strip. He describes Griffy as "neurotic, self-righteous and opinionated, someone with whom Zippy would certainly contrast. I brought the two characters together around 1979, perhaps symbolically bringing together the two halves of my personality. It worked. Their relationship seemed to make Zippy's random nuttiness more directed and Griffy's cranky, critical persona had his foil, someone to bounce happily off of his constant analysis of everything and everyone around him."[33]

In 1979–1980, Last Gasp published a three-issue Zippy comics series, with much of the material made up of strips that had appeared in High Times. At first titled Yow[34] (which is Zippy's exclamation when he is surprised), the title was changed to Zippy for the final issue.[35]

The first full-length Zippy collection, Zippy Stories, was published in 1981 by And/Or Press. The collection was brought back to print by Last Gasp in 1984, and had multiple printings (up through 1995).[36]

In 1986, the "Zippy Theme Song" was composed and performed, with lyrics by

Janis Siegel.[37] Also on the cut are singers Phoebe Snow and Jon Hendricks.[38]

The daily Zippy strip (syndicated by King Features Syndicate to over 200[3] newspapers worldwide) started in 1986. Griffith compares the creation of the strip to jazz: "When I'm doing a Zippy strip, I'm aware that I'm weaving elements together, almost improvising, as if I were all the instruments in a little jazz combo, then stepping back constantly to edit and fine-tune. Playing with language is what delights Zippy the most."[39]

In October 1994 Griffith toured Cuba for two weeks, during a period of mass exodus, as thousands of Cubans took advantage of President Fidel Castro's decision to permit emigration for a limited time. In early 1995, Griffith published a six-week series of "comics journalism" stories about Cuban culture and politics in Zippy. The Cuba series included transcripts of conversations Griffith had conducted with various Cubans, including artists, government officials, and a Yoruba priestess.[40]

Years ago, as continuity comic strips gave way to humor strips, typeset episode subtitles vanished from strips. Griffith keeps the tradition alive by always centering a hand-lettered subtitle above each Zippy strip.[citation needed]

In 2007, Griffith began to focus his daily strip on Zippy's "birthplace," Dingburg.[16]

In 2008, Griffith presented a talk on Zippy at the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor. In it, he laid out his "Top 40 List on Comics and their Creation,” which has been reposted on numerous comics blog posts.[citation needed]

Personal life

Griffith's younger sister, Nancy,[6] was also involved in the underground comix community.[41]

His wife was cartoonist Diane Noomin, whom he began dating in 1973 and married in 1980.[42] They lived together in San Francisco from 1972 to 1998, first in an apartment on Fair Oaks Street, and then in their own house on 25th Street in Diamond Heights.[43] They moved to Hadlyme, Connecticut, in 1998.[13][40] Noomin died of uterine cancer in 2022.[42]

Bibliography

In January 2012, Fantagraphics published Bill Griffith: Lost and Found, Comics 1969-2003, a 392-page collection of Griffith's early work in underground comics from the East Village Other to his pages for The New Yorker and the National Lampoon in the 1980s and 1990s.

Griffith's mother's affair with cartoonist Lawrence Lariar formed the basis of Griffith's 2015 graphic novel memoir, Invisible Ink: My Mother’s Secret Love Affair with a Famous Cartoonist, published by Fantagraphics.[6] Invisible Ink depicts various other details and incidents involving Griffith's family, including his father's physical and psychological abuse of his family members.[44]

In 2019, Griffith's graphic biography of

Abrams ComicArts
.

Griffith revealed in the August 19, 2020, Zippy strip that he was writing and drawing a graphic biography of

Harry N. Abrams
August 2023.

In 2023, Griffith produced a comic book memoir of Diane Noomin and their marriage together, titled The Buildings Are Barking.[45]

Zippy comics and books are now published by

Fantagraphics Books
.

Zippy titles (selected)

