Drawn Together: The Collected Works of R. and A. Crumb

by Aline Kominsky-Crumb, Robert Crumb, Sophie Crumb

Who could have imagined that in 1972, when Aline Kominsky, a Long Island escapee and bodaciously talented artist, broke her foot one rainy fall day, it would result in the most unique collaboration in comics history? Laid up in her house, she was persuaded by R. Crumb, her nerdy, neurotic boyfriend, to pass the time drawing together a “two-man” comic. The result is a jaw-dropping yet tender account, not only of the joys and challenges of a legendary marriage but also of the obstacles faced by struggling female artists. In Drawn Together, our foremost male-female cartooning couple recall their success at shocking America with Weirdo Magazine, the life-altering birth of their precocious daughter Sophie, and their astonishing move to the safe haven of France. With an irresistible introduction and a striking four-color section, Drawn Together becomes a graphic cause-célebre and a must-have for any comics devotee.

Genres: Comics, Graphic Novels, Graphic Novels Comics, Comix, Memoir, Humor, Anthologies

272 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2012

About the author

Underground comics artist.

Reviews

[Lewis Woolston · Rating 3 out of 5]

When I was a teenager in the 90's there were still a few old hippies left over from the 60's. There was a small group of them who lived in a sort of squatter's camp in the sand dunes just south of our town. They were despised by all the grown ups in my life as irresponsible layabout and useless dopeheads. However since I despised all the grown ups in my life I thought they were cool.
I got to know a couple of them a little bit. One older guy would sell us high school kids matchboxes full of weed for like ten bucks which was awesome.
This older guy clocked that I was a bit of a bookworm and started trying to direct me to what I suppose you would call "hippy literature" I remember him lending me a copy of "Stranger in a strange land" and one or two other similar books.
One of the books he lent me was a Robert Crumb anthology. I remember being quite shocked and thrilled at the sex and weirdness of it. I'd never seen a comic book like it before.
Anyway fast forward to now and I was thinking about Crumb recently and decided to hunt down some of his stuff via the public library system.
Maybe it's me but I just don't feel it anymore. It's not shocking and edgy and cool to me anymore. That's not to say it's bad. There are some genuine funny moments and the anti-establishment and pro-freak vibe is still kind of cool.
It's just....I guess i'm older now and not as easily impressed by the counter culture. The teenage edgelord I was has died.
That's kind of sad now I think about it.

[Robert · Rating 4 out of 5]

Nice to have all the Crumb collabs in one volume, and a handsome volume this is indeed. As a longtime reader of both ahtists (Aline’s work in particular was a huge influence on me in my earliest zine-making years), I really appreciated revisiting these jams. The comics date back from the early-to-mid 70’s all the way into 2010, quite a feat of creative longevity! The first stories, originally published by Last Gasp as two issues of Dirty Laundry comics in the 70’s, have their share of problems - namely that Aline’s artwork & writing – much as I love her – was just really crude then, without much of the confident, brattily self-satirizing feel that would be her trademark in the years to come. Even Robert’s work here pales in comparison to the mastery of the form that he would later achieve. But of course this was young work so you give some deficits a pass, obviously; it’s still silly fun, with a few big laughs scattered throughout. Once we get to their collaborations from the great 80’s anthology Weirdo the couple really hit their stride in funny, entertaining stories such as “That Thing in The Back Bedroom” (namely, their newborn baby, Sophie, who had just been born) and “Our Lovely Home.” For me the zenith of all their collaborations was Self-Loathing Comics #1, a “flip” comic book (originally published by Fantagraphics), one full half of which Robert drew solo with Aline drawing the other half. Each of them took a "Day in The Life" approach, carefully delineating the quotidian details of their new life in a Medieval village in the south of France (they’d moved there sometime in the early 90’s). It’s all quite fascinating and revealing, with Robert’s cartooning in particular outstandingly rendered. Self-Loathing Comics #2 featured guest stars Charles Burns, Art Spiegelman, and French artist Pete Poplaski, but I found this a less-successful effort that eventually wore out its welcome; by now the reader will note that the Crumbs tend to reiterate certain themes throughout their oeuvre, which can get quite repetitive: their mutual dependence-or-is-it-co-dependence, her dismal, traumatic upbringing on Long Island, his repressed Anglo tendencies and twisted sexual predilections, etc,etc. The rest of the book consists mostly of color comics from The New Yorker (possibly other venues as well) from the 2000’s, none of which I had read previously. I was startled by how technically improved Aline’s work was in these efforts and how smoothly she and Robert interacted on the pages. The comics in this section are really remarkable and laser-focused on whatever topic is at hand (including a visit to Fashion Week in NYC, Aline’s plastic surgery, a report on the Cannes Film Festival, etc). By this point I was glad the pieces were shorter, as these comics are quite dense, with a lot going on visually and especially textually. The final story is a long B&W piece from 2010 which wraps things up neatly. Obviously for fans of the Crumbs and underground comics fans in general, but take my advice and take your time, read no more than a few pieces per day for maximum enjoyment.

