Customer Reviews

R.Crumb's America

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Like Daniel Clowes of "Eightball" fame, it could be fairly said that Robert Crumb's earlier work is his best work -- not to say his later stuff is poor -- far from it. But his earlier work has a raw cynicism, an aggression, a desperation, a sadness, and a hilarious sense of hysterical, neurotic humour which is self mocking and stops him from ever coming across as overtly judgemental, arrogant or holier than thou.

Most of this collection is from his 70's to early 80's work -- IMHO his best stage.

Regarding these packaged/themed collections/volumes of his work -- some of them are lukewarm, and padded out by his wife's ( imho not so great ) work, and assorted sketches and so on -- this is frustrating. There is nothing worse than shelling out good money for classic Crumb, getting home, ripping off the plastic wrapping -- only to find you can read the expensive volume in half an hour or less, because most of the damn book is made up of ( not always worthy ) sketches.

This book, however, is classic neurotic, disturbed, misanthropic, crazy Crumb in all his unique glory, from the 1st to the last page, and is NOT repeat NOT padded out by collector's filler sketches and ephemera for the obsessive fans.

It is an excellent misanthropic attack on humanity in general.

Don't miss it -- insightful, intelligent and stupidly funny.

For cynics, recluses,obsessives,weirdos,outsiders, the lonely, fools, mystics and misanthropes everywhere, prepared to laugh hard at themselves and their own views,opinions and certainties.


Crumb at his glorious, hateful , wittiest finest.

One of the finest features of Crumb's genius is his ability to poke fun at himself even as he's ranting and raving about a social system that he genuinely hates. His dismal self-appraisal doesn't negate the value of his social criticism--quite the contrary. It suggests a man who can recognize ranting and raving for the sometimes ludicrous exercise it is, but also recognize that there's good reason for the angry concern that grows into ranting and raving. Thus in this volume's wonderful "Point the Finger," a diatribe against unscrupulous fatcats such as Donald Trump, Crumb depicts himself as a spineless nerd who's good at dishing it out but not so good at taking it. Yet the point about fatcats is still taken. Similarly, in an untitled page that appears early on, Crumb makes fun of his paranoia about the U.S. government. But again, the point is taken: the government is an institution which it's not entirely unreasonable to be paranoid about.

R. Crumb's America collects some of his very best social satire, and it's even more devastatingly spot-on now than when he first inked it. He pillaries our throw-away society; the self-imposed burdens of uptight, white, middle-class males; institutionalized and freelance violence in our culture; the fakeness of high society; the American faith in technology; and racial stereotypes. It's all very funny, and sometimes sexy. But it's also all very serious. Curious, that a cartoonist is much better than talking heads or Ph.Ded suits at spotlighting the greed, narcissism, and fear that dominates our society.

I suspect that one of the things that makes Crumb such an astute social critic is the same fearlessness (or some might say insouciance) that allows him to draw and publish his sexual fantasies. Crumb, at least when he's inking paper, has no inhibitions. As a satirist, he's naked, unencumbered, unclothed. And that's exactly what's required to see that the emperor has no clothes on either.

This book is a review of R.Crumb's opinion of the USA over a period of 35-odd years, going back to the Vietnam/Civil rights protest era. As such, it includes some of his most hilariously objectionable & outrageous strips, pieces and characters, e.g., Flakey Foont, Anglefood McSpade, Fatback, Whiteman, and Lenore Goldberg and her Girl Commandos. The chunks of Crumb narrative vary from recent (2000-2008) ecotopia-themed polemics to old-fashioned 8-pager-style cartoon pornography, including a personal favorite: "Hi-lites of Detroit", an unusually straightforward presentation of what I assume are R. Crumb's Motor city haunts(his home base is Cleveland).
The older sections are the more objectionable ones. I first started paying