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Need More Love
Aline Kominsky-Crumb, one of the earliest female cartoonists, presents a collection of her own highly inventive and daring artwork from over four decades, along with unusual photographs and memorabilia. The road to becoming an underground- comics legend begins with Komisky-Crumb as a nice jewish girl from Long Island, carries her to Greenwich Village in the 1960's, and to California, land of hippy cartoonists, and on to a more or less sedate life with hubby(equally legendary R. Crumb) and daughter, Sophie. Her funny/sad tales show a woman bewildered by her place in society and determined to find her own way. These stories touch on every phase of her existence from childhood, to sexual obsessions, food, motherhood and, of course, her art. The book includes sharp vignettes of the Movers and Shakers - and the jerks - of the art and music worlds since the sixties.
383 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 2007
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 70 reviews
August 11, 2021
I've been a fan of Aline Kominsky Crumb's work for so long that I've forgotten where I first encountered it. Probably in Weirdo, or possibly one of the other 80's undergrounds. I definitely knew her first as Robert Crumb's Wife Who Also Does Comics, but I came to appreciate her for her own voice and aesthetic. Yeah, her husband does incredible work, but so does she. She's definitely not just riding on his coattails.
The book serves as kind of a patchwork autobiography, prose interspersed with photos and comics. Anyone who's been following her career probably knows much of this material already. Everything is ordered according to her life's chronology, which means comics are included in the order in which the events they depict happened, which is not always the order in which they were created. I understand the necessity, but I still miss the sense of her work evolving. Maybe a Komplete Kominsky Komics is in order?
The biggest flaw in this book is in its presentation of the art. Yes, it's in gorgeous color on nice, heavy stock, but the pages are so small. Many of the paintings and mixed media pieces would pop so much more if they were on standard coffee table book sized pages. And the print in some of the comics--particularly the white text on black backgrounds--would be so much easier to read if the pages were magazine sized at least, as so many of them were originally published. It's also mildly annoying how many stories are excerpted rather than printed in full.
Don't get me wrong. The book works. Clearly the intent was to use her work to illustrate her life's story rather than distract from it. And the book is large and pricy already. Further increasing the size would drive it up all the more.
If you're interested in Aline Kominsky Crumb as a person, this is a lovely book. If you're interested in her work, this isn't a bad overview, but you might want to hold out for something more comprehensive and/or of a higher quality of reproduction.
The book serves as kind of a patchwork autobiography, prose interspersed with photos and comics. Anyone who's been following her career probably knows much of this material already. Everything is ordered according to her life's chronology, which means comics are included in the order in which the events they depict happened, which is not always the order in which they were created. I understand the necessity, but I still miss the sense of her work evolving. Maybe a Komplete Kominsky Komics is in order?
The biggest flaw in this book is in its presentation of the art. Yes, it's in gorgeous color on nice, heavy stock, but the pages are so small. Many of the paintings and mixed media pieces would pop so much more if they were on standard coffee table book sized pages. And the print in some of the comics--particularly the white text on black backgrounds--would be so much easier to read if the pages were magazine sized at least, as so many of them were originally published. It's also mildly annoying how many stories are excerpted rather than printed in full.
Don't get me wrong. The book works. Clearly the intent was to use her work to illustrate her life's story rather than distract from it. And the book is large and pricy already. Further increasing the size would drive it up all the more.
If you're interested in Aline Kominsky Crumb as a person, this is a lovely book. If you're interested in her work, this isn't a bad overview, but you might want to hold out for something more comprehensive and/or of a higher quality of reproduction.
December 4, 2020
Nobody does it like Aline.
November 22, 2009
This was a fun book to read. For one thing, along with text, there were comics to read, photos and paintings to enjoy looking at. Aline Crumb had a totally dysfunctional childhood, with a father who did not hold a regular job, but always looked for a way to scam a buck. Growing up in the 1960s and 1970s, she explored free love, drugs and rock 'n roll. She had a baby when she was young and gave the healthy boy up for adoption. It does not sound like their paths ever crossed again. After her father died, her mothers wanted to share a flat with her, and she married a nice Jewish boy instead to get away from mom. That marriage did not work out. After attending college as an art student, Aline eventually moved to San Francisco so she could explore her craft. She got involved with such feminist artists as Trina Robbins. She worked on "Wimmen's Comics", where she wrote autographical comics, which was very new, especially for women back in the 1970s. Due to some conflicts with some of the other cartoonists, she eventually worked on her own comics with other artists called "Twisted Sisters."
