The Complete Crumb Comics, Vol. 15: Featuring Mode O'day and Her Pals

The Complete Crumb Comics #15

by R. Crumb, R. Crumb, Harvey Pekar (Contributor)

"Mode O'Day and Her Pals" includes all of Crumb's contributions to Weirdo #9-15, his first experiments with brush, the first Mode O'Day stories, the first collaboration with Bukowski, "Psychopathia Sexualis" and more! The definitive, comprehensive series reprinting Crumb's published career enters the mid-1980s with this 15th volume, a period that many critics consider to be the richest of Crumb's career. Anchored by Crumb's contributions to the seminal anthology Weirdo , created and edited by Crumb, this volume includes the first several appearances of classic Crumb character Mode O' Day, the networking fashion plate that serves as a foil for some of Crumb's most biting satire about America's cultural "elite." Other Weirdo highlights include Crumb's fascinating adaptation of Dr. R. Von Krafft-Ebing's "Psychopathia Sexualis," and "Where Has it Gone, all the Beautiful Music of Our Grandparents?", two stories often-cited as being amongst Crumb's very best work.

Also included are Crumb's first collaborations with the late writer Charles Bukowski, including the chapbook "Bring Me Your Love," as well as several collaborations with Harvey Pekar from his autobiographical series American Splendor . The book is rounded out with a color section that includes rare album art for various jazz and blues greats, as well reproductions of his various comic book covers from this period. Crumb is the most revealing of all artists, and The Complete Crumb Comics leaves no stone unturned. Featuring a lengthy introduction by Peter Bagge. 16 pages of color; black-and-white comics throughout

Genres: Comics, Graphic Novels, Humor, Satire, Comix, Collections, Fantasy

118 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2001

Reviews

[Stewart Tame · Rating 5 out of 5]

This volume is special to me because it was right around the time these stories were published that I first started getting into Crumb’s work. I discovered both Harvey Pekar’s American Splendor and the Crumb-edited issues of Weirdo within a few years of each other and was blown away.

The cover feature touts the Mode O’day stories from Weirdo. At the time, they seemed very 80's-centric, but, in rereading them, I find more of a timeless quality to them. The 80's references are there, but they're more window dressing than the point of the story. The strip where Mode and Doggo try to pass him off as an artist is one of my favorites, and just as true of today's art world as it was then. And, having read the previous volumes in this series, I can read the strip about Doggo wanting to go to Nicaragua and see how he's essentially standing in for Fritz the Cat. Fritz would have been right at home with sweeping everyone up in the wake of his particular brand of romantic chaos …

Other high points:

Crumb’s Middle America version of “Goldilocks and the Three Bears” is another personal favorite.

And “Hypothetical Quandry” is one of the finest stories ever to appear in American Splendor.

Although I know Zap by reputation, I actually haven't read many of them, so I had never seen “Patton” or “Jesus People USA” before. Both are excellent, particularly “Patton.” It’s not about the general, but rather blues musician, Charley Patton, and it's worth the price of the book all by itself.

Also, Peter Bagge contributes one of the best introductions of any volume so far.

This volume is a shining example of just how deserved Crumb’s reputation as an artist is. Highly, highly recommended!

[Jayakrishnan · Rating 4 out of 5]

I sent a copy of this book to a cousin of mine who is also a loner like me. The next time we met was at his sisters wedding and he told me he could never imagine me going through all the Hindu rituals like his sister was going through when I would get married. He told me he did some research on Crumb after he received the book. I doubt it. He is a swell. Crumb is/was a swell too. You think he really cared about the misfits and the unfortunate? I doubt it. Your favorite artists are less reliable than doctors. You think Crumb cares about Doggo? Mode O'day would jump into bed with Crumb and Doggo would have to watch the latest Fellini film. You think art really offers you a crutch? The artistic world is more mendacious than the pharma industry. They pumping out the desolate novels about lonely violent boxers, private school educated losers and the procedural aspects of Ted Bundy's murders. Keep reading books, they say. Even the Twitter gym bros have bought into it. Hahaha!

[Dominick · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'm of two minds on this one. On the one hand, Crumb's arguably one of the great geniuses of comics, and anyone seriously interested in comics ought therefore to want a comprehensive collection of his work, which this series provides, in affordable, well-produced volumes. On the other hand, the very completeness and sequencing of the material actually does not show it in its best light. Comics stories rub shoulders with cover images, occasional art, book illustrations, promotional pieces, and so on, all decontextualized from their original sources. The effect, at times, is in fact negative. One of the books' high points is Crumb's biography of Charlie Patton, showcasing what was for Crumb at the time a relatively new approach, both in his visual style and in his choice of subject matter. It's a strong piece of work. And then, after it, we get a few illustrations, such as party ads and birth announcements--nice enough, and certainly what the completist wants, but it's pretty anticlimactic, after the Patton story. The book illustrations removed from the context of the books they illustrate, must lose at least some of their meaning, though they do serve as decent stand-alone pieces. I don't know, the overall effect just seems too scattershot to me to really show off Crumb at his best. On the other other hand, do I nevertheless want the complete set of the complete Crumb? Well, of course I do.

[EC Reader · Rating 5 out of 5]

The 11 page story on "Patton", American blues and folk hero Charley Patton, is gorgeous and should be in the Smithsonian. "Psychopathia Sexualis" is 10 fantastic pages for another time capsule collection, I don't know what kind. But that's why the magazine was called Weirdo, right? "Where Has It Gone, the Beautiful Music of Our Grandparents?" is a statement of relatable antipathy, even to an obnoxious aged out punk. The "Goldilocks and 3 Bears" update works, there's a nice Pekar story and a gallery of Bukowski illustrations. The Mode O Day and Dirty Laundry are filler for me, but all around, it's got enough prime Crumb.

[Drew Canole · Rating 3 out of 5]

15 volumes in, you know what to expect. This collects a lot of his Weirdo strips, many that are a bit too esoteric for me to get into like a long adaptation of Dr. R. Von Krafft-Ebing's "Psychopathia Sexualis". Really cool to see the art he provided Bukowski.

[Zack! Empire · Rating 4 out of 5]

I liked this much better than the last one I read (Vol. 13). I know its because this one has a better quality of story. In the last one it was like Crumb was just making up every story as he went, with no idea what it was even going to be about until he drew it. The stories in here seem to move past that hippy dippy drug influenced stories he was doing, to some with a bit more substance.
My BIG complaint with this book, and I'd imagine this whole series if they share a similar design, is all of the pages that are NOT comics. It is cool to see Crumbs artwork, but I feel like a book called the Complete Crumb Comics would have more...comics.

[Hamish · Rating 3 out of 5]

Crumb is a fantastic artist, but I'm not sure I feel very strongly about his writing. Two different sources told me this era is his best, but I think I should have gone with the 60s stuff instead.