My Troubles with Women [Paperback]

Robert Crumb (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: June 28, 2003

Crumb has got to be one of the most confessional artists of all time, and certainly the most confessional artist ever in his chosen genre. In both interviews and art, he not only relates the external facts of his life but also turns his id inside-out. The three passions of his life, he's said, are sex, music, and his art, and all three of them get intertwined in both his personal life and his work. My Troubles with Women is a collection that especially speaks to the first passion.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Robert Dennis Crumb (born August 30, 1943)-known as Robert Crumb and R. Crumb-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.

Product Details

• Paperback: 80 pages
• Publisher: Last Gasp (June 28, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0867193743
• ISBN-13: 978-0867193749
• Product Dimensions: 11.2 x 8.6 x 0.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 7.8 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,002,089 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

14 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Great Introduction to Crumb, July 11, 2005

By 

donny random - See all my reviews

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This review is from: My Troubles with Women (Paperback)

This was the first Crumb comic collection I have purchased. I had read about him for years, I always had it on the backburner to get some of his stuff, but never got around to it. I made a mistake in waiting, but it was worth the wait. Crumb is the rare combination of great storyteller and artist. I have the feeling I will read this collection several times, the first time to enjoy the stories, and the next several consecutive times to absorb the great artwork.
'My Troubles With Women' documents Crumbs sexual 'proclivities' from a young lad riding women's legs, high school crushes on Amazonian girls that other boys called 'fat', to comic groupies that Crumb lives out all his thick thighs/bubble butt fantasies with. It's all terribly interesting stuff.
The only low point in this collection is the inclusion of comics that were collaboration with his wife. His wife's forte is not comics, maybe she is an artist, but this is not her medium. Her drawings are flat and uninspired when compared to Crumb's style. Plus the dialog is ham handed and boring. It was a real chore trying to slog through these pages. I guess the "...troubles with Women" include the wife, but the husband and wife stuff seems out of place in this collection.

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars One of Crumb's three passions, March 19, 2008

By 

Kerry Walters (Lewisburg, PA USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

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This review is from: My Troubles with Women (Paperback)

Crumb has got to be one of the most confessional artists of all time, and certainly the most confessional artist ever in his chosen genre. In both interviews and art, he not only relates the external facts of his life but also turns his id inside-out. The three passions of his life, he's said, are sex, music, and his art, and all three of them get intertwined in both his personal life and his work.

My Troubles with Women is a collection that especially speaks to the first passion. Crumb fans know he's attracted to large, firm women, that he has what might be described as a foot and leg fetish (as a child he would latch himself onto the legs of his mother's friends), and an incredibly creative fantasy life that involves sexual attraction to such extravagances as vulture-women. (The interview in D.K. Holm's R. Crumb: Conversations entitled "Creme de la Crumb," pp. 141-57, is especially instructive.) But fans also know that Crumb's autobiographical art, while honestly portraying sexual fantasies, poke fun at the artist.

So in "If I Were King," Crumb goes on a fantasy spree, imagining all the women he could have as a powerful monarch--but the monarch is still nerdy, hollow-chested, creepy Crumb. In "Dirty Laundry Comics," he pokes fun at his aging body and its never-ceasing desire for sex, and also worries about the effects his comics will have on his daughter. In "Memories Are made of This" and "Footsey," Crumb recalls youthful bittersweet sexcapades: his sexual frustrations in high school, his rather predatory dating routines as a young man. And in the eponymous "My Troubles with Women," Crumb recounts more sexual adventures, but also highlights a period of impotence in his mid-30s.

As usual, the artwork is fantastic, and the storylines interesting and thoughtful (although the three stories done in collaboration with Aline Kominsky, as other reviewers have pointed out, aren't quite successful). Throughout, Crumb's honesty is both appealing and, for some, off-putting. What I find so fascinating and good about Crumb's work is his uninhibited ability to expose his deepest fantasies to the light of day. All of us have 'em. But almost none of us will own them. Wonder why that is?

10 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Twisted & Funny, May 13, 2004

By 

Bradford Ferguson "trader-brad" - See all my reviews
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This review is from: My Troubles with Women (Paperback)

This compilation book contains ten previously published R. Crumb comics. It's a soft cover book, but it's sturdy because of its sewn-in binding, thick cover, and thicker-than-normal pages. I found the book to be humorous in how it comments on the social structure of society and it was also funny in a twisted sort of way. Through the course of the book, you will discover some of the reasons behind R. Crumb's bizarre sexual fantasies. If you never really fit in while going to school up through high school, you will be able to relate to Crumb's sense of isolation and jealousy over the "in-crowd."

Throughout "My Troubles With Women" you will find Crumb leering at and interacting with his ideal woman which is "built like a brick (out)house." Crumb is literally obsessed with women who have thick thighs and big derrieres. Additionally, there are some pornographic pictures, though I wouldn't really describe the book as a book of pornography.

Three of the ten comics are combined efforts between Crumb and his wife, Aline. I didn't like these three as much because I don't like the style of his wife's art and it is more about family and marriage situations which weren't as interesting to me. My favorite comic had to be "Footsy" which I found hilarious and nostalgic. "Footsy" delves into some situations where Crumb got a big thrill from playing footsy in school and later playing footsy in meetings for an underground comic book. Darker depredations are explored midway through the book as Crumb finds that women are attracted to him as an artist and underground figure.

The book was definitely an entertaining read; I chuckled and laughed out loud many times. I would have liked it better if the publisher added page numbers and if all the comics were exclusively Crumb's sole work - if the latter were fulfilled I probably would have given it five stars.