many newspapers. Characters and story Zippy's original appearance was partly inspired by the microcephalic Schlitzie, from the film Freaks, which was enjoying something of a cult revival at the time, and P. T. Barnum's sideshow performer Zip the Pinhead, who may not have been a microcephalic but was nevertheless billed as one. Griffith has never committed himself to a set origin story for Zippy; no fewer than five have appeared: a strange visitor from another planet a pinhead who wandered away from the circus an android whose inventor didn't live to see its imperfections the secret identity of a jaded heir to a fortune who decided to apply Zen to everyday life a college student who inexplicably turned into a pinhead Griffith also never committed himself to any set time period or home location for Zippy. Griffith compares the creation of the strip to jazz: "When I'm doing a Zippy strip, I'm aware that I'm weaving elements together, almost improvising, as if I were all the instruments in a little jazz combo, then stepping back constantly to edit and fine-tune. Playing with language is what delights Zippy the most." Zippy's favorite foods are taco sauce and Ding Dongs. He sometimes snacks on Polysorbate 80. Zippy's signature expression of surprise is "Yow!" Zippy's unpredictable behavior sometimes causes severe difficulty for others, but never for himself. (For example, drug dealers tried to use him as a drug mule, but lost their stash or were jailed.) He is married to a nearly identical pinhead named Zerbina, has two children, Fuelrod (a boy) and Meltdown (a girl), both apparently in their early teens, and owns a cat named Dingy. His parents, Ebb and Flo, originally from Kansas, live in Florida. Zippy's angst-ridden twin brother Lippy also frequently appears. He is portrayed as Zippy's total opposite, often dressed in a conservative suit, thinking sequentially, and avoiding his brother's penchant for non-sequiturs. In a daily strip dated 8 March 2005, he is depicted as being deeply moved by the poetry of Leonard Cohen, the landscape paintings of Maxfield Parrish, and the music of John Tesh. He has four close friends: Claude Funston, a hapless working man Griffy, a stand-in for Bill Griffith, who often appears in the strip to complain about various aspects of modern life Shelf-Life, a fast-talking schemer always looking for "the next big thing" Vizeen Nurney, a 20-something lounge singer who, despite her