In San Francisco, she met artist Robert Crumb, who already had a great following as a cartoonist and they started hanging out. Eventually they lived together and got married. They lived in Central California for many years, worked on comics together called "Dirty Laundry" and had a daughter Sophia. During one of their many travels, Aline fell in love with France and convinced her family to move there. They are presently living in South France in a beautiful home. Aline shows off some photos of her home in this book. Robert and Aline are still very involved in their writing and cartooning.
I loved reading this book and learning about Aline and her family. Aline has a great sense of humor throughout her book. She makes fun of herself, her art and she emphasizes how difficult it was at times for her daughter to grow up with parents who are artists and had such a liberal past. I highly recommend this book for a good time.
In San Francisco, she met artist Robert Crumb, who already had a great following as a cartoonist and they started hanging out. Eventually they lived together and got married. They lived in Central California for many years, worked on comics together called "Dirty Laundry" and had a daughter Sophia. During one of their many travels, Aline fell in love with France and convinced her family to move there. They are presently living in South France in a beautiful home. Aline shows off some photos of her home in this book. Robert and Aline are still very involved in their writing and cartooning.
I loved reading this book and learning about Aline and her family. Aline has a great sense of humor throughout her book. She makes fun of herself, her art and she emphasizes how difficult it was at times for her daughter to grow up with parents who are artists and had such a liberal past. I highly recommend this book for a good time.
July 9, 2009
I picked up this sprawling, raunchy autobiographical work at the library, while perusing the shelves for more conventional comic fare. I almost put it back down again, too - at first glance, the memoir of this most famous graphic artist's wife seems both extremely crude and incredibly self-indulgent.
I'm glad I decided to give it a chance, though. Aline Crumb is absolutely right; she's an artistic talent in her own right and, if her style looks a bit unpolished next to her famous husband's, it's still assured and worthy of attention. This book showcases her abilities both to create expressive visual art and to tell an interesting story.
This isn't a book to read in front of the children; these brightly-colored pages are often vulgar, coarse and lewdly humorous. Which is a good thing, really. Aline Crumb offers insight into such topics as growing up in a Jewish suburban community on Long Island, how the seeds of artistic expression can be sown in the alienation of youth, The Sixties, and how it's possible to be a sex object for a really rather kinky artist without losing one's own identity in the process. Her affection for her husband of so many years is obvious and heartfelt, but it's by no means the whole of Aline Kominsky Crumb's life story. For a taste of that, you'll have to read this book.
I'm glad I decided to give it a chance, though. Aline Crumb is absolutely right; she's an artistic talent in her own right and, if her style looks a bit unpolished next to her famous husband's, it's still assured and worthy of attention. This book showcases her abilities both to create expressive visual art and to tell an interesting story.
This isn't a book to read in front of the children; these brightly-colored pages are often vulgar, coarse and lewdly humorous. Which is a good thing, really. Aline Crumb offers insight into such topics as growing up in a Jewish suburban community on Long Island, how the seeds of artistic expression can be sown in the alienation of youth, The Sixties, and how it's possible to be a sex object for a really rather kinky artist without losing one's own identity in the process. Her affection for her husband of so many years is obvious and heartfelt, but it's by no means the whole of Aline Kominsky Crumb's life story. For a taste of that, you'll have to read this book.
May 26, 2022
This is formally interesting, in its combination of media--prose, comics, photos, and reproductions of paintings and other physical medium art. Oddly, though, some fo the comics selections are only a few pages from longer pieces, presumably focusing just on the specific autobiographical point Kominsky-Crumb is making at the time. Even so, there is some overlap/repetition between the selections. There also don't seem to be any new comics pieces for the book, only reprints of (sections of) earlier strips. For me, probably the most interesting components here were the paintings and sculpture work. I remain unimpressed by Kominsky-Crumb's cartooning style. The narrative sections do document a lot of stuff about her life I didn't know much about, but a lot of it also felt oddly superficial. I would have liked to hear a lot more about the early days of feminist comics/comics by women, for instance, rather than mainly gripes about Trina Robbins. Certainly worth reading for anyone interested in women's comics, as Kominsky-Crumb is unquestionably a major figure, but unlikely to win any converts.
