The Complete Zap Comix Boxed Set Paperback – December 2, 2014

A few others have written good reviews of this boxed set, so I don't feel a need to replicate their viewpoints. I bought this for $450 and believe it is a good value for what is received. And speaking of receiving, the shipping package alone was exceptional. I received a mint set enclosed in its slipcase; enclosed within another well-crafted corrugated box with a cool Zap logo, enclosed within another box to protect that branded box...which was then enclosed within yet another box for extra safety. So even the box with the Zap logo arrived in mint condition.I've read Grafdog's post that expressed outrage at the price of the boxed set and said the contents could be acquired for $50 by buying the individual comic books. Well, good luck with that! Just for this review, I went to eBay and tried to price the cheapest possible full run of Zap Comix. Including Zam, it would've cost me well over $200 including shipping for very used copies AND that didn't even include Zap #14 or #15, because none of the 250+ listings included even one of those. No matter where you shop, it would take a lot of money and quite a bit of time to buy them all.And of course, you still wouldn't get the extraordinary extra content in this set. The Zap #16 (the 17th issue) alone was worth quite a lot to me, but all of the other articles and the deluxe portfolio of Zap covers were quite a perk. Not to mention the generous bonus artwork and oversized printing of all of the comics, which, for fans of these great comix legends, is underground nirvana.Now, you could wait until Fantagraphics issues the second edition of this set, which will be cheaper. But how much cheaper will it be (and who knows when it will come out)? We know for sure it won't have the portfolio of all the Zap covers on acid-free, fine-art paper with archival-quality inks. The other five books will probably be printed in hardcover and softcover. I'm guessing $40-50 each for the hardcovers and $25-30 each for the softcovers. So it's still probably gonna cost you $250 to match the hardcover quality, and you'll miss out on all the perks of having the first edition. It might be worth it to wait for the softcovers if you don't mind just having a nice compilation of these revolutionary comics.But for me, I'm very happy to have taken the plunge and forked out the money. I already have all the individual comic books, but this box set is an historically important first edition. I make decent money and live rather frugally in a cheap 2-bedroom apartment, but I still don't have a lot of money to throw around. But in the back of my mind, I considered this box set to be an investment as well, since I doubt we'll see these much cheaper than $400 on the secondary market and they'll probably rise slightly in value over the years.This box set will give me joy every time I carefully extract a volume out of its slipcase. I know I'll never regret making this purchase, and I don't think you will either.

OMG this sucker must weigh 40 pounds. My Amazon Prime membership just paid for itself.Once sold at newsstands for 50 or 75 cents, Zap Comix is from the San Francisco hippie counterculture movement of the 1960s.. This 5-volume hardcover set includes all 17 original comic books reprinted in large coffee-table format including glossy covers.Let's face it, one reason comic books are collectors' items is that they're hard to preserve over the ages. Comic books are easy to misplace, throw away, spill something on, or have stolen. One of these heavy hardcover books, if you were to lend them to someone at a dorm or jamband festival, might actually come back to you.Now, Zap Comix ain't Shakespeare. It's "not suitable for work" in that many people will find much of the content demeaning to women by today's standards, or by 1960s standards. (Never did like the works of Robert Williams or S. Clay Wilson).Also, just as 3-D movies require special eyeglasses, some of Zap Comix is perhaps better appreciated by readers in states of altered consciousness.The most accessible and noteworthy portions include numerous Mr. Natural cartoons by Robert Crumb.As if this set isn't already bulky and heavy enough, for some reason the boxed set includes one of a "limited edition of 2,750" set of art lithographs of each of the 17 Zap covers.

If you're reading this, you probably know about Zap Comix. There may have been a few underground comics which came out earlier than Zap, but Zap is the one that really got the ball rolling. The grand-daddy of them all. And now Fantagraphics has published the Holy Grail for the underground comix collector. The Complete Zap Comix boxed set contains four volumes which reprint the entire series, a fifth volume which features the history of Zap as told by the creators themselves, biographies of each of the creators and lots of photos and art, including fold-outs of all the Zap wrap-around covers, plus a beautiful portfolio of all the Zap covers housed in a sturdy box of its own. They could not have done a better job collecting this seminal and historic series. Sure, the price is high, but if you're a fan of Crumb, Wilson, Shelton, Spain, Moscoso, Griffin, Williams or underground comics in general, you're going to love this. Keep in mind that the subject matter is not for children, and some people may find some of it offensive, but as published it was intended to be read as satire without the constraints of the comic book industry. As for me, I will treasure this set for years to come and I cannot recommend it highly enough.

If you have the inclination and the money, you will not be disappointed.

At first, I thought, “wtf am I doing spending $500 on comics?!”.THEN I got the package, and realized the true piece of gold I actually purchased. This thing is amazing!!! Everything is so beautifully bound. The books are all huge (like 2x the size of the original comic), and beautifully printed! Over 1,000 pages of this stuff!!! Ridiculously beautiful giclee prints of all of the cover art. An entire books devoted to the unusual history of Zap, and biographies of all the artists. I really can’t say enough good things about this thing. Probably the best thing I’ve ever spent money on!!! If you can afford it. BUY IT!!! If you can’t afford it, BUY IT ANYWAY!!! $500 May seem like a lot, but once I had this baby in hand, I realized it’s totally worth every penny. This collection itself is an impressive work of art. A true honor to everything great about Zap, and the perfect crown piece of the bizarre history of this life changing comic. I promise, this masterpiece will not disappoint.

the different styles of artwork and writing were both amazing and hilarious, a superb buy, well worth the money.

Eigentlich lohnt es sich nicht, die Box zu besprechen, da sie beim Verlag bereits ausverkauft ist (Stand: August 2016). Dort gibt es nur noch die (um fünf signierte Drucke erweiterte) Vorzugsausgabe für 750 Dollar, bei der einen Porto & Zoll zusätzlich massakrieren würden. Allerdings sind noch einige Exemplare der Normalausgabe im Umlauf. Was spricht für sie?- Es handelt sich um eine großformatige leinenbezogene Box mit fünf Halbleinenbänden und einer Leinenkassette.- Vier Bände enthalten Zap 0-16, der fünfte bringt Fotos, Dokumente, Interviewauszüge sowie zwei Sonderhefte.- Die Kassette enthält alle 17 Zap-Cover als farbstarke Gliclée-Prints, womit Plotterausdrucke mit Tinte gemeint sind.Fazit: Ich bin hin & weg. Das Material knallt nach all den Jahren noch immer, und die Darreichung ist ohne Fehl und Tadel; speziell das Großformat überzeugt. Natürlich könnte man einwenden, dass zwei Bände für die gut 1.100 Seiten auch gereicht hätten & die beigefügte Kassette überflüssig ist, aber ... ach, man muss ja nicht immer die Kargheit verkulten. Wer sich interessiert & die Knete irgendwie aufbringen kann, sollte sich rasch entscheiden.

Top Konvolut in feiner Ausführung. Alle Bände und das Zusatzmaterial in qualitativ hochwertiger Ausführung, was sowohl Aufmachung, Papier, Zusatzinfos und Druck einschließt. Mehr kann man für sein Geld nicht erwarten. Nur zeitnah zugreifen sollte man (wenn das nötige Kleingeld dafür vorhanden sein sollte), denn allzu viele von den Boxen gibt es nicht.

This is easily the best collected comics set I have ever seen. The printed inner cardboard shipping box is a superb touch too. If you can get this for under £250 don't hesitate, it's a bargain at full price.