NEW YORK, NY (January 22, 2013 )- The Society of Illustrators is proud to name Bill Griffith, the celebrated cartoonist of the strip Zippy The Pinhead as guest of honor at the MoCCA Arts Festival on the weekend of April 6 - 7, 2013 at the 69th Regiment Armory in Manhattan. Griffith's honors will include an exhibition of his original artwork, as well as a public program and signings at the Festival.

Bill Griffith's earliest work debuted in New York's underground press in 1969, appearing in venues including the East Village Other. In 1970 a move to San Francisco saw him become a part of the Underground Comix movement, where he achieved early prominence as co-editor of the seminal anthology Arcade. His signature character Zippy first appeared in Real Pulp #1 and debuted as a comic strip in 1976 in the Berkeley Barb. Today Griffith continues to produce new Zippy strips for more than 100 newspapers across the United States. He is acknowledged in Bartlett's Familiar Quotations for the phrase "Are we having fun yet?" In addition to his daily strip, he also currently teaches a comics class at New York's School of Visual Arts and is at work on a graphic memoir.

Griffith says, "It's a privilege and an honor to be part of this first MoCCA Arts Festival hosted by the Society of Illustrators. Actually, I'm flabbergasted---I can't decide if I should go with the rented tux or have my polka-dotted muu-muu dry cleaned!" Griffith headlines an assembly of more than 300 artists presenting at the MoCCA Arts Festival. Notable exhibitors include Abrams ComicArts, Adhouse Books, Comic Book Legal Defense Fund, FirstSecond, NBM, Oni Press, Pantheon, and Top Shelf Productions.