Customer Reviews

The Complete Crumb Vol. 12: We're Livin' in the Lap of Luxury

5 star:		(1)
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The "qualified" means the book itself is in my opinion a 5-star book. However, those who are either (a) not fans of Harvey Pekar, whose stories Crumb illustrated in much of this volume, or (b) fans of Harvey's who already have these works will be disappointed.

An awful lot of Crumb's work in this volume could be termed as "under the influence of others." That's not usually a bad thing, but die hard Crumb fans that want Crumb and only Crumb might be dissatisfied with this volume, as not only are there a LOT of Pekar stories illustrated by Crumb but also work he did for "Winds of Change," a group in Davis, California trying to fend off agribusiness and promoting alternative energy, as well as a little bit of work done with his wife Aline (where he drew himself and his words and she drew herself and her words) are included in this book. Work that was done by Crumb and Crumb alone is in the minority in this volume -- so much so that I am surprised at the choice of cover illustrations, which had me ready for lots of Crumb childhood nostalgia. And there IS a little bit of that, not not a whole lot.

I should add that Crumb only did and does work with or for those he WANTS to be "under the influence" of -- and the stories he illustrated for Harvey, according to various readings, are only those he personally chose out of a variety of stories. Thus, it IS representative of Crumb for the most part -- and his wife? Well, he married her, didn't he? So whatever she says and does represents him a little bit too. (Although - don't get me wrong - there is not a lot of Aline's work in this volume.)