El tochaco de Mr. Natural

Mr. Natural

by Robert Crumb

Cómo ganar amigos e influir en las personas. Descubre tus zonas erróneas. Viaje al optimismo. El arte de no amargarse la vida. Reinventarse y emprender. El poder del ahora… ¡A la hoguera con los libros de autoayuda!
Porque ya está aquí, ya llegó, por ahí viene Mr. Natural, nuestro gurú personal favorito, el único místico capaz de meditar profundamente sobre la condición humana mientras se echa una cabezadita.
Estas páginas contienen filosofía auténtica, trascendencia de la buena y revelaciones de altura. Las Sagradas Escrituras del profeta del underground dicen que de esta vida no se salva nadie pero que lo bailao no te lo quita ni dios. O lo que es lo mismo: que se acabó la tontería. ¡Buen karma!

Genres: Comics, Graphic Novels, Humor, Bande Dessinée, Comix, Fiction, Art

260 pages, Paperback

First published December 27, 1995

About the author

Robert Dennis Crumb (born August 30, 1943)— is an American artist, illustrator, and musician recognized for the distinctive style of his drawings and his critical, satirical, subversive view of the American mainstream.

Crumb was a founder of the underground comix movement and is regarded as its most prominent figure. Though one of the most celebrated of comic book artists, Crumb's entire career has unfolded outside the mainstream comic book publishing industry. One of his most recognized works is the "Keep on Truckin'" comic, which became a widely distributed fixture of pop culture in the 1970s. Others are the characters "Devil Girl", "Fritz the Cat", and "Mr. Natural".

He was inducted into the comic book industry's Will Eisner Comic Book Hall of Fame in 1991.

Reviews

[John Porcellino · Rating 2 out of 5]

Many of Crumb's early through mid-career Mr. Natural strips don't hold up too well as the years go by, at least to me. Some of the strips are great, and the drawing becomes top notch fast (in fact it's kind of interesting to see Crumb's imprecise and splotty linework in the very early installments) but let's face it, these are (some of) the stories that got him and continue to get him in hot water with feminist readers. There are a lot of unpleasant questions raised by work in this book.

The more I read of the undergrounds, the more I see them as a maybe necessary but ultimately limited movement. The writing is generally poor. More often than not they start up, meander a bit, and then end inconclusively. There may be some laffs along the way, but the kicks are in the drawing, and the taboo-shattering elements.

Crumb though is one of the all-time masters, and his work as a whole is much more nuanced and varied than that found in this one volume. The stuff that's in the Book of Mr. Natural won't be everybody's cup of tea, and if you're looking for a place to jump into his work it's probably best to start with a more career-spanning collection. For longtime Crumb fans, it's kind of interesting see all the linked works presented chronologically as they are here.

[Lucas · Rating 5 out of 5]

Now I know the Truth

[Dave Schaafsma · Rating 3 out of 5]

Mr. Natural is one of Crumb's central comic strip characters, though there were many. This collection is arranged from early to later, from rough sketch to more developed, from innocent to offensive, including some of the most insanely profane images discussed in the documentary film Crumb. The character is a charlatan guru with a long beard that people come to in the sixties looking for spiritual meaning, but he is cynical, a player, a wise guy. This strip plays on the sixties movement to eastern religion and spirituality, which Crumb makes fun of. It's also influenced by acid, of which he took much during this period. It also comes from places Crumb can't account for, places of our imagination, play, and possibly hate, misogyny. Let the reader beware, a couple of these strips will offend a majority of readers.

The feel of these comics is light political satire, but also of a time and place when crossing the line, pushing back against assumptions and ideals, was important to do and advocate for. But the lines Crumb crossed here also led many to see where unbridled freedom might take us, and this led to protests, many of them from feminists. Crumb was adored for a time by the hippies, but he himself was never a hippie. He wasnt rock, he was a jazz and blues collector. He didn't seem to get along with many women, he was awkward, though in his most popular period women flocked to him, and he still struggled with how to relate to them. Look at the documentary of him and his brothers! Crazy dysfunctional. Crumb is still an amazingly talented artist, and a model for the possibilities of imagination, for good or ill, but he was also a dirty old man, and felt no need to hide it. :)

I am who I am, he seemed to say; if you don't like me, don't read me, I don't care. He was never primarily out for the bucks; he just drew and drew and still draws But the talent supersedes the offense most of the time, in my view. Without question he was one of the greats, one of the most influential comics writers of all time (for good and ill?), an amazing artist at his best.

