While a few small-circulation self-published satirical comic books had been printed prior to this, Zap became the model for the "comix" movement that snowballed after its release.

While working on Zap #1, Crumb saw a Family Dog poster drawn by Rick Griffin which resembled a psychedelic version of a Sunday funnies page.

Design critic Steven Heller claims that the term "comix" ("co-mix") refers to the traditional comic book style of Zap, and its mixture of dirty jokes and storylines.

[4] Labeled "Fair Warning: For Adult Intellectuals Only", Zap #1 featured the publishing debut of Robert Crumb's much-bootlegged Keep on Truckin' imagery, an early appearance of unreliable holy man Mr. Natural and his neurotic disciple Flakey Foont, and the first of innumerable self-caricatures (in which Crumb calls himself "a raving lunatic", and "one of the world's last great medieval thinkers").

The debut issue included the story "Whiteman", which detailed the inner torment seething within the lusty, fearful heart of an outwardly upright American.

Previous to that, Simon Lowinsky, who had a gallery on College Avenue in Berkeley and had put up an exhibition of the Crumb's original drawings, had been arrested on the same charge.

[citation needed] In a related case, however — also brought on by Zap #4 — the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in 1973 that local communities could decide their own First Amendment standards with reference to obscenity.

[citation needed] Crumb himself credits[11] Gershon Legman's 1949 article "Love and Death"[12] condemning the "horror-squinky" in 1940s comics.

A 1973 U.S. Supreme Court ruling led to the collapse of the underground comix market,[13] and after that Zap was published sporadically, with it being typical for three to five years to pass between new issues.

A limited edition six-volume hardcover box set containing the complete Zap Comix (ISBN 9781606997871) was published by Fantagraphics in November 2014.

In addition, in June 1970, the collective did the one-page jam "Science Fiction Comics" along with Harvey Kurtzman, which was published in East Village Other vol.