Robert Crumb Zap #2 Unused Cover Original Art (1967). This unusual cover requires a bit of Underground Comix history. In October and November, 1967, Robert Crumb was on the cusp of the fame and recognition he had so long desired. Working at a fever pitch, he cranked out two complete 24-page comics books, to be titled Zap #1 and 2. Art for the first issue was sent to the publisher of Yarrowstalks, a Philadelphia underground newspaper that had previously published a special issue of Crumb comics; this issue vanished with the publisher, and was finally published as Zap #0 in late 1968. The second issue became the first to be printed, after Robert had drawn a new cover.
The cover you see here was Robert Crumb's original cover to what became Zap #1. Note the caption in the lower left corner: "Special Bonus! Kitchen Kut-Outs". This feature was printed in Zap #1, and the caption was partially reused on that final cover. Crumb actually did at least two different covers for each issue: the very first version for #1 featured a man sitting in an easy chair, dreaming of a running heart. We believe this cover, marked as "Number 2", was the second one he did, before creating two more covers for what became Zap #0, and the published cover to issue #1, featuring Mr. Natural driving an old car.
This unused cover features a man at the toilet, a concept he would reuse twice; once for an unpublished cover for The People's Comics, and later as the published cover for Your Hytone Comix, in 1971. The ink on paper art was done as two separate pieces (the logo and issue number at the top, and the man at the toilet), combined for an overall image area of 8.25" x 10.5"; the art has been professionally matted and Plexiglas framed to an overall 15.75" x 19.25". There are a few faint tape stains and a very small area of paper loss in the upper left corner, well out of the image area and a few light stains within the art; otherwise, the piece is in Excellent condition. It's fresh from a showing at the Musée d'Art Moderne de la Paris exhibit, "Crumb, From Underground to Genesis." which we believe may well have been the only time this incredible rarity has been seen by the public. Most who have seen it assumed it was simply an early version done for Zap Comix #2, printed in July, 1968. For Crumb collectors and Underground Comix scholars, this previously unknown version is like finding the "Lost Sea Scrolls!"

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November, 2012

15th-17th Thursday-Saturday

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