[Dominick · Rating 3 out of 5]

Seriously compromised by the fact that I just don't like Kominsky's work and find her persona one-note and grating. I suppose her persona is no more one-note than Crumb's really, but the fact that he can really draw and she really can't (that may be a harsh judgement; let me say instead that her primitive, "naive" style does not appeal to me) goes a long way toward making his self-depiction a lot more tolerable. Heck, even the book acknowledges that most readers love Crumb and can't stand her, wishing that her bits weren't included. I suspect I'd like her work better solo than combined with Crumb's, with which I just don't find it to meld successfully, but even so, I think things like the fact that she doesn't even bother to spell words correctly (assuming she even considers spelling at all) would be off-putting in any context. I guess I'll find out if I ever get around to reading her solo book/memoirs, which I've had sitting in the TBR pile for a long time. The stories themselves (if stories they can be called) are mostly slice of life things that probably read better with years between them, rather than in close sequence as collected here (this book collects work from something like a thirty year period). One briefly gets very interesting when it veers off into a whimsical fantasy in which Crumb shows some serious parodic chops in his depictions of a very Toth-like Zorro filtered throughy an Elder-style slight exaggeration. That story also boasts quest appearances by Art Spiegelman and Charles Burns. It's the one reasonably bright light in this spotty collection. Some of the later pieces are journalistic endeavors rather than slice of life--A&R at Cannes, that sort of thing--and work as a sor tof very mild satire of contemporary scenes. The final few pages are Crumb's drawings of Aline in various fashions (presumably for magazine piece; the credits for this book could be better handled), and I'm struck at how much more interesting it is to look at her when Crumb draws her, even in a non-narrative cnotext. . . . A few stories also feature contributions by their daughter, Sophie. Admittedly, the concept of this sort of collaboration is interesting, and nobody else really works this way--each artist drawing his or her own bit--outside of occasional jam pieces, but for me, it's a mixed success at best. Add one star if you actually do like Kominsky's style/persona. (Bonus feature, depending on your taste: the end papers include a topless photo of Kominsky.)

[Hogfather · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love the interplay between underground and outsider art in these comics. The combination of these two things, combined with the confessional material, makes the audience feel like they're getting a truthful portrait of their marriage.

[Monica · Rating 5 out of 5]

I've always loved Aline Kominsky-Crumb's comics, ever since I discovered her (I think) in a Twisted Sisters anthology. Oddly enough I encountered her work before I had seen much of Robert Crumb's, and at the time I was a bit put off his work by charges of sexism. This book is an anthology of comics Robert and Aline did together, basically airing their "dirty laundry." It's raunchy, it's TMI, and I love it. Occasionally I grew a bit tired of reading about their fabulous life in the south of France (where they move in the course of the book), but I do like the blunt honesty of it all. I think I'm going to have to buy a copy of this when I find a cheaper copy, since I like to read comics over and over again over the years.

[Jennifer · Rating 5 out of 5]

I'm such a fan of Aline. She is a genius! While it is easy to appreciate the artistic talent of R. Crumb, there is a depth to Aline's art that really strikes at art reflecting emotion. It makes me sad to think that she has received flack all her life for being a hack next to her husband. She is totally right in one comic where she describes Robert's art as being "slick" and hers having more "soul." I think it is totally fascinating to be a voyeur in their lives too as they worked on these comics. Are they really the only cartooning couple in the world? I hope I can sniff out others who have collaborated on comics and aren't afraid to let their drawing styles visibly clash and mix on the page. I also realized after reading this that I never want to be famous.

[Juan Fuentes · Rating 2 out of 5]

Se me ha hecho insufrible. No me interesaba nada de lo que me contaban, salvo alguna viñeta aquí y allá. Lo hubiera abandonado a la mitad de no ser porque siempre acabo todos los libros y no va a ser menos con un cómic. No es que sea malo, tendrá su público -imagino- pero no soy yo.

[Dirk Van Eyck · Rating 5 out of 5]

the kind of couple i want to be in

[Dave Schaafsma · Rating 3 out of 5]

Sort of a family history, a collection of collaborative work by the great Robert Crumb, one of the top five most influential comics artists in the history of comics, and his wife of 35 plus years. Edgy, offensive, funny, weird, as all of Crumb's work. Never boring. Aline is a different kind of artist, simpler, less polished, but she is also very influential in her own right. To see the two styles together is a little jarring, but it's still valuable to have all these in one collection. They started working together in the mid-seventies, and this work continued through 2010! If you were wanting to be introduced to Crumb, I would choose work just by him, stuff from the seventies. An amazing body of work, and strange and sometimes over the edge and often wonderful. This is true of this stuff, too, really. But Crumb alone is even better.