References

  1. ^ Inkpot Award, Comic-Con International San Diego website. Retrieved Dec. 9, 2022.
  2. ^ "Bill Griffith Wins the Reuben Award". ComicsBeat.com. September 8, 2023. Retrieved September 11, 2023.
  3. ^ a b c d e f "Bill Griffith". Lambiek.net. Lambiek Encyclopedia. July 10, 2016. Retrieved June 7, 2017.
  4. ^ "Are We Having Fun Yet?". Bartlett's Familiar Quotations (16th ed.). 1992.
  5. ISBN 978-1606998953
    .
  6. ^ a b c d “I Had Moments Where I Just Broke Down Crying”: An Interview with Bill Griffith, by Chris Mautner, in The Comics Journal; published November 23, 2015; retrieved December 16, 2015
  7. ^ "Bill Griffith". zippythepinhead.com.
  8. ^ Post on Griffith's Facebook page; March 5, 2019
  9. ^ a b "Dueben, Alex. "Is Bill Griffith Having Fun Yet?", CBR, October 6, 2008". Comicbookresources.com. October 6, 2008. Retrieved February 18, 2013.
  10. ^ Anderson, Lexi. "New and Noteworthy: Summer Reading by Pratt Alumni," Pratt Institute, Monday, June 10, 2019. Retrieved October 24, 2021
  11. ^ Bill Griffith (faculty profile) – School of Visual Arts. Retrieved October 24, 2021
  12. ^ Original art on wacky packages.org
  13. ^ a b c Battista, Carolyn (July 11, 1999). "Q&A/Bill Griffith; Exploring The State With Zippy and Griffy". The New York Times.
  14. ^ Goodrick, Susan. "Introduction," The Apex Treasury of Underground Comics (Links Books/Quick Fox, 1974).
  15. ^ Young Lust #3 (Last Gasp, June 1972).
  16. ^ a b c Heller, Steve (December 22, 2011). "Bill Griffith: The Man Who Made Zippy a Pinhead". The Atlantic. Retrieved June 7, 2017.
  17. ^ Rosenkranz, Patrick. Rebel Visions: The Underground Comix Revolution, 1963-1975 (Fantagraphics, 200), p. 153.
  18. ^ Young Lust entry, AtomicAvenue.com. Accessed Sept. 6, 2016.
  19. ^ "Aline and Bob's Dirty Laundry Comics Lot #1 #2 Comix R. Crumb Aline Kominsky | #1975257675". Worthpoint. Retrieved April 23, 2020.
  20. ^ Griffith, Bill. Lost and Found: Comics 1969-2003 (Fantagraphics Books, 2012), p. 11.
  21. ^ Estren, Mark. A History of Underground Comics: 20th Anniversary Edition (Ronin Publishing, 2012), pp. 251-253.
  22. ^ "Cast of Characters". Zippythepinhead.com. Retrieved May 2, 2013.
  23. ^ Fox, M. Steven. "Rip Off Comix — 1977-1991 / Rip Off Press," Comixjoint. Retrieved Dec. 5, 2022.
  24. ^ "Griffith Observatory #1 (1979), Rip Off Press, 1979 Series," Grand Comics Database. Retrieved Dec. 9, 2022.
  25. ^ "Bill Griffith: Politics, Pinheads, and Post-Modernism," The Comics Journal #157 (Mar. 1993), p. 73.
  26. ISBN 978-3-11-023774-0
    ,pp=67–68.
  27. ^ a b c Fox, M. Steven. "Arcade, The Comics Revue," ComixJoint. Accessed June 19, 2018.
  28. ISBN 978-1-85984-598-1
    , p. 252.
  29. ISBN 978-1-934110-12-6
    , p. xix.
  30. ISBN 978-1605490564
    .
  31. ^ "Are We Having Fun Yet?". Zippythepinhead.com. Retrieved February 18, 2013.
  32. ^ "Zippy Congratulates Rip-Off Press," Rip Off Comix #21 (Winter 1988), p. 50.
  33. ISBN 9781581154085
    .
  34. ^ "Yow, Last Gasp, 1978 Series," Grand Comics Database. Retrieved Dec. 9, 2022.
  35. ^ "Zippy, Last Gasp, 1980 Series," Grand Comics Database. Retrieved Dec. 9, 2022.
  36. ^ "Zippy Stories, (March 1984), Last Gasp, 1984 Series," Grand Comics Database. Retrieved Dec. 9, 2022.
  37. ^ "Zippy Theme Song". zippythepinhead.com.
  38. ISBN 978-1606994825
    .
  39. ^ "Is he having fun yet?". zippythepinhead.com.
  40. ^ a b "About Bill Griffith," Current Biography (2001). Archived at Zippy the Pinhead official Website. Accessed Dec. 11, 2019.
  41. ^ Fox, M. Steven. "Fits #2". ComixJoint.com. Retrieved December 8, 2016.
  42. ^ a b Green, Penelope (September 11, 2022). "Diane Noomin, Who Helped Bring Feminism to Underground Comics, Dies at 75". The New York Times. Retrieved September 11, 2022.
  43. ^ Griffith, The Buildings Are Barking, p. 15.
  44. Comics Kingdom
     (May 2, 2018).
  45. ^ Griffith, Bill (June 2023). The Buildings Are Barking: Diane Noomin in Memoriam. F.U. Press.

External links

Interviews

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