Kliban's Zippy

Kliban wrote the foreword to a couple of books that I'm aware of. This is taken from Bill Griffith's Zippy Stories [pub: Last Gasp] from 1986, although the foreword is dated 1981.

The Zippy character seems to have been very popular in the US and also gained a following in Germany and Spain; the comics' were also translated into Japanese, Dutch and French. I'm surprised at the international appeal as most of the jokes reference US political and popular culture. Perhaps the international versions also translated the references to appeal to local markets?

The artwork is very good and the comic strips that reference or satirise wider-issues are fun to read but the frequent references to (the-then) contemporary American pop-culture make the strips appear dated and limit the appeal to a modern audience (me).