Fantagraphics will release Invisible Ink:  My Mother’s Secret Love Affair with a Famous Cartoonist, the first original graphic novel by famed underground cartoonist Bill Griffith, in September.  Griffith’s knowledge of his mother’s secret life began when she told him of it 15 minutes after his father’s death from a bicycle accident in 1972.  The story goes back and forth between Manhattan and suburban Levittown in the 50s and 60s and the present, as Griffith discovers more details of her hidden life.

The 6-1/2" x 9-1/2" 208-page b/w hardcover will retail for $29.99.

Griffith is best known for his creation Zippy, who not only was the subject of stories in comic books, but also continues to star in comics syndicated in over 100 newspapers.  The Zippyism "Are we having fun yet?" is perhaps the character’s most well-known utterance.

Invisible Ink, a more serious long-form memoir, is a new story type for Griffith.