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4[[quoteright:330:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/fritz_the_cat_comic_logo.jpg]]
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7''Fritz the Cat'' is a comic strip created by Creator/RobertCrumb. Originally appearing in ''Help!'' and ''Cavalier'', it subsequently appeared in publications associated with the underground comix scene between 1965 and 1972, where it became one of the most well known features of the scene.
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9Set in a "supercity" of anthropomorphic animals, the strip focuses on Fritz, a smooth feline ConArtist. He frequently finds himself in wild adventures, often involving a variety of sexual experiences. The character originated from home made comic books Crumb drew when he was a child, and became the most famous character created by him. Fritz was once Crumb's leading character, appearing in much of his work, and even cameoing in Crumb's graphic novel ''Oggie and the Beanstalk''. By the late 1960s, Crumb grew tired of the character, and stopped drawing him.
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11A 1969 compilation of ''Fritz the Cat'' comics earned Crumb enough money to buy three acres of land. In 1972, Creator/RalphBakshi directed an [[WesternAnimation/FritzTheCat animated film]] based on Crumb's comic, which was more overt in its political and social commentary than the comics, which were largely light entertainment. Crumb was paid $50,000 for this film. Although the film was the subject of major critical approval, and was a surprising success for an independent animated film, Crumb expressed a dislike of it for its political view standpoints; as a result, he killed off the character. However, thanks to Steve Krantz pushing the ResetButton, a sequel was made by Robert Taylor in 1974, ''WesternAnimation/TheNineLivesOfFritzTheCat'', which was less political than its predecessor. It didn't do too well because Creator/RalphBakshi had nothing to do with it, but it was the first animated movie to compete in the Cannes Film Festival.
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13The legacy of the character remains great within the comic and animated movie industries however, having paved the way for much of the comics and animation aimed at adults since then. Creator/ArtSpiegelman even said that Crumb's anthropomorphic work allowed for all adult-oriented comics since to be produced, including ''ComicBook/{{Maus}}'', and it quite possibly influenced a few furry comics as well. It is considered one of the predecessors of the modern UsefulNotes/FurryFandom.
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15[[JustForFun/IThoughtItMeant Not to be confused]] with WesternAnimation/FelixTheCat.
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17!!Tropes associated with this work:
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19* AbhorrentAdmirer: Andrea Ostrich wants to fuck Fritz so badly, but Fritz isn't interested.
20* AllMenArePerverts: Pretty much every male character in the series is horny as hell and willing to sleep with any female they find attractive.
21* AnthropomorphicShift: Duke the Crow and Fritz crash a stolen car, and Duke flies Fritz onto the bridge before the car crashes into the river. In the [[WesternAnimation/FritzTheCat movie]], however, Duke grabs onto a railing because Creator/RalphBakshi disliked the idea of having anthropomorphic characters behave like animals to further the plot.
22* AuthorAppeal: Fritz was basically everything Crumb wanted to be in order to get girls.
23* BackFromTheDead: ''WesternAnimation/TheNineLivesOfFritzTheCat'' reverts the Crumb story "Fritz the Cat, Superstar" by having Fritz have "nine lives", resulting in a film mostly consisting of events where, someway or another, Fritz dies. However, this seems to be the result of [[AllJustADream Fritz being very high]]. (Crumb never drew another Fritz story following "Superstar".)
24* BarbieDollAnatomy: In most comics, Fritz has no genitals.
25* BlackComedyRape: In "Fritz the No-Good", Fritz rapes the girlfriends of one of the revolutionaries in the story. However, she actually enjoys it! This trope reoccurs in "Fritz the Cat, Superstar", where Fritz throws himself on a fan and she doesn't seem to object much, only commenting "wow, man, you're too much".
26** Averted in the film, which plays RapeAsDrama.
27* BondOneLiner: At the end of "Fritz the Cat, Superstar", Fritz's psychotic ex-girlfriend quips "Ha yourself, smart ass!" after stabbing him in the back of the head with an icepick.
