1965 Comic Debuts - Fritz the Cat (Paperback)

Purchase includes free access to book updates online and a free trial membership in the publisher's book club where you can select from more than a million books without charge. Excerpt: Fritz the Cat is a comic strip created by Robert Crumb. Set in a "supercity" of anthropomorphic animals, the strip focuses on Fritz, a feline con artist who frequently goes on wild adventures that involve a variety of sexual escapades. Crumb began drawing this character in homemade comic books when he was a child. Fritz became his most famous character. The strip appeared in Help and Cavalier magazines. It subsequently gained prominence in publications associated with the underground comix scene between 1965 and 1972. Fritz the Cat comic compilations elevated the strip into one of the most iconic features of the underground scene. The strip received further attention when it was adapted into a 1972 animated film with the same name. The directorial debut of animator Ralph Bakshi, it became a worldwide success. It was the first animated feature film to receive an X rating in the United States and the most successful independent animated feature ever. Crumb ended the strip in 1972 due to disagreements with the filmmakers. He published a story in which Fritz was murdered by an ex-girlfriend. A second animated film, The Nine Lives of Fritz the Cat, was produced in 1974 without the involvement of either Bakshi or Crumb. Robert Crumb created Fritz the Cat in 1959, influenced by Walt Kelly's Pogo.Fritz the Cat was created in a 1959 by Robert Crumb in a homemade comic book story called "Cat Life", based on experiences of Fred, the family cat. The character next appearance in a 1960 story titled "Robin Hood". By this point the cat had become anthropomorphic and been renamed Fritz, a name derived from a minor unrelated character who appeared briefly in "Cat Life". Fritz appeared in the early 1960s Animal Town strips drawn by Charles and Robert Crumb. S... More: http://booksllc.net/?id=530774