Customer Reviews

The Complete Crumb Comics, Vol. 13: Season of the Snoid

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

It's hard to explain, but this is a real worst-of in this series. Owners of the R. Crumb "Coffee Table Art Book" will find almost no new comix here, and everyone else save for the die-hard Crumb addicts will be brutally let down: the cartoon selections are poor and the majority of the book is comprised of illustrations for everything from jazz records -- admittedly quite nice, but -- to useless filler like covers from alternative newspapers. Total reading time: fifteen minutes. Buy this only if you suffer from the mania that compels you to complete a set, or similar.

I'll admit it. This was one of the last ones I purchased, because with Crumb I have a tendency to judge books by their covers. However I'm nearly always wrong. (I also didn't care for the cover of Vols. 1, 2, 8, 10, 14, 15 and 17.) That is kind of strange because I LOVE every single volume of this series I have read thus far (and I am only 3 volumes short of having read them all cover to cover). My experience with Crumb's work is that there will always be a few pages I turn quickly and a few pages that seem like fluff -- but the "meat" is always there in the "Complete Crumb Comics" series, and this volume is definitely no exception!

First of all, this volume features an introduction written by Robert Crumb's brother Maxon, who still lives in the seedy hotel room he lived in when the movie CRUMB was filmed. Maxon's introduction was amazing. I was not at all sure I would be able to continue reading once I read the first very oddly written paragraph, but as I continued to read I got the hang of listening to new concepts as it moved on, and it was absolutely fascinating.

Also, this volume features a mixed bag of comics, from comics about the Crumb brothers' Treasure Island days to those Cute Lil Bearzie Wearzies (which I always enjoy immensely) to some interesting-to-read Pekar/Crumb collaborations to Snoid comics and much, much more.

I was also very excited to find in this volume a four-page spread of Crumb's America (beginning with the pristine picture before people came along and ending with the rundown neighborhood full of businesses, wire lines, cars, advertising, etc. which are so much the common sight today. There are wonderful Crumb-rumination comics here, really good ones; there are reproductions of a lot of his drawings of early American musicians, oh my gosh, all manner of things, and although this volume is shorter than probably most of the other volumes at 109 pages what is within makes up for being a few pages less.

If you can't find plenty to please you in Vol. 13 of Complete Crumb Comics, "The Season of the Snoid," I daresay you are not a fan of R. Crumb! If you ARE a fan, I hope you can get it! Unfortunately the price on this and a few other volumes has been rising presumably because Crumb is the "Breugel of the 20th century" or some such hoity-toitiness.

The Complete Crumb series do for me exactly what I want them to do -- delight and stimulate and, frequently, make me laugh out loud. Better yet, if I let just a little time go by I'm reading to read nearly every page again, again and again!! Fantisimo!!! Bueno!!! Magnifique!!! Schrecklich!!!

The fellow who gave this book a one-star rating is obviously not a true Crumb fan. This book can stand side by side with the rest. Crumb fans will value this book just as they do all the others.

The continuing underground comix by R. Crumb. Featuring the introduction of the Snoid and his classic "My Troubles With Women".