[Jesús · Rating 3 out of 5]

Crumb’s Mr. Natural comics blend classic gag strips with television sitcoms, by way of underground comix. Mr. Natural and Flaky Foont are a kind of “odd couple” in which Foont plays the uptight, neurotic, sexually frustrated straight-man to Mr. Natural’s amoral, nihilistic, sexually potent hippie-trickster figure.

At its best, the comic skewers straight, bourgeois culture and the counterculture. When it’s good, it’s great. If only there were a way to ignore Crumb’s depiction of women. Alas. Because he uses comics to voice unconscious or otherwise repressed desires, this collection is filled with unmitigated straight-male sexual fantasy.

[Immigration Art · Rating 4 out of 5]

Hmmm: taken from the works of pop cultural icon, Robert Crumb, and spanning the years 1967 through the 1990s, is "The Book of Mr. Natural" a nostalgic peek into the hippie, free love, drug fueled youth culture of the mid 1960s through the mid 1970s? Or is it something more profound? Is the humor still relevant, and accessible, in the 21st Century?

And what of Mr. Natural himself? Is he -- to quote Devil Girl (who serves both as a sex symbol and as an essential Greek Chorus and character foil for Mr. Natural) -- a "saintly Guru," dispensing enlightenment and spirituality as a "cosmic master of time and space?" Or is he "a sick, sadistic old pervert who hates women!!!" in the words of Devil Girl?

And what about Flakey Foont, who drifts from being a single guy on the make, a product of the 60s, to being caught as a married guy with 2 kids and a ho-hum wife, making due with a ho-hum career, in the suburban hellscape of the 1980s and 1990s? Is he a true acolyte of the spiritual teachings of Mr. Natural? Or is Foont (as Mr. Natural claims with accusatorial ferver) nothing but a schmuck who thinks he's on "some kind of high road to spiritual perfection," when in actuality he's just a hypocrite who'd "much rather bend somebody else's ear about [his] great struggle to find [himself] than spend time actually looking within . . ."

While the lingo, turns of phrase, and drug references may seem dated or politically incorrect, the book is a fantastic time capsule of the bygone era spanning the time from LBJ to Bill Clinton. The cultural observations and spoofs of those trying to find "spirituality" while preoccupied with deviant thoughts designed to escape the ho-hum tedium of suburban life are as relevant now as they were then.

4 Stars. Robert Crumb is one of a kind.

[Luke Stevens · Rating 5 out of 5]

Socrates but instead of fucking little boys (WEIRD AND FUCKED UP) he has kinky sex with ladies (COOL AND NEAT) 👺

[Joshua · Rating 5 out of 5]

Just tonight I compared the work of Robert Crumb to the disheveled boil on the ass of the body of the comics medium, and I stand by that metaphor. After finishing The Book of Mr. Natural I understand more and more why Robert Crumb has acquired his title as "THE controversial" comics artist. For while I have read the works of many great comics artists who are considered edgy, or offensive, or even controversial, having read most of those artists they seem pale to the most deplorable pages of Crumb who, in just one or two panels, manages to create moments which linger after the reader. They just haunt you for their visual quality combined with their embedded racism or sexism and yet, for all of it, they still manage to come across as beautiful in their own disturbing fashion.

Mr. Natural wads one of the many recurring characters in Crumb's oeuvre, and his place seems largely to be a horned up, snake-oil salesman of a spiritual guru. But alongside Mr. Natural is the figure of Cheryl Borck, the "Devil Girl." Without giving too much away the reader is sure to remember this woman if only for the chapter in which her head is removed so that she can be more "tolerable."

I won't lie, I have troubles reconciling my appreciation for Crumb. He can be vile, repulsive, racist, sexist, and generally gross. But I stand by what I said before, the images in this book are in their own deviant fashion, beautiful and worth the reader's consideration largely because there really isn't anything like them. Crumb is a true original, and while the passages of Mr. Natural can be exhausting, they've impacted comics and those who make them, appreciate them, study them, to read them ever since. The barbaric honesty of these characters' flaws have left their impacted on the collected consciousness of comics creators and everyone has to see Crumb's work to see what is possible.

Crumb may be the boil of Comics's ass, but The Book of Mr. Natural reminds the reader that he's the boil that helped change everything. And even if you don't like him, he probably doesn't care anyway.

[Mason Cantwell · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is the first Crumb book I've read, and I found it to be great. Hopefully I'll pick up some more of his work.

[Dyfan Dyfans Dyfanson · Rating 2 out of 5]

Read this on my phone. The process was excruciating.

