Upper Playground and the SF Heritage Preservation Society together with Bill Griffith presents to you the limited edition Zippy the Zippo. Only 100 made.
Created by American cartoonist, William Jackson Griffith, Zippy the iconic cartoon strip was born in San Francisco in 1970. Zippy The Pinhead, inspired by circus sideshows, was known for his oddly shaped head, polka dot clown suit, and bizarre social commentary. Equipped with a scrambled attention span and healthy diet of ding-dongs and taco sauce, the comic strip chronicled Zippy’s neurotic experience through pop culture.
San Francisco in the 1970’s was a haven for counterculture cartoonists and a hotbed for the underground comic movement led by Last Gasp publishing. The scene gave rise to Griffith as well as a host of other famed cartoonists such as Robert Crumb, S. Clay Wilson, Spain Rodriguez, and a milieu of others.
Hired by the San Francisco Examiner in 1985, alongside Hunter S. Thompson, Bill Griffith’s Zippy character rose in popularity and soon became a nationally syndicated strip.
The Heritage Preservation Society would like to pay homage to San Francisco’s historic cartoon culture and one of its most legendary comic strip icons.
Special thanks to Bill Griffith and Last Gasp Publishing.
www.zippythepinhead.com
www.lastgasp.com