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July 5, 2008I’m glad that Aline Crumb finally has a hefty retrospective book. It includes lots of comics, of course, but also paintings and collages, various ephemera, and personal narrative, presented in loosely chronological order. Overall it’s a great portrait of one artist’s development and the times she lived in. I’m fascinated by her early work in underground comics, especially as a founding contributor to Wimmin’s Comix. That really early stuff is so raw and primitive-looking--she had the most bizarre sense of scale and texture (should the hallucinogens get some credit?)--and it’s really good, you can see how she’s godmother to Lynda Barry and other autobiographical women graphic artists who came just a little bit later. I was unsurprised to learn about how she fell out with the Wimmin’s Comix collaborative, mainly because of her relationship with Robert Crumb. Personally I find Robert’s work gross but hey, he and Aline are in the fourth decade of a partnership that continues to be inventive both creatively and personally (at the moment she has a “second husband” on the side). I am more or less repelled by her large acrylic paintings of maniacal dolls but loved her small still-life watercolors--I had no idea what a beautiful colorist she is--and her 3-D collages, some of which are made with found objects and have a short lifespan; I love that about them, too.
September 5, 2007
I would have never picked this up were in not for the fact that my job requires me to read things I might not normally read and honestly, it was fairly enthralling. Aline is the wife of R. Crumb and is possibly more interesting than her husband. I really like the layout of this graphic memoir. Aline includes short chapters of prose, photographs, and of course, comics. I really don't like her drawing; it is very primitive and raw. However, the self-deprecating humor she employs to tell of the story of her life including a traumatic childhood with highly dysfunctional parents, losing her virginity to a boy who then labels her a whore, a very promiscious young adulthood, becoming a comic artist, and a somewhat strange, but touching relationship with R. Crumb. Even if you are not interested in Aline, Crumb or comics, this is a interesting 60s coming of age story.
August 20, 2009
In the film Crumb Aline comes off as a very ambiguous person from a feminist perspective. I really wanted to know more about here life and her art. This book doesn't disappoint. It's one of the first books in a long time that I couldn't put down after I started. I hadn't read an artist biography in awhile, having tired of them somewhat. Aline's life was so unlike my own I think this made the text more refreshing. Many of her aesthetic choices differ from mine, but she elucidates her methodology and found her to be an inspiration.
September 9, 2007
A much needed retrospective/autobio of Aline Kominsky-Crumb, best known as Robert Crumb's wife, but who really should be known as one of the first women comix artists, and certainly one of the first autobiographical cartoonists. Interspersed with selections of her work, we get essays, photos, and examples of her art beyond comics. It's a thick book, too! But I came away from it with a respect for her and appreciating her outlook on life (which has changed over the years).
June 25, 2007
I was enthralled by this woman but then also tired of her. Her self-deprecating humor is only funny so long, especially when you know she is also incredibly vain.
February 23, 2014
An hilarious and introspective memoir. I guess a picture is worth a thousand words.
October 17, 2025
Overall, I enjoyed this book, which brings together the full artistic output of underground comic artist Aline Kominsky-Crumb. It’s a wild, messy, fascinating and undoubtedly inspiring ride, but one that dips in quality throughout.
The early comics drawn from her childhood and young adulthood are very compelling. They offer a raw, irreverent lens on the culture of the time. You can’t help but be drawn to this eccentric, defiant woman charging through life with the energy of a lion. The inclusion of personal photos, diary-like texts and other artwork adds richness and context that deepen the reading experience.
But as the book progresses, it loses some of that spark. The comics become harder to connect with, not because they’re provocative, but because they feel sloppy and visually disengaging. Yes, the crude drawing style is part of her indie ethos, and even her husband Robert Crumb defends it, criticizing those who can’t look past the "ugliness." But to me, they’re not repulsive, they are just badly drawn. The wit in the text often redeems things, but there’s far too much of it. A tighter edit would have helped, especially given how dense and visually chaotic the pages can be.