[Mark · Rating 2 out of 5]

I've read a lot of Robert Crumb comix; I've even read some of Aline's solo stuff. This volume combines artwork from both of them within each story.
Although it is an interesting glimpse into their relationship and (mostly) their life in France, it is disconcerting having Aline's primitive style in the same frames as Robert's polished drawings. Even when Charles Burns and Art Spiegleman make cameo appearances it is easier to tolerate than Aline's artwork.
Even though I enjoy the dialogue interplay between the two, I would've much rather seen the entire book illustrated by Robert.
If you are a fan of Crumb, it is worthwhile taking a look. But if you are a novice to underground comix you would be better served by checking out some of R. Crumb's earlier stuff first.

[Calvin]

This was a fun panorama of R. and A. Crumb's family life, drawn by the both of them (and sometimes by their talented daughter Sophie). I have the complete collection of Weirdo Comics which they created and edited back in the late '80s, and these introduced me to Bob 'n' Aline's collaborative work, and to their rambunctious, free-spirited daughter. Well, this collection brings the story of their lives together pretty much up to the present day. It was a pleasure to get to know them a little better through this largely autobiographical work.

[Joshua · Rating 5 out of 5]

I don't know how a book so introspective and pervy and curmudgeonly managed to charm my heart so much. I adore Robert Crumb's comics and art, so naturally, I picked up a copy of Drawn Together aware that his wife Aline Kominsky was also a cartoonist. This collection is unlike any comic I have ever read. I felt like I was constantly eavesdropping a conversation between an old married couple, and at the same time I was watching their relationship develop and grow over time.

This book was not "about" anything in particular, Crumb and Kominsky's comics tend to ramble around their thoughts, fears, memories, perceptions, and just random moments from their lives, but if it is "about" anything, it's about the dynamic between two people who care for one another.

Visually this book is gorgeous, not simply because of Crumb's style, but for the way Kominsky manages to push her self and all her personality onto the page never being subdued by her husband's sheer presence. You get a real vibe of Crumb and Kominsky's personalities and every story is just hysterical or joyous.

Fans of Crumb will find something wonderful to enjoy in this book, fans of Kominsky are sure to enjoy her charm and force of being bursting in every panel, and comics fans are sure to enjoy watching the only cartoonist couple making something truly original.

[Karah · Rating 5 out of 5]

A pair of wrecks who loved each other. I'll focus on Aline Kominsky-Crumb. I LOVE her sartorial sense. A woman who found immense joy in her seductiveness. I desire to emulate her womanliness through wardrobe. What I find so attractive about Aline Kominsky-Crumb is that she revealed her foibles and presented her personality as it was. She remained committed to fitness and maintaining her physical appearance, two worthy endeavors. I aim to emulate her in those respects, also.

I still don't want an open marriage. Too many partners sounds like too much work.

I hope Aline Kominsky-Crumb is resting in eternal peace.

[Rachel · Rating 3 out of 5]

Some of the book was boring, some offensive. Much of it was endearing, in a perverse way. It was nice to see how their very different personalities play off of each other. They don't hold back anything, but then they never have (I already knew plenty about their sex life before picking up this book, and I didn't need to know more, but it comes with the territory). I liked reading about village life in France. There's also plenty of casual sexism and anti-Semitism. Ugh.

[Colin Oaten · Rating 3 out of 5]

Fascinating collection of over 40 years worth of autobiographical strips worked on together by underground comics legend Robert Crumb and his wife Aline. A little slow to get started with the early material but really comes into its own as we reach the time period around the release of the 'Crumb' movie and beyond. A great insight into the lives of the Crumbs.

[Renee · Rating 5 out of 5]

The characters in the book were well developed. Lots of little surprises and coincidences.

The book was about death and the dying process but I could feel the writer wanting the reader to know that since we are all going to die, we must make the most of the life we are given.

I learned a lot. I didn’t know there were such things as death doulas and death cafes.

[C · Rating 4 out of 5]

Quite wordy, but a fitting style for depicting the Crumbs. Tee hee

[Rosa · Rating 3 out of 5]

Impressive but just not on the mood for depravity.