28* BrotherSisterIncest: While visiting home, Fritz goes skinny dipping with his sister and later has sex with her.
29* CarnivoreConfusion: Winston and Fritz eat beef at a Howard Johnson's.
30* CoversAlwaysLie: Though Fritz is appears pretty much as shown in the poster (currently the page image), the female cat (or [[Comicbook/{{Catwoman}} cat-woman]] [[{{Pun}} if you will]]) never appears in the film.
31* EatenAlive: "Fritz the Cat, Secret Agent for the C.I.A." contains what is probably the earliest depiction of ''[[EatenAlive vore]]'' in comics. Fritz is swallowed whole by a giant creature, along with a female Chinese agent who betrays her country because she loves Fritz. Together, the two escape out [[AnuscapePlan the back way]].
32* EverybodyHasLotsOfSex: Most of the "Fritz" stories involve some kind of sexual experience.
33* FantasyCounterpartCulture:
34** Crows stand in for African-Americans.
35** Rats stand in for the Chinese. This is may be unintentionally TruthInTelevision: Rats are originally from China.
36* FunnyAnimal: Entire cast.
37* HalfDressedCartoonAnimal: Pretty much everyone.
38* HateSink: Fritz the Cat can certainly qualify for this due to his cowardice, hypocrisy, selfishness and mistreatment of women (even raping two of them).
39* IntellectualAnimal
40* InterspeciesRomance: Fritz's girlfriend, Winston, is a fox.
41* KilledOffForReal: In "Fritz the Cat, Superstar", Fritz is stabbed in the back of the head with an icepick by a psychotic ex-girlfriend. This was the last comic strip Crumb drew featuring the character. (But Steve Krantz made another movie two years later.)
42* LargeHam: Fritz, in a number of early strips.
43* MatureAnimalStory
44* MindScrew: ''WesternAnimation/TheNineLivesOfFritzTheCat''. The first film is actually pretty damn straightforward for a Bakshi film (despite a few [[DisneyAcidSequence extremely trippy scenes]]), but the sequel was this trope the whole way through, and Bakshi had nothing to do with it!
45* OstrichHeadHiding: The final Fritz the Cat story shows Fritz dating an ostrich girlfriend who sticks her head underneath a bunch of pillows inside Fritz' house. He tries to get laid with her, but she refuses to move, so he kicks her in the behind and leaves. Out of revenge she murders him with an icepick in the head.
46* ThePornomancer: Fritz.
47* ProtagonistCenteredMorality: Fritz is a lovable cartoon cat who rapes two women, joins a left-wing terrorist group, and kills several possibly innocent people while undercover as a C.I.A. agent in China in Robert Crumb's comics, and refers to black girls as knowing "where it's at by the time they're 11" in ''WesternAnimation/TheNineLivesOfFritzTheCat''. Wait, what?
48* ProtectionInMouth: 'Superstar' opens with Fritz in one of his usual lecherous antics, bothering an alligator woman until she gets annoyed enough to chase him back to his estate. While wrestling in one room, he gets a sudden visitor, and has her answer the door for him. She pretends to have not seen him until Fritz realizes the visitor has arrived to help him with his taxes. Fritz reveals himself to have been hiding inside the alligator, leaning out of the woman's mouth to hold a conversation until she finally gets sick and spits him out.
49* ResetButton: In 1972, in response to the politics of the animated film, Robert Crumb kills off Fritz. Two years later, Steve Krantz produces a sequel, ''WesternAnimation/TheNineLivesOfFritzTheCat''.
50* SchrodingersCast: Crumb killed Fritz off in the comics after the first movie, but ''WesternAnimation/TheNineLivesOfFritzTheCat'' was made nevertheless.
51* SubvertedKidsShow: Both the comic and the films.
52* TalkingAnimal
53* UndergroundComics: The most famous one.
54* WorldOfFunnyAnimals

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