Her self-labelled feminism doesn’t resonate strongly, and the sexual frankness that might have once shocked feels dated now, less bold, more blasé. I found the ending especially disappointing: Kominsky-Crumb portrayed as a gym instructor, decked out in cute workout outfits, her obsession with fashion and appearances taking centre stage. That might be part of who she is, but as the closing image of an artistic life, it feels trivial and jarring.
What stayed with me were the stories about her Jewish roots and self-deprecating humor: those felt honest, layered and human. I wish there had been more of that and less of the Barbie installations and wobbly acrylic paintings.
In the end, this book is a chaotic mix of brilliance and filler. I can't deny I got charmed and inspired by Aline's life and have been thinking of her quite a bit.
The early comics drawn from her childhood and young adulthood are very compelling. They offer a raw, irreverent lens on the culture of the time. You can’t help but be drawn to this eccentric, defiant woman charging through life with the energy of a lion. The inclusion of personal photos, diary-like texts and other artwork adds richness and context that deepen the reading experience.
But as the book progresses, it loses some of that spark. The comics become harder to connect with, not because they’re provocative, but because they feel sloppy and visually disengaging. Yes, the crude drawing style is part of her indie ethos, and even her husband Robert Crumb defends it, criticizing those who can’t look past the "ugliness." But to me, they’re not repulsive, they are just badly drawn. The wit in the text often redeems things, but there’s far too much of it. A tighter edit would have helped, especially given how dense and visually chaotic the pages can be.
Her self-labelled feminism doesn’t resonate strongly, and the sexual frankness that might have once shocked feels dated now, less bold, more blasé. I found the ending especially disappointing: Kominsky-Crumb portrayed as a gym instructor, decked out in cute workout outfits, her obsession with fashion and appearances taking centre stage. That might be part of who she is, but as the closing image of an artistic life, it feels trivial and jarring.
What stayed with me were the stories about her Jewish roots and self-deprecating humor: those felt honest, layered and human. I wish there had been more of that and less of the Barbie installations and wobbly acrylic paintings.
In the end, this book is a chaotic mix of brilliance and filler. I can't deny I got charmed and inspired by Aline's life and have been thinking of her quite a bit.
October 9, 2023
I enjoyed this one, because I'm the sort of person who likes rooting through the artifacts of someone's mind -- people and places and events that they find significant. The more dysfunctional, generally, the better.
This is partially why I've been getting into Underground Comix recently, with no real plan of action -- I think that's sort of the point of the genre, that they're meant to be discovered and experienced organically, though again I am somewhat of a novice.
I read this one right off the back of the excellent Diary of a Teenage Girl by Phoebe Gloeckner, an experience I liked better largely because I enjoy Gloeckner's masterful artwork and find it inspiring from a professional perspective.
Kominsky, her famous husband, and her daughter all talk about the interesting effect her crude drawing style has on the experience of consuming her work; it might put some people off reading it, but it actually plays into the aspects of her life she is depicting. She exaggerates the ungainly, awkward, perverse, and downright ugly.
Though she remarks on her poor drawing ability, she was an undeniably talented painter. I suspect she used her discomfort with the medium of drawing to play up the discomfort of what she was depicting.
The book mentions that Phoebe Gloeckner had discovered her work and been inspired by it, as it resonated with the sexual and emotional abuse and dysfunction of her own young life, and it didn't occur to me until the book pointed it out that no one else -- especially women -- was really doing this kind of explicit autobiographical narrative until Aline brought it to Comix.
As R. Crumb pointed out, she carved out a place for herself in the history of comics, and certainly continues to influence the genre to this day.
This is partially why I've been getting into Underground Comix recently, with no real plan of action -- I think that's sort of the point of the genre, that they're meant to be discovered and experienced organically, though again I am somewhat of a novice.
I read this one right off the back of the excellent Diary of a Teenage Girl by Phoebe Gloeckner, an experience I liked better largely because I enjoy Gloeckner's masterful artwork and find it inspiring from a professional perspective.
