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The Comics Journal Library #3
The Comics Journal Library, Vol. 3: R. Crumb
Few cartoonists have affected our world the way Robert Crumb has. From busting cultural and sexual taboos for artists everywhere with his pioneering underground comix to his never-ending drive to improve his art, he has rightly drawn comparisons to Brueghel by Time magazine's Robert Hughes.Collecting four long out-of-print interviews from the Utne Independent Press Award-winning Comics Journal's archive in a oversized, art-book format, this third volume in The Comics Journal Library provides an absorbing oral history of comics in the latter half of the 20th century from the point of view of an artist who single-handedly shaped it to great extent. As the acknowledged father of underground comix, virtually every comic that has been drawn over the last 30 years and aspires to anything beyond puerile kiddie entertainment owes a debt to his groundbreaking efforts.These are the finest, longest, and most comprehensive interviews ever conducted with the man if you thought the Crumb film was intimate, than this collection, spanning his life and career, covering his peers and family, his views on sex, politics, art, racism and culture, his flirtations with success on America's terms and his later rejections of those terms, and his view of the world around him will surely impress. The book also boasts of a handful of probing essays on Crumb's oeuvre by the Journal's sharpest critics and a stunning color gallery of the artist's art and ephemera.
- GenresComicsNonfiction
120 pages, Paperback
First published October 1, 2003
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
February 23, 2013
This is an epic series of interviews that Crumb did with Gary Groth. I spent hours on this book over the last few days and I haven't made it through interview II yet! One of the things I never knew much about before reading this is the extent to which Harvey Kurtzman - genius cartoonist from MAD magazine - mentored Crumb in his early years. Far from being someone who just kind of dropped out of nowhere into the Haight, had his mind blown and started drawing comics, you get a feel for the young artist as a talented protege being groomed for big time success who gradually soured on it and turned in a different direction. Although his values came to be in opposition to the kind of grinding, materialistic striving he felt trapped many commercial artists, the essential thing he seems to have retained was their intense work ethic.
As the son of parents who were coming of age right at the end of the 60's, and since the events of that era were happening right at the start of a massive boom in media technology, they make for a huge body of the culture, the myths and the personalities that I absorbed while growing up. What makes Crumb so interesting to me is that as the 60's ended he didn't become a drug casualty or turn into a dogmatic liberal or a dogmatic conservative or anything like that. He plugged away at his art and expanded on his personal interests. He's a big music fan (a musician at that), and as a teenager who was obsessed with both music and comics there was no way I could avoid him for long. Back then he often came off as being disturbing, grumpy and obsessive about the past, but that's only natural for some kid who is discovering the world beyond superheroes and adventure stories. I don't read 'Wolverine' much anymore, but I still grab at a Crumb book when I see it in the library. He wrote at all stages of his life, so his comics just stay funny with age. I'm glad for the fact that as I get older, still farting my way through life, I'll be able to look at something he drew and relate to it.
Anyway, whatever side of Crumb you happen to be a fan of - the mind-blowing visionary, the constant pervert, the historical scribe or the old cynic - or even if you really hate him and want to hear him stumble over his words when confronted with hard questions, this is a great book to pick up. These are some of the best, most in-depth interviews with an artist I've ever had the fortune to stumble across.
As the son of parents who were coming of age right at the end of the 60's, and since the events of that era were happening right at the start of a massive boom in media technology, they make for a huge body of the culture, the myths and the personalities that I absorbed while growing up. What makes Crumb so interesting to me is that as the 60's ended he didn't become a drug casualty or turn into a dogmatic liberal or a dogmatic conservative or anything like that. He plugged away at his art and expanded on his personal interests. He's a big music fan (a musician at that), and as a teenager who was obsessed with both music and comics there was no way I could avoid him for long. Back then he often came off as being disturbing, grumpy and obsessive about the past, but that's only natural for some kid who is discovering the world beyond superheroes and adventure stories. I don't read 'Wolverine' much anymore, but I still grab at a Crumb book when I see it in the library. He wrote at all stages of his life, so his comics just stay funny with age. I'm glad for the fact that as I get older, still farting my way through life, I'll be able to look at something he drew and relate to it.
Anyway, whatever side of Crumb you happen to be a fan of - the mind-blowing visionary, the constant pervert, the historical scribe or the old cynic - or even if you really hate him and want to hear him stumble over his words when confronted with hard questions, this is a great book to pick up. These are some of the best, most in-depth interviews with an artist I've ever had the fortune to stumble across.
July 27, 2007
An unflinching, uncompromising artist. His artwork captures the odd corners of humanity with amazing detail and obvious care. I LOVE his work!!!
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews