Raw Volume 2 Number 3: High Culture for Lowbrows

by Art Spiegelman (Editor)

In 1980 Art Spiegelman and Francoise Mouly founded "Raw" magazine to feature work by contemporary American and European cartoonists. This book provides features from the magazine with illustrations and words in an adult comic format.

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

228 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1991

About the author

Art Spiegelman is an American cartoonist, editor, and cultural innovator whose work has profoundly influenced the perception of comics as a legitimate art form, blending literary sophistication with experimental visual storytelling. Emerging from the underground comix movement of the 1960s and 1970s, Spiegelman quickly distinguished himself with a distinctive approach that combined meticulous craftsmanship, psychological insight, and narrative complexity, challenging conventions of sequential art and the boundaries between personal memoir and historical record. He co-founded the landmark anthology Raw with his wife, Françoise Mouly, which became a platform for cutting-edge, avant-garde cartoonists from around the world, blending surrealist imagery, literary experimentation, and bold visual ideas that redefined the possibilities of the medium. Spiegelman is best known for his groundbreaking graphic novel Maus, a haunting, deeply personal depiction of his father’s experiences as a Holocaust survivor, which used anthropomorphic characters to explore trauma, memory, and identity with unprecedented depth; the work earned a Special Pulitzer Prize and established Spiegelman as a central figure in both literary and visual culture. Beyond Maus, he has contributed influential cartoons and covers to The New Yorker, including the iconic 9/11 cover, demonstrating his ability to communicate complex emotional and cultural truths with economy and symbolic resonance. His artistic sensibility reflects influences from early twentieth-century cartoonists, modernist design, typography, and the visual language of newspapers and advertising, while also incorporating pop culture, surrealism, and abstraction. Spiegelman has consistently experimented with the interplay of image and text, treating comics as a medium that mirrors cognitive processes of memory, perception, and emotional experience. In addition to his creative output, he has curated exhibitions, edited anthologies, and published critical essays on comics history and theory, advocating for the recognition of the medium as serious art and mentoring generations of cartoonists. He has also worked in graphic design, creating posters, album covers, and commemorative stamps, and his visual interventions often reflect his interest in narrative structure, cultural commentary, and the power of imagery to shape public understanding. Throughout his career, Spiegelman has been a vocal advocate for freedom of expression and a critic of censorship, engaging in public discourse on political and social issues, and demonstrating how comics can address profound ethical and historical questions. His pioneering work, editorial vision, and relentless innovation have transformed both the aesthetics and the intellectual reception of comics, proving that the medium can handle grief, history, and identity with sophistication, subtlety, and emotional resonance. Spiegelman’s legacy is evident in the work of contemporary graphic novelists and in the broader cultural recognition of comics as an art form capable of exploring human experience, social commentary, and the complexities of memory and trauma, making him one of the most influential figures in modern visual storytelling.

Reviews

[Kristianne]

Another great, weird pick from David Bowie's list of 100 favorite books that we're working through on the Bowie Book Club. Episode up now! http://www.bowiebookclub.com/episodes...

[S.S. Julian · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is filled with so many hidden treasures from the greats! A chapter from Art Spiegelman’s Maus was published in here serially, and there are stories from Lynda Barry, Alan Moore, Kim Dietsch... there’s an early Chris Ware short story from before he got really experimental with panel layouts, Aline K-Crumb has a couple pages, a bunch of others. I found this magazine in a used book store and I feel very fortunate to have gotten to read it on paper. They print each story on special paper suited to the art style, with different coloring techniques and everything. This issue included a collection of an old Krazy Kat story arc, printed on newsprint! If anyone out there knows where I can get the other volumes of this magazine, let me know!

[Amanda · Rating 3 out of 5]

Tagged as High Culture for Low Brows, this is a graphic novel full of eclectic works. My favorite is Maus, which I've read several times before and will be reading several times more in the future. This collection just featured chapter 10 of the Maus series but it gives a good idea to someone new to Maus of just how great the series is.

More fun to be had with a full adventure of Krazy Kat. Made in the 1930's, it's still pretty entertaining. My dad is from 1936 and he's not that entertaining anymore :)

Lynda Barry is always a favorite and was also included. I've read the "strip" before but still really like it.

If you like low brow, read Raw.

[Shawn]

Will give this one a re-read 20 years after the fact and find out how it holds up....