[Olwyn · Rating 3 out of 5]

All stars are for Aline and r crumb can rot in hell

[Ricardo Rodríguez Quintero · Rating 3 out of 5]

Aline Kominsky y Robert Crumb son dos de los rostros más reconocidos de la escena del cómic alternativo norteamericano. Podríamos pensar que el trazo sinuoso, honesto y profano —casi ingenuo e infantil— que brota de los dedos de Aline, sería incompatible, al menos en una misma viñeta, con el despliegue de destreza y el detalladísimo montaje de tramas y claroscuro con el que suele construir Robert sus muy característicos dibujos. Y no siempre nos equivocaríamos.

Este tomo compila historietas de esta polémica pareja de dibujantes y esposos hecha a cuatro manos desde principios de la década de los setenta hasta el 2010, más de treinta años compartiendo sus existencias y bordando retazos de sus propias vidas sin piedad consigo mismos.

A lo largo de las más de doscientas páginas que componen el tomo, el lector podrá ser testigo de cómo se desarrollan las habilidades, tanto artísticas como narrativas, de ambos autores y de como el texto, que comienza siendo un actor de reparto, termina convirtiéndose casi en el protagonista en los últimos años de colaboración. Las historietas del libro rebotan de tema en tema, pero pese a lo extenso del periodo que cubre esta compilación, lo que le da cohesión es el que orbita entorno a un par de ejes obsesivos básicos: el cuerpo de Aline y el sadismo sexual.

Importante: para poderlo disfrutar es recomendable leerlo de a poco, en diferentes momentos, las páginas pueden resultar indigestantes y abrumadoras por su densidad, si se acerca uno a este texto pretendiendo deborarlo de un solo bocado.

[Stewart Tame · Rating 4 out of 5]

Robert and Aline have been drawing comics together almost as long as they've known each other. Robert Crumb, of course, is no stranger to jam comics, having grown up drawing them with his brothers, not to mention many underground comics artists in the pages of Zap. But his jams with Aline have always been special. One can trace the course of their relationship from their first meeting through marriage and the birth of their daughter and their move to France up through the present day. Even within the already impressive body of Crumb's comics work, these strips are something special. Autobiography mixes with flights of fancy and philosophical speculation. The two are joined by occasional collaborators, mainly their daughter Sophie, but occasionally by others: Art Spiegelman, Pete Poplaski, Charles Burns ... The cover touts this as, "The Complete Works," but since neither of them is dead yet, that remains to be seen.

[Nina · Rating 2 out of 5]

I have enjoyed quite some of Robert Crumb's works in the past. Sadly, I can't say the same about Kominsky's. Nevertheless, I gave it a try and secretly hoped to like the experience. It didn't really work out…

I keep wondering.. why, Robert? WHYYY? Why did you put up with this? Why did you wait for Aline to finish a certain story? Sure, you can't rush things… and probably you had other things going on as well… but 2 years? Come on?! :D
You should have finished it all by yourself.. and I might have liked it a bit better ;)

If you are a Crumb-fan, go ahead… it's worth checking out this collaboration. But if you are unfamiliar with either of them, I have only one address: Robert Crumb!

[Cindy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Argh! Overdue at the library. Going to have to find this for myself!
_______________________________________________
Ok - I finally found a copy at Half Price Books, and I've been reading it slowly. Written and illustrated by "that thing with 2 heads Aline and R. Crumb." I'm a fan of Crumb's underground comics, and I have loved reading all these - especially enjoying the obvious differences between Aline's work and Robert Crumbs. And, while I love their life stories, the last six illustrations - Crumb's work drawing Aline in a variety of designer clothing - *chef's kiss* - were worth the cost of admission, alone. And after pages and pages and pages of her self portraits, his final drawings show the truth of her - or at least of how he sees her. They are really nice drawings.

[Pigeon · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'm an 18 year old male and a huge fan of Roberts and this one didn't strike my fancy like most do, probably because he wasn't hopped up on whatever drugs he used to do, but it was a decent read, not as creative as his usual stuff but it could be because he is getting old. I always like old crumb though

[Mike · Rating 3 out of 5]

Standard Crumb fare, enjoyable as ever.

notes, favorite art
161..stepping over the Atlantic
165..making bed
230..hangover
236..why do Jewish people have short necks?
(shrug shoulders & throw up hands)
244..Marfan's syndrome

[Emily · Rating 3 out of 5]

Sometimes it is better not to peek behind the curtain.

[Chocky · Rating 5 out of 5]

Having really gotten in to Robert Crumb as a young teenager, I'd never been to sure about the collaborative work been R & A Crumb, but this book allowed me to see the collaborative pieces anew.

[Stephen · Rating 2 out of 5]

The parts that were good were done by Robert.

[William Savage · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of the greatest commentaries ever written on life as a couple.

[Matthew Stolte · Rating 3 out of 5]

Stories are like the day to day world of Harvey Pekar. Took a very long time to read!