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R. Crumb's The yum yum book
Book by Crumb, R
150 pages, Hardcover
First published July 6, 1975
2 people are currently reading
45 people want to read
About the author
Robert Crumb
565 books524 followersRobert 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.
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.
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Displaying 1 - 13 of 13 reviews
February 19, 2024
Robert Crumb's first major comics work done when he was just 19. It's pretty exceptional for his age and the time it came out. I really enjoyed the cartooning and color. It's a lot of fun to read. I could see this going up to a 4-star on a re-read.
October 10, 2017
In a perfect world, this would have been included in Fantagraphics' series of the Complete Crumb Comics. But Robert's ex-wife, Dana, holds the copyright, and wouldn't allow them to include it. Begun in the early 60's and finished sometime before the Crumbs moved to San Francisco, it remained unpublished until 1975. It's more representative of Crumb's early, pre-Zap work than the undergrounds that brought him fame.
Oggie, a toad, is attending college on a small island inhabited by anthropomorphic animals. After a drunken episode in which he kills some ladybugs, he buries their remains under the floor of his room. A giant beanstalk sprouts from under the floor, carrying the hapless toad skyward, where he encounters an upside down world in which he meets a giant teenage girl named Guntra. He falls madly in love with her, but she just wants to eat him ...
In spite of the darker aspects, this is a very sweet and lovely story. Many themes will be familiar to folks who've read the first two or three volumes of the Complete Crumb comics. Guntra is the quintessential ravishing Crumb girl, with a wonderful innocence to her. Oggie is the archetypal restless, intellectual, angstful Crumb stand-in so prevalent in his early work. The artwork shows not only Crumb's command of the comics form, but also some lovely color work. SLG did a marvelous job with the reproduction. Some pages show signs of wear and tear on the originals, but nothing that actually encroaches on the story, just fraying at the edges of the page. This book is an essential part of Crumb's oeuvre, and deserves to be as well-known as his later works.
Oggie, a toad, is attending college on a small island inhabited by anthropomorphic animals. After a drunken episode in which he kills some ladybugs, he buries their remains under the floor of his room. A giant beanstalk sprouts from under the floor, carrying the hapless toad skyward, where he encounters an upside down world in which he meets a giant teenage girl named Guntra. He falls madly in love with her, but she just wants to eat him ...
In spite of the darker aspects, this is a very sweet and lovely story. Many themes will be familiar to folks who've read the first two or three volumes of the Complete Crumb comics. Guntra is the quintessential ravishing Crumb girl, with a wonderful innocence to her. Oggie is the archetypal restless, intellectual, angstful Crumb stand-in so prevalent in his early work. The artwork shows not only Crumb's command of the comics form, but also some lovely color work. SLG did a marvelous job with the reproduction. Some pages show signs of wear and tear on the originals, but nothing that actually encroaches on the story, just fraying at the edges of the page. This book is an essential part of Crumb's oeuvre, and deserves to be as well-known as his later works.
January 24, 2022
3.5 v sweet and funny, love the illustration style unsurprisingly, some sus aspects ofc its crumb
January 20, 2022
very cute & witty little story. R crumb is a problematic guy but I can't deny that I like his drawings. I was curious to read such early work. This was made in 1960 when Crumb was a teen. He stated in the intro that he finds it juvenile and embarrassing, but his ex-wife has the rights and loved the story. It is basically jack in the beanstalk crossed with the princess and the frog. Ogden the Frog does not fit in with society. I really enjoyed the sequences where he tries out different groups in college to join. He eventually becomes so frustrated that he crushes some ladybugs in anger. Ogden realizes he committed murder and decides to hide the bodies under the floorboards of his dorm. Unfortunately the bodies grow a beanstalk that is so high he arrives on an eden-like paradise planet. There he falls in love with a mysterious giant creature--- a human! At first I was side-eyeing the fact that it's constantly mentioned that she is a teenager, but then I remembered that this was a comic made by a teenage R Crumb. Crumb has had the exact same taste in women his entire life! The human girl keeps trying to eat Ogden while he wants to kiss her. Ogden struggles to kiss the giant human while avoiding getting chomped. He eventually has to escape back to his home world, only to find that the beanstalk has totally overgrown his whole community. Ogden is put on trial for causing the beanstalk takeover and is sentenced to death via being eaten alive by the court. Luckily, the hungry girl climbs down the beanstalk in search of snacks and ends up destroying the town. Ultimately Ogden gets his kiss and surprise– he turns into a human! Ogden and Guntra move to the city and live happily ever after. Idk it was a very cute dork fantasy of a scrawny dweeb who can’t find his place in the world landing a baddie who wants to eat him alive but ends up literally destroying the society that made him feel so lonely and awkward. It was charming tbh!
