Customer Reviews

The Complete Crumb Comics Vol. 5: Happy Hippy Comix

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In volume five of the Complete Crumb Comics, the great artist continues to wittily dissect the body of 1960's American society. Broad parody ('Neato Keeno Time', 'Hamburger Hi-jinx') rubs shoulders with barbed social commentary ('MOTORCITY Comics' #1, the Fritz the Cat epic, 'Fritz The No-Good') and lighthearted sexual fantasies ('SNATCH Comics' #1 & 2, 'Dirty Dog'). There's also lots of rarities in this volume (ie: the original front cover for Janis Joplin's 'Cheap Thrills' LP, a previously unpublished alternate cover for 'ZAP' #3, a poster for 'The Zap Show' from 1968, comix from 'The East Village Other' and 'Chicago Seed', etc...). For those unfamiliar with Crumb's work, volume five presents a respectable cross section of the oeuvre of the grand old man of Underground Comix.

Perhaps best-known for his Janis Joplin Cheap Thrills album cover and the X-rated film adaptation of Fritz the Cat, R. Crumb is the man who in the sixties brought the comics underground to light--a fact which made many with weak stomachs and bad consciences want to close their eyes. But the sublime and grotesque black-and-white drawings insist that you look as Crumb gives play to his sexual fantasies and keen social observations. Crumb draws it as he sees it, lampooning hypocrites of every ilk, from university thinktank eggheads to brutalizing cops to wigged-out counter-culture types with their hippier-than-thou halos and hangups.

If you like R. Crumb you will enjoy this. If you own lots of his stuff already you probably have most if not all of the work in this volume. However most people do not have the early Zap comics Yarrowstalks and other early examples of his work and so this is a good way to see some of his early stuff. I was born and grew up in San Francisco and was a teenager during the late 60s early 70s and find his views of the whole hippy, love movement perfect caricatures of the era.

Like all (or most, the ones that I have seen) of 19 Volumes of R. Crumb's complete comics, this Volume is a mixed bag. Some of the strips are for fans of his genre: funny, weird, druggy, sick, twisted. But he also mixes in his work with a greeting card companies (not needed) and jazz salutes (who carez!!)
Don't get me wrong! I love Crumb!!! I own his DVD docu from years ago and a watch it once a month. FOR FANS ONLY should be an astute postscript. CCG