Kominsky, her famous husband, and her daughter all talk about the interesting effect her crude drawing style has on the experience of consuming her work; it might put some people off reading it, but it actually plays into the aspects of her life she is depicting. She exaggerates the ungainly, awkward, perverse, and downright ugly.
Though she remarks on her poor drawing ability, she was an undeniably talented painter. I suspect she used her discomfort with the medium of drawing to play up the discomfort of what she was depicting.
The book mentions that Phoebe Gloeckner had discovered her work and been inspired by it, as it resonated with the sexual and emotional abuse and dysfunction of her own young life, and it didn't occur to me until the book pointed it out that no one else -- especially women -- was really doing this kind of explicit autobiographical narrative until Aline brought it to Comix.
As R. Crumb pointed out, she carved out a place for herself in the history of comics, and certainly continues to influence the genre to this day.
February 24, 2023
One of the most astonishingly frank & inspiring autobiographical works I've had the pleasure to immerse myself in. Kominsky-Crumb has no illusions & shares the traumatic - & at times truly terrifying - details of her Long Island childhood & her journey of self-discovery & eventual fulfillment as an artist & as a human being with a shocking lack of bitterness. Her voice comes across in all its authentic charm & humor, & one can't help but respect & admire her, if not fall into some sort of love outright with her perpetually moving mind & body, her surprisingly perceptive intellect & her positive & productive outlook on life. Combining excerpts from her comic book work over the decades with prose & photographs, this is a sumptuous multi-media feast that details a sort of classic American success story, tho it begins uncomfortably close to the world of organized crime, unfolds in the heady realm of the counter-culture, & ends up in France. Unfairly overshadowed by her more famous husband, Aline K-C's career is the perfect counterpoint to R. Crumb's more depressing & arguably misogynistic work, & is even more impressive considering all she had to overcome. An eye-opening & richly rewarding epic work that exists in the invisible but omnipresent dimension where all things are possible.
March 22, 2022
Aline's great, her comics are so special. I especially loved the awkward teenage stories. She was born in the perfect year to have a crazy youth and then beautiful houses and a career making art?! It sort of ruins my enjoyment of her work but hey at least she's honest. I can't get over being so jealous of baby boomers, there's one bit where Aline and her friend discuss how it's a shame younger generations don't fight as much as theirs did. Pffftttt fuck off while we work our office jobs and live in our shitty rented flats. It's mad that even as someone like that recounts their tales of woe and awful childhood I still can't stomach how envious I am of their artistic freedom. The time spent etching all that hair, if I didn't have to work as much maybe I could draw lovely hair over and over again
April 16, 2023
Sadly I only became aware of Aline Kominsky-Crumb when I saw her obituary not long ago. She was a ground breaking graphic novel memoirist and the wife of cartoonist R. Crumb. This book is a memoir told in short essays, illustrations, and graphic comics, with contributions from her husband and daughter. I felt some personal connections with her life - she is about ten years older than me and grew up in the same area of Far Rockaway. Her Jewish family reminds me of mine in many ways. We have the same middle name 'Ricky' which was pretty unusual at the time.
This book takes us from her childhood to her family's move to France where was living until she died of pancreatic cancer in 2022. She is a big personality and mixes her personal life with her professional accomplishments throughout the telling.
This book takes us from her childhood to her family's move to France where was living until she died of pancreatic cancer in 2022. She is a big personality and mixes her personal life with her professional accomplishments throughout the telling.
April 14, 2021
Maybe I am biased because Aline and Robert are very good friends of mine but I love this book. She put so much effort into it and I am so happy to see Aline's fans enjoyed this as much as I did. Aline is one of the funniest, self deprecating talented weirdos I know and I just adore her and her work which does not the recognition it deserves in my opinion.
May 31, 2025
I'd never read any of Aline Kominsky Crumbs work before, so this was a rich introduction. A memoir of sorts, a look at her life and history, and a good look of who she was and how she looked at the world.
But I'm afraid that her art style is so dense and busy that I had a hard time engaging with it. I may try again sometime.
But I'm afraid that her art style is so dense and busy that I had a hard time engaging with it. I may try again sometime.
June 7, 2019
Interesting as an example of an autobiography of a pioneering artist, not as well recognised as she should be because of the shadow of her husband.