[Ricardo · Rating 3 out of 5]

Novo lançamento da colecção "Novela Gráfica", não me satisfez tanto como os anteriores. Crumb criou o Mr. Natural como um guru charlatão que satiriza os mais evidentes defeitos das culturas de consumismo e contra-cultura à data em que as vinhetas incluídas nesta compilação foram lançadas.
Estamos nos anos 60 nos EUA, onde os baixos preços do petróleo, o dinamismo económico resultante das receitas de exportação conseguidas através plano Marshall e a abertura de novos mercados com a descolonização europeia criaram, pela primeira vez, uma verdadeira sociedade de consumo, onde os excedentes conseguiram, inclusive, criar condições e tempo de sobra para as massas desperdiçarem o seu tempo e dinheiro com TV's a cores e estilos de vida alternativos.
É certo que Mr. Natural se satiriza a si mesmo no processo, Robert Crumb não criou uma personagem para parecer mais inteligente do que as que o rodeiam; contudo a temática perdeu alguma relevância à medida em que mergulhamos cada vez mais numa sociedade materialista, egoísta e indiferente ao que a rodeia. Não tratando directamente de questões relacionadas com a consciência universal, Mr. Natural não envelheceu bem. Não é de génio satirizar um grupo de pessoas que não quer saber de mais nada a não ser um programa de televisão, pois isso é regra e norma actualmente. Existem algumas passagens interessantes onde, por exemplo, Mr. Natural evidencia a insignificância que os nossos problemas e sociedade têm com o passar do tempo, ou cenas nonsense e de certa forma repugnantes que incluem bebés grandes, mas as possíveis piadas perdem-se com a tradução (muitas centram-se nos jogos de palavras).
No prefácio é explicado que Crumb consumia alucinogénicos, o que parece evidente nas temáticas apresentadas, no tipo de humor e no estilo gráfico do autor. O que, por um lado, pode ser um catalisador de um certo tipo de criatividade, torna a obra um pouco vulgar com a passagem do tempo. Concluo que, lidas na versão original, as histórias do Mr. Natural poderiam ter a essência de génio que se perde na tradução.

[Artur Coelho · Rating 3 out of 5]

Devo confessar que da excelente colecção da Levoir este é o livro que menos me desperta a atenção. Faz todo o sentido que faça parte desta colecção. Crumb é um dos incontornáveis do comic underground e Mr. Natural uma obra muito representativa do que foi este género nos anos 60 e 70. É esse o ponto de interesse da obra, e é também aí que a obra perde interesse. As desventuras histriónicas do guru burlão precisam da sua contemporaneidade para ser entendidas. É um dos grandes pontos fracos do humor. Raramente mantém a piada com o passar do tempo. Desvanecem-se os contextos que dão piada às piadas.

Datado, requerendo algum conhecimento histórico para ser compreendido, mas não deixa de ser um belíssimo mostruário do grafismo de Crumb, relíquia iconográfica da contra-cultura. É aí que se justifica a inclusão nesta colecção. Talvez trabalhos como Genesis ou as suas histórias sobre a história do Blues sejam mais intemporais, mas Mr. Natural é o retrato certeiro de uma cultura muito específica da segunda metade do século XX.

Por falar em contra-cultura, adorei o prefácio cujo autor inicia o texto rejeitando veementemente o estatuto de Crumb como alto expoente do comic underground para acabar concluindo que Crumb é um alto expoente da banda desenhada contra-cultural. Pois. Também fiquei com essa sensação quando li o prefácio. Devo dizer que simpatizei com o esforço, naquela perspectiva de quebrar espartilhos de género, mas que Crumb é um autor underground é algo difícil de invalidar.

[Rui Alves de Sousa · Rating 3 out of 5]

Das coisas mais estranhas, doentias e extravagantes da história da BD. Mas divertido, este Mr. Natural.

[Frank Hannibal · Rating 3 out of 5]

