ToonSeum to Host 'Zippy's Pittsburgh and More: The Art of Bill Griffith'

By: E&P Staff The ToonSeum in Pittsburgh, Pa., will pay tribute to artist Bill Griffith and Zippy the Pinhead beginning Feb. 14 when it opens ?Zippy's Pittsburgh and More,? an exhibit of Griffith's original comic art, with several strips featuring Pittsburgh landmarks as settings.

The ?Zippy? strip initially appeared in underground comics in the early 1970s, and was first published as a daily comic in 1985 in the San Francisco Examiner. The following year, King Features picked up the strip for worldwide syndication. Zippy's creator Bill Griffith describes the character as the "wise fool," who "knows nothing at all and everything at once."

"Our location at the Children's Museum has a certain surreal quality that lends itself well to Zippy," Joe Wos, the ToonSeum?s executive director, said in a statement. "Giant inflatable ice cream dinosaurs, twenty-foot cranes made of old gas station signs, and of course a museum of cartoon art, all seem to fit quite well in Zippy's world!"

"For me, Zippy is funniest when his craziness bumps up against the 'real world', which is why I put him in diners and have him talking to Bob's Big Boy,? Griffith said in a release. ?It doesn't get much more real than Pittsburgh, PA -- it's Zippy Country!"

The museum will host a ToonSeum friends reception for Bill Griffith on Feb. 20th at 6 p.m. For more information, contact joe@toonseum.com.

?Zippy's Pittsburgh and More: The Art of Bill Griffith? runs through March 31. For aditional information, go here.