August 25, 2019
Loved this book. Loved the first 3/4 more than the last 1/4.
Was best when focussing on her own life, independent of Crumb. Wish she had followed that route further.
Was best when focussing on her own life, independent of Crumb. Wish she had followed that route further.
February 11, 2023
I loved this book. Loved the graphic stories about her life.
September 15, 2023
Gorgeous, funny and inspiring... a treasure!
October 21, 2024
saw it in a library and checked it. the aesthetic was like a breath of fresh air tbh🙌
November 30, 2008
Aline Kominsky Crumb's cartoons are incredibly crude, but I've always found them funny, possibly because she's so "out there" with depictions of herself and her family that are very unflattering and, apparently, bluntly honest. Sadly, this memoir — with text explaining the stories behind the cartoons, and photos of some of the nice-looking people that she draws as monsters — doesn't support that impression of blunt honesty. She often states that her stories are all true. But are they real?
After a while, the egocentrism of Aline's narration reveals a writer who sees the world only on her own terms, with very little insight into others. And reading a lot of her cartoon stories in a row shows an "ahtist" with little or no drawing ability; a writer with no sense of drama, irony, or compassion; and someone without much interest in the world beyond her own horizons. She eventually comes across as quite a bit of a brat — pushy and grasping and convinced of her own importance. "Am I genius or what?" she says of herself in a self-portrait labeled "Yoko Buncho." The answer is: No, Bunch, you're not.
It's all about herself as the heroine of every situation — and a certain degree of hypocrisy becomes evident. For example, she calls her mother "Blabette" and draws her with a mouthful of fangs, depicting her as self-centered and out of touch with the needs of her husband and daughter, more interested in the "faaabulous" decor of their '50s house and her clothing. Yet it's a different attitude completely when Aline decides on her own to move her family to "faaabulous" France and obsesses on her own '20s decorating schemes and spends shitloads of her husband's money on haute couture.
Even more telling is Aline's shameful portrayal of Trina Robbins, one of the founders of the Wimmen's Comix collective, who gave Kominsky her first opportunity to publish. The germ of truth in their conflict is obliterated by the nasty personal insults of Trina by Aline (and her friend Diane Noomin) over a difference of opinion that is now more than 35 years in the past. They criticize Trina as self-obsessed and strident, claiming that she's incapable of good cartooning, a "queen bee" whose friends are mere "minions." They mock the way she looks, the sound of her voice, the sincerity of her beliefs — and they do this in print, page after page. I've known Trina for over 20 years and had arguments with her myself, and I'm here to say that she is NOT the person Aline describes. I've never heard Trina bad-mouth Aline that way; she's not so mean-spirited. Calling Trina a poor cartoonist and ridiculing her physical characteristics is utter hypocrisy on the part of Aline Kominsky Crumb, especially after all her whining about being fat and unstylish and having her "aht" criticized.
The nastiest hypocrisy about Trina was calling her a former "groupie." (Trina is one of the "Ladies of the Canyon" in the Joni Mitchell song and used to run a boutique and made clothes for stars like Donovan and David Crosby, which doesn't exactly make her a groupie.) But Aline herself admits to having slept with all of her art school professors; to having left Tucson because she'd slept with all the men she knew there and the women all hated her; to having slept with half the male cartoonists in the heyday of underground comix; and to pursuing her husband-to-be, whose reputation is the only reason Aline's cartoons have been published after those first issues of Wimmen's Comix. Who's the groupie, Bunch?
I've met Aline a few times and liked her. She can be very charming. But now I think Need More Love is aptly titled, but not because she needs more love from the world. She needs to love others more and herself a bit less.
After a while, the egocentrism of Aline's narration reveals a writer who sees the world only on her own terms, with very little insight into others. And reading a lot of her cartoon stories in a row shows an "ahtist" with little or no drawing ability; a writer with no sense of drama, irony, or compassion; and someone without much interest in the world beyond her own horizons. She eventually comes across as quite a bit of a brat — pushy and grasping and convinced of her own importance. "Am I genius or what?" she says of herself in a self-portrait labeled "Yoko Buncho." The answer is: No, Bunch, you're not.