The first time I saw an R.Crumb comix I was 10 years old (1972) They were Big Ass comics # 2 and the first Mr Natural. Up to that point I had been reading anything from The Fantastic Four to Little Lulu. All standard fare for a young kid and a comic junkie. Also included in my neighbor’s small collection was Zap # 5 who’s back cover had a picture of a human Zap comic head sticking its tongue into a brain captioned with “comics that french your mind” And indeed that’s exactly how I felt reading these extraordinary works of art for the first time. Crumb’s work like all great artists should be studied by era not always by oeuvre as there are many distinct phases that he has undergone as an artist and storyteller. Many of the criticisms launched against the Mr Natural collection seem to me as coming from someone who just doesn’t get it and for that matter R.Crumb himself. Yes I’m well aware of all of the deeply racist and blatantly sexist stories that Crumb has unabashedly put on paper and make no excuses other than to say that the raison d’etre of the underground comix movement was freedom from any sort of censorship be it self imposed or from external forces. Which itself was a truly liberating feeling allowing the artist to go where no one had gone before love it or leave it. In regard to Mr Natural his combination zen, sex fiend, guru and wise ass personality coupled with often free form beat story telling maybe a bit too much for the inexperienced to appreciate. Sadly the underground comix movement and the spirit of the sixties reached their nadir and slowly petered out. However a paradox occurred as Crumb continued amazingly to become an even greater artist ( a master cartoonist ) as time went on however his storytelling became redundant and far less interesting to the point of often boring. Over 50 years later I read his work sparingly but still get that “ frenched brain” feeling every time I lay eyes on his work more now than ever as his artistic talent sees no bounds.

[Jake · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Book of Mr. Natural is a collection of underground comics from the legendary counter-culture icon, Robert Crumb. The collection is set in chronological order, and it principally shows the development of his Mr. Natural and Flakey Foont characters over time.

Personally, I'm not the biggest fan of the Mr. Natural comic strips; I think they represent some of the weakest links in Crumb's artistic output. However, when we're talking about Crumb, 'weak' is still quite good. And perhaps no other comics encapsulated Crumb's personality better than the Mr. Naturals.

The one strip that towers high above the rest - "Mr. Natural & Flakey Foont in A Bitchin' Bod'!... and Featuring (Sort of) Devil Girl" - is, of course, blatantly misogynistic, racist, and disturbing. But it's also a brilliant piece of social commentary - a Freudian psychosexual exploration into the unrestricted male id. It's loaded with hyper-surrealism, psychedelia, and self-confession. Crumb portrays - quite accurately, I might add - what exactly happens in a man's mind when he begins to objectify a woman's body. He learns how to isolate certain features and literally remove parts from the whole. Fetishization is dehumanization - Crumb knows this better than his critics seem to believe.

Like any good satirist, Crumb will offend your sensibilities, but he'll make you think along the way. I respect him for dancing on the thin line of acceptability and decency, and bringing us along for the ride.

[Aussiescribbler Aussiescribbler · Rating 5 out of 5]

In his Mr. Natural comics Robert Crumb sends up the institution of the spiritual guru. Many of the stories feature Flakey Foont, a self-pitying everyman who seeks enlightenment from the prodigiously bearded holy man. He doesn’t seek it very earnestly. Mostly he wants to complain about his lot in life and persuade himself that he is more than just another schmuck.

As is so often the way with gurus, Mr. Natural’s power lies mainly in the eye of those who behold him. He’s really just a dirty old man. If he has a special power it is that which comes with not caring what others think of him.

Is he a complete fake? Maybe not. We do see him out in the desert on his own seeking wisdom. In fact, one of the funniest stories is the paranoid tale of his encounter with a chubby besuited boy who claims to be God.

Towards the end of the book, we are introduced to Devil Girl, a scary depiction of the demonic feminine, who idolises Mr. Natural all the more as he subjects her to dehumanising treatment. But poor Flakey Foont is in love with the wild woman, and ready to risk his relationship with his wife and children for her sake. Crumb probes the misogynistic reaches of male desire and, in Foont’s case, resultant self-loathing.

A major part of the appeal of Crumb’s cartoons is the lack of self-censorship. He lays bare aspects of the human condition we might rather sweep under the carpet, and he does it with a playful sense of humour and a powerful visual style.

[Chris · Rating 2 out of 5]

There was a temptation to write, "I thought the art was alright," and leave that as the review, but it's too low effort for me and the book deserves more than that. Even something that disappointed me deserves more. Even something I was inspired to read thanks to the new Chip and Dale Rescue Rangers movie deserves more.

Thing is I've heard about Crumb for years due to being a comics and animation fan. Naturally, the Fritz the Cats movies come up when you think of Crumb. They're definitely products of their time. But from there I picked up a collection of comics. Comics I don't think I cared much for but might need a revisit nearly 20 years later now.

I had no expectations for Mr. Natural. Literally didn't know what he was about. I come away not really knowing what to say either. I mean, I know who the character is and his coming foil, but what are the comics beyond that? They're nothing particularly clever, funny, or even raunchy. They're not even completely boring because there's a setup, a world, there that could lead to interesting comics. But the kernel of an idea is merely intriguing. It's not enough to make me like something.

But I liked the art alright.

