With this volume, Fantagraphics reaches the midpoint in its project to reprint the entire body of work by R. (for Robert) Crumb, by far the most important and prolific of 1960s underground comics artists. The book collects strips from 1976^-77, when Crumb's bitterness and misogyny were no longer offset by the hippie ethos. This is not Crumb's most engaging work--that is found in earlier series installments--but it does indicate the directions his later career would take in its halfhearted stories featuring earlier characters and others that paved the way for the predominant alternative comics genre of the nineties, the warts-and-all autobiographical tale. Notably portentous among the latter are two brief stories drawn by Crumb but written by Harvey Pekar, whose own autobiographical approach was to be even more influential than Crumb's. With Crumb the subject of a new, critically acclaimed documentary film, libraries might do well to have this volume and its predecessors on hand for patrons who want to sample Crumb's work after seeing the movie.
Gordon Flagg
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
About the Author
Born in Philadelphia,
R. Crumb is the author of numerous comic works and one of the pioneers of underground comics. His books include
Kafka,
The Complete Crumb Comics (17 volumes),
The R. Crumb Sketchbook (10 volumes),
R. Crumb Draws the Blues,
The Book of Mr. Natural, the #1 New York Times bestseller
The Book of Genesis Illustrated by R. Crumb,
R. Crumb: The Complete Record Cover Collection, and many more. He lives in the south of France with his wife, the artist Aline Kominsky-Crumb.
Harvey Pekar (1939-2010) was a comic book writer and author of the autobiographical
American Splendor series, which was adapted into an Academy Award nominated film. Pekar was also a prolific jazz and book critic.
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