Bill Griffith's cult comic hero Zippy the Pinhead is about to make a foray into animation in a series that will appear on the cable network Showtime. Film Roman, the animation company responsible for The Simpsons, is behind this new project. The Zippy the Pinhead series will mark the first collaborative project between Film Roman and the Indian media giant Pentamedia, which recently acquired a 60% stake in Film Roman. The new Zippy series will be produced in Chennai, India as well as at Film Roman's Hollywood headquarters.
Griffith's non-sequitur-spouting microcephalic came to prominence during the 'me decade' of the 1980s during which he provided a delightfully absurdist commentary on the era ('Life is just a blur of Republicans and meat.'). Griffith's creation, which can be viewed as one of the last underground comics or as one of the first 'alternative comics,' straddles the two eras. Through the years Griffith has published his creation both in comic books (Griffith Observatory) and in a comic strip that has flourished both as a daily strip in major newspapers (currently including the San Francisco Chronicle) and in alternative weeklies. It should be interesting to see what happens with Zippy in his new animated form. Certainly the artistic freedom afforded by cable should allow Zippy plenty of latitude to comment on the many absurdities of the new millenium. The Fantagraphics book from last year is in print, and at least some of the Last Gasp titles are also available, giving retailers some good merchandising opportunities in the run-up to the film. Stay tuned for more details.
