
Fritz the Cat. I argue fair use in using this still image from the video on this page.
Here are some key dates as to when Fritz the Cat came out. There has to be more than one date because there’s been more than one Fritz the Cat product. Fritz the Cat was created by Robert Crumb. This cat is slick, drug loving, smart but debauched and rather crude. He is “often full of hollow compliments”.
- Robert Crumb, at the age of sixteen, produced his amateur comic of Fritz the Cat in 1959;
- The cat’s first professional appearance was in 1964 in a comic strip in Help! magazine. At this time Fritz was not named;
- Head Comix, a book, came out in 1968;
- R. Crumb’s Comics and Stories came out in 1969;
- Fritz the Cat came out in 1972. The film was financially successful. When people ask when Fritz the Cat came out they are probably referring to this film. The film of 1972 “bears only a superficial resemblance to the comic stories and Crumb disowned it.” In the film, there’s a bath tub orgy which brings the police to Fritz’s East Village home. He escapes and the police pursue him. He hides in a synagogue. The police’s pursuit of Fritz is stopped by Jews dancing the Hora. Fritz heads to Harlem and hides out and makes love to Big Bertha. He leaves town with his old flame Winston. He meets up with Hells Angels and is caught up in an explosion when the bikers attack a powerplant. He ends up in hospital and seduces visiting ladies.
- The sequel to Fritz the Cat (1972) was The Nine Lives of Fritz the Cat which came out in 1974. It was not a financial success.
Fritz the Cat is the most famous underground comic book animal. There are others such as Fat Freddy’s Cat.
The extract below from Fritz the Cat, the film, is on YouTube and you can see that he is a tabby cat. He appears to be a grey or grey/brown tabby cat.
The quotes and information are from Jeff Rovin’s The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Cartoon Animals.
Robert Crumb (photo: Wikipedia commons):

Robert Crumb 2014. Published under creative commons license. Photographer: Niccolò Caranti – Own work. At the Lucca Comics & Games 2014.
Crumb lives in a village in the South of France at the date of this post.
SOME MORE ON CARTOON CATS:

Here are 14 facts about cartoon cats across the world and across history. The 20th century saw a plethora of ...

Pusheen is a female, gray tabby, cartoon cat. There is no indication that she is a purebred cat. I will ...

Hello Kitty is a female, anthropomorphised (humanised), Japanese Bobtail cat. She is all-white and her full name is Kitty White ...

What cat breed is Garfield? Garfield is a ginger, tabby tomcat and he is not a pedigree, purebred cat and ...

The Chester Cheetah cartoon cat was an advertising mascot for Cheetos snacks. Cheetos is a brand of cheese curl made ...

Fritz the Cat -- It ain't rated "X" for nuthin..."I cannot believe this hasn't been banned yet aha! Fritz.." Perhaps ...

The Baggy Pants Cartoon cat is little known. Thirteen episodes were produced by De Patie-Freleng. They were shown on Baggy ...

Felix the Cat was created by animator Otto Messmer who worked at Pat Sullivan's animation studio. Pat Sullivan claimed credit ...

The immensely talented Friz Freleng (Aug 21, 1905 - Maay 26, 1995) drew Sylvester the Cat. He said that the ...

Tom is a moggy i.e. a random-bred cat, which are commonly referred to as 'domestic shorthairs' for the simple reason ...

'Cartoon Cat' is a modern creation. We don't know whether he's masculine or feminine so the character is probably an ...

The film The Aristocats was released in 1970, specifically 28 December 1970. Therefore I will presume that it was made ...

The first Felix the Cat cartoon appeared on 9th November 1919. It was three minutes long and called Feline Follies ...

This is a complete list of cartoon animals. They are listed alphabetically. This is a very, very long page - ...

George Gately created Heathcliff, the strip-cartoon cat, in 1973. He commented: Before him, cats were depicted as either stupid of ...

I'll presume that the question refers to a famous cartoon cat, Felix the Cat, who is almost certainly not a ...

Doraemon is a cute, male robotic cat and part of the Japanese culture concerned with cuteness which is a form ...

The most popular cartoon cats are listed below. How do I know? I created a comprehensive page on the cartoon ...

Garfield is a well-known cartoon cat. The guys who edit Wikipedia have been arguing over whether Garfield is male or ...

The Houndcats cartoon is about TV animals spoofing Mission: Impossible. The hounds walk on their hind legs (anthropomorphised). In other ...