Zap Comix - Underground Comics

Underground Comics

Zap was also one of the books that put the "underground" in comics: Zap #4 (by then being published by The Print Mint), in particular, was the subject of numerous "community standards" obscenity busts and court cases. That issue was most notorious for Crumb's satirical story Joe Blow, depicting an incestuous all-American nuclear family whose motto was "the family that lays together, stays together." San Francisco's City Lights Bookstore was raided by police, and the fourth issue of Zap was eventually prohibited from selling over the counter in New York. However, the case was as much about publicity as anything else, and the issue continued to be readily available for purchase, including by City Lights. The attention created a bump in Zap sales and elevated its reputation among counterculture types; it certainly cannot be argued that succeeding issues of Zap were any tamer in content.