It's all about herself as the heroine of every situation — and a certain degree of hypocrisy becomes evident. For example, she calls her mother "Blabette" and draws her with a mouthful of fangs, depicting her as self-centered and out of touch with the needs of her husband and daughter, more interested in the "faaabulous" decor of their '50s house and her clothing. Yet it's a different attitude completely when Aline decides on her own to move her family to "faaabulous" France and obsesses on her own '20s decorating schemes and spends shitloads of her husband's money on haute couture.
Even more telling is Aline's shameful portrayal of Trina Robbins, one of the founders of the Wimmen's Comix collective, who gave Kominsky her first opportunity to publish. The germ of truth in their conflict is obliterated by the nasty personal insults of Trina by Aline (and her friend Diane Noomin) over a difference of opinion that is now more than 35 years in the past. They criticize Trina as self-obsessed and strident, claiming that she's incapable of good cartooning, a "queen bee" whose friends are mere "minions." They mock the way she looks, the sound of her voice, the sincerity of her beliefs — and they do this in print, page after page. I've known Trina for over 20 years and had arguments with her myself, and I'm here to say that she is NOT the person Aline describes. I've never heard Trina bad-mouth Aline that way; she's not so mean-spirited. Calling Trina a poor cartoonist and ridiculing her physical characteristics is utter hypocrisy on the part of Aline Kominsky Crumb, especially after all her whining about being fat and unstylish and having her "aht" criticized.
The nastiest hypocrisy about Trina was calling her a former "groupie." (Trina is one of the "Ladies of the Canyon" in the Joni Mitchell song and used to run a boutique and made clothes for stars like Donovan and David Crosby, which doesn't exactly make her a groupie.) But Aline herself admits to having slept with all of her art school professors; to having left Tucson because she'd slept with all the men she knew there and the women all hated her; to having slept with half the male cartoonists in the heyday of underground comix; and to pursuing her husband-to-be, whose reputation is the only reason Aline's cartoons have been published after those first issues of Wimmen's Comix. Who's the groupie, Bunch?
I've met Aline a few times and liked her. She can be very charming. But now I think Need More Love is aptly titled, but not because she needs more love from the world. She needs to love others more and herself a bit less.
February 27, 2017
I really enjoyed this. Often kept in the shadows of her more famous husband (cartoonist R. Crumb), this memoir is devoted to Aline's life and body of work. In the 60's, she was an early female cartoonist, pioneering the use of bare-all autobiographical material in her comics. Yes, Aline's drawing style is unconventional, and I had to get the hang of how to read the dialog in her comics, but once I did, I just loved her wit, sly commentary, unconventionality, and sense of self. The memoir contains a narrative of her life alongside her comics, photos, and examples of her paintings and object collages.
November 6, 2010
I'm very obtuse because I didn't pick up on the social commentary of R. Crumb's work until I checked out the documentary Crumb from the library. The scene where he's on Market St. between 5th and 8th commenting on everyone walking by suddenly made it all clear to me. Crumb is that rare person with the right amount of confidence and damage who becomes a grumpy old man in his 20s.
So I decided to buy Need More Love the next time I went to Books Inc in Mountain View. They have a big stack of them marked down from $30 to $8. There are a bunch left if you want to get one. (By the way I noticed that someone heeded my advice to buy all of the Love And Rockets books from Bookbuyers next door. Now I am filled with regret that I didn't buy more of them.)
Aline comes off as sort of a non entity in Crumb (or maybe I didn't pay enough attention) but I really liked the picture she drew of her mom, so I wanted to know more about her.
It starts off strong with a horrific childhood in "postwar jerk America" Long Island, a fuzzy tour through the 60s, and a very engrossing account of the San Francisco underground comics movement in the 60s. But about 1/2 way through I lost interest as it essentially becomes a mommy blog with illustrations and Aline begins a long slide into the bourgeoisie seemingly without becoming aware of it. A cartoon about living in France and being homesick for a KGO radio show is the nadir.
I really enjoyed the artwork (cartooning, not the paintings or weird doll sculptures), which I never really appreciated until I saw how it developed in this book. Before they devolve into schtick the cartoons are quite powerful. I laughed out loud when she casually told her daughter that she couldn't play with the Three Stooges because they are dead and she burst into tears.
