Tags
city of the future, comix, indie box, Indie Comics, Robert Crumb, underground comix, Zap, Zap Comix
Legend has it that Robert Crumb’s entire set of finished pages for the first issue of Zap somehow got lost. He created a whole new issue from scratch that became Zap #1. When the lost pages reappeared, they saw publication as Zap #0.
Crumb’s mix of absurdity, psychedelia, and satire produced two of our favorite underground comix classics in this issue. Meatball tells the tale of random Americans being struck by flying meatballs until a meatball sensation sweeps the nation.
City of the Future comically spoofs the pop culture tradition of envisioning what our daily lives will be like in some far-off time. But on second read, one might consider the prescience of these predictions from the vantage point of our modern day video games, sex dolls, recycling centers, twitter feeds, and ‘extreme’ sports.
Collector’s Guide: From Zap Comix #0; 1967, Apex Oddities.
Mars Will Send No More 
Eerily correct in some “predictions”! The “fantasy machine”, for instance. I love early Crumb!
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Yes, and being tuned in to everything all the time sounds a lot like having tons of media and interactive “social media” sites pushed to your portable phone! Not to mention extreme sports and blow-up dolls, interactive cartoon sex sites, plastic cars, and so much more.
Our favorite vintage Crumb stories are his profiles of musicians, and his more psychedelic stuff. We would share more of it, but Fantagraphics has been doing a great job publishing the entire Crumb catalog. Since the guy is still alive and earns meaningful royalties, we don’t want to get a nastygram from Fantagraphics for sharing too much of things that are currently in print and supporting the artist. Thus, brief excerpts only!
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Crumb was 45 years ahead of this wacky “scientist” who “predicts the future” in the pages of the New York Times:
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/11/28/opinion/kaku-a-scientist-predicts-the-future.html
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Thank you for dropping by and commenting, Mark! The cloud that is everywhere granting my wishes gave me your link while my perfectly capitalist RoboDoctor healed me with his mind.
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