June 10, 2011
Vibrant both in color and in story, Crumb's early work wows the senses and imagination. The Story of Oggie and the Beanstalk is Crumb's careful modern-day fairy tale with fascinating commentary on McCarthyism, bohemian life, and even love. Highly recommended.
November 28, 2007
I own the first edition of this joint, or jernt, as we used to say in Memphis. I love Robert Crumb and his zany, misanthropic, big-rump lovin' ass.
July 24, 2009
Guntra! How I am like you - I am big and love to eat. How I am not - I will not eat a live frog who's in love with me. The picture of you at the end on the couch is my favorite.
October 19, 2020
WAIT to read Harvey Pekar's rumin-observation = HE'S A SPOILER.
I recommend Dana's (first wife) short reminiscence
Do not skip Robert's quick intro!
I enjoyed the story and art equally because, to my eyes and sensibilities, the match is perfect. It's as charming as any I recall in presentation of tender youth in the throes of fable.
BUT in no way a children's story because at all points bold-faced and laced it's adult insights and inquiry that they couldn't possibly relate to- let alone understand.
This is A 19 YEAR OLD'S existentialogue of confusion and catastrophy with ever-present angst bubbling as he bumbles out of high school and into his first "real world".
Very often, from early in the story, I told myself that he couldn't have been that age in that life-trajectory and been so keen on how the world "works"- and doesn't.
Too few years and not enough exposure for such insightful scathing socio/intellectual/political/etc. commentary within the bounds he endeavored. Sure it was "adolescent" and "immature" at times but how else do you see the world at that stage of life?
->I decided that he must've been reading the likes of Dostoyevsky and Jung when his peers were having fun- a perfect preparation to overthink the world before he even entered it and tripped all his self-prepared snares.
I recommend Dana's (first wife) short reminiscence
Do not skip Robert's quick intro!
I enjoyed the story and art equally because, to my eyes and sensibilities, the match is perfect. It's as charming as any I recall in presentation of tender youth in the throes of fable.
BUT in no way a children's story because at all points bold-faced and laced it's adult insights and inquiry that they couldn't possibly relate to- let alone understand.
This is A 19 YEAR OLD'S existentialogue of confusion and catastrophy with ever-present angst bubbling as he bumbles out of high school and into his first "real world".
Very often, from early in the story, I told myself that he couldn't have been that age in that life-trajectory and been so keen on how the world "works"- and doesn't.
Too few years and not enough exposure for such insightful scathing socio/intellectual/political/etc. commentary within the bounds he endeavored. Sure it was "adolescent" and "immature" at times but how else do you see the world at that stage of life?
->I decided that he must've been reading the likes of Dostoyevsky and Jung when his peers were having fun- a perfect preparation to overthink the world before he even entered it and tripped all his self-prepared snares.
February 7, 2024
A good bit of a fun that works as a quick, very easy read. Some of the art was good and the colour was good throughout. I didn't find most of it all that funny really but I was certainly entertained, mainly because I appreciated the imaginative story. It was paced well too and about the right length.
Funny to think that he was only 19 when he made it.
Funny to think that he was only 19 when he made it.
August 8, 2013
Crumb's mash-up of Jack and the Beanstalk and the Frog (or in this case, toad) Prince is fascinating early work. Crumb's characteristic artistic flourishes are not yet in evidence--the line is simpler and less assured, though it is recognizeably Crumb--but many of his obsessions are, notably large woman (the naked teenage girl Guntra, lushly rendered, albeit reasonably chastely, given how explicit Crumb's art gets later on), sad sack heroes, deep ambivalence about women (dealization, objectification, misogyny), and so on. The reproduction is sharp, with the colours popping nicely. It's a quick easy read, with flashes of Crumb's wit and subversive satirical perspective, but apart from Guntra being nude for the whole thing, has little ot distinguish it from any number of nicely-illustrated children's books. Nothing wrong with that, of course, but nothing outstanding about it, either.
December 26, 2014
According to the introduction Crumb was fucking NINETEEN when he made this! Nineteen! This is beautiful, charming and lined with deep self acknowledgement and portrays young frustration so much better than all those plodding Chekov plays I just read. Maybe one of Crumb's greatest traits is that he continued to represent himself as the anxious pervert instead of the kind of guy who could crank out Kafka, Freud and Maurce Sendak in one fell swoop. Whatever, I liked this thing a lot.
April 12, 2010
J'ai adoré les préfaces de la première édition puis la deuxième de R.Crumb plus que l'histoire mais ça complète le personnage.
Et puis comme il le dit lui même, il était déjà très bon à 19 ans!
Et puis comme il le dit lui même, il était déjà très bon à 19 ans!
April 5, 2014
Una ingeniosa fábula para adultos de un primerizo Robert Crumb. Muy divertida y rápida de leer.
Displaying 1 - 13 of 13 reviews