So I decided to buy Need More Love the next time I went to Books Inc in Mountain View. They have a big stack of them marked down from $30 to $8. There are a bunch left if you want to get one. (By the way I noticed that someone heeded my advice to buy all of the Love And Rockets books from Bookbuyers next door. Now I am filled with regret that I didn't buy more of them.)
Aline comes off as sort of a non entity in Crumb (or maybe I didn't pay enough attention) but I really liked the picture she drew of her mom, so I wanted to know more about her.
It starts off strong with a horrific childhood in "postwar jerk America" Long Island, a fuzzy tour through the 60s, and a very engrossing account of the San Francisco underground comics movement in the 60s. But about 1/2 way through I lost interest as it essentially becomes a mommy blog with illustrations and Aline begins a long slide into the bourgeoisie seemingly without becoming aware of it. A cartoon about living in France and being homesick for a KGO radio show is the nadir.
I really enjoyed the artwork (cartooning, not the paintings or weird doll sculptures), which I never really appreciated until I saw how it developed in this book. Before they devolve into schtick the cartoons are quite powerful. I laughed out loud when she casually told her daughter that she couldn't play with the Three Stooges because they are dead and she burst into tears.
April 27, 2017
It was really tough to start this not so slender volume, especially since Mrs. Crumb's comic drawings are not my cup of tea. I guess I'm more mainstream and attracted to cute drawings than her crude style. Plus the cramped writings are a pain to read. However things got a lot better once I decided to just skip the parts that I can't read and move on to her other writings and enjoy the photos, paintings and collages that interested me to get this book in the first place. In the end it's quite enjoyable and I even managed to read the comic bits with equal enthusiasm as her other pages! As always, I like reading books that I can relate to. And this story of the bunch, I can definitely relate to, as I too grew up with the other kids around me saying how fat, ugly and un-girly I am. I can't, however, relate to her vain self that came out during the interview at the end of the book.
April 2, 2007
"Need More Love" is a brilliant visual memoir of Baby Boomer/hippie/sixties'artiste/ culture. In equal measure self loathing & self obsessed, Aline is funny, brutally honest, and above all, unapologetic.Her sometimes squalid accounts of family life, childhood, adolesence, skewed body image (& the resulting adult sexuality issues) are, for the most part, dead on. No matter what your parents are like, you'll feel better after reading about hers. "The Bunch" might not be able to go penstroke for penstroke on a techincal level with her husband, R. Crumb, but she is every bit his equal in terms of sensibility and storytelling.
Lots of yummy pics of the "Crumb Manor" -Aline & Robert's dream house somewhere in an undisclosed village in rural France.
July 20, 2008
It's big, bold, and fancy, like the author. It's also radically honest, insanely hyperbolic, and dripping with obnoxious, self-congratulatory/-loathing Boomerisms.
It's bad enough to hear someone born in the fifties bragging about all the free love and cultural upheaval they enjoyed, but to follow it with criticism of the following generation's apathy is more blind selfishness than I can stand.
That vented, I must confess that I played a lot of hooky to spend time with this juicy chunk of graphic memoir. I have much more respect and appreciation for her body of work. And as someone who has been drawing autobiographical comics since I was a kid, I feel I owe her some props.
It's bad enough to hear someone born in the fifties bragging about all the free love and cultural upheaval they enjoyed, but to follow it with criticism of the following generation's apathy is more blind selfishness than I can stand.
That vented, I must confess that I played a lot of hooky to spend time with this juicy chunk of graphic memoir. I have much more respect and appreciation for her body of work. And as someone who has been drawing autobiographical comics since I was a kid, I feel I owe her some props.
July 24, 2008
It's weird b/c I don't love the author's art or agree with her opinions about things, but somehow I really enjoyed reading this. I think I liked the format a lot. It was autobiographical and graphical, meaning there were short bits of writing interspersed with excerpts from comics over time and also reproductions of paintings and other artwork. It left me always eager to see what was on the next page, and it's definitely a great way to tell the story of a life. It was also an interesting parallel with the other book I've been reading (review forthcoming) which was also about coming of age in the 60s, but from a totally different perspective. Thanks, Brooklyn Library!
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