[Michael Norwitz · Rating 4 out of 5]

Robert Crumb, problematic as he is, is one of the greatest cartoonists of the age, and the irreverent guru Mr Natural is one of his most memorable characters. These stories (problematic as they are) run the gamut more or less chronologically from the character's early days to his most current stories in which he pairs off with the eccentric Devil Girl.

What's missing, surprisingly from Fantagraphics, is any historical information. What was the context into which he was created? What prompted Crumb to bring him back? This is not a complete collection of Mr Natural stories; how was the selection made (or is it nearly complete aside from a few which were considered not worth reprinting, noting the unpleasant 'big baby' stories are not here but one story with some racist caricatures is included)? Was the selection made by Crumb or the editor Mark Thompson? A significant creator and character deserve better.

[Chelsea Martinez · Rating 3 out of 5]

Mr. Natural is a great foil for the man who is his reluctant acolyte. Shit gets weird with the Devil Woman in the last 40% of the book, but clearly deliberately so. At the very least, the character is good for understanding the diversity of viewpoints (and self-contradictions) that your average 1960's weirdo could hold, just like any 2018 weirdo.

[Danny Casper · Rating 2 out of 5]

Thank God I read the PDF a bit first online. This just isn’t my cup of tea.

It might be your thing if you like racist jokes, sexual assault jokes, and shock value of all kinds.

The art is good, the writing has aged poorly, and the representation of certain characters has aged really really poorly.

It’s just not something I’d personally recommend.

But it might be your thing, who knows.

[David Ferreira Alves · Rating 1 out of 5]

Um humor sarcástico sobre uma época de seguidores cegos, mas muitas vezes a ultrapassar a crítica inteligente para cair no simplório.
Desenho sem rasgo típico de tira de jornal mas mesmo assim, aquém do potencial.
Fica a impressão de uma BD circunscrita a uma data.

[Simon · Rating 1 out of 5]

Picked this up in a market because I realised I’ve actually never read a Crumb comic. I really hated it, found it so boring and the sexism hasn’t aged too well. Nicely drawn I guess? Not sure if it’s meant to be funny, it was quite depressing (which is not a bad thing per se).

[Danics · Rating 3 out of 5]

A collection of Mr. Natural's comic strips. With some funny parts, the book is mostly a satire of a different era.
Mr. Natural is a rude character who always speaks his mind and somehow ends up in weird places/situations.

[Chris · Rating 5 out of 5]

Awesome humor and illustration skills!

[King Can Pepsi]

fucking gross

[John of Canada · Rating 2 out of 5]

So this is the kind of stuff I read in the stone age? Yes,and Fritz the Cat.

[Adam Pascu · Rating 4 out of 5]

Crumb is one weird pervy dude

[mcchicken time · Rating 5 out of 5]

most memorable bit was the fat little boy who is god

[Lutz Barz · Rating 5 out of 5]

Hilarious. Crumb is devastating. A mirror with endless surprising and true reflections. He foresaw the coming of the New Age Superstitions and their ballast of astral mystics.

[Oliver Bateman · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fun stuff, especially the earlier installments, but the "arc of Mr. Natural" is nothing special relative to the rest of Crumb's canon. Specific "bits" are quite good - the more lurid the better, obviously - but some of this feels tired and just ok by the artist's standards.

[Ollie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Here's the Book of Mr Natural, and unlike all the R Crumb books I've read, it's hard to figure out what's going on in this collection of short stories. Maybe it's because there's no introduction telling us what we're reading (like there is in the Complete Crumb books). Nevertheless, it's easy to gather that Mr. Natural is some spiritual guru (an Afghan ex-cab driver) who is either worshiped by flighty phonies or mentors a Mr. Flakey Foont into dealing with his personal struggles.

Throughout the book, it's clear that Crumb uses Mr. Natural as a way to comment on our cultural and personal dilemmas, whether it's sexual desires, misogyny, feelings of misplacement, or our desire to fit in. However, Crumb has said that sometimes he makes up stories as he goes along, and it's a bit easy to see that here as most stories don't really go anywhere. It's obvious what's bothering Crumb about our society, but the stories don't really wrap up in the end, and we're left wondering where exactly he's going with all this. Perhaps Crumb just uses Mr. Natural as a way to vent?

Either way, it's so easy to get lost in the beautiful art (as always) with Crumb's great linework and his use of space, choosing to show you only the essentials of the environment and focusing instead on the dialogue between the characters, making the Book of Mr Natural not just for completists, but a nice example how little we've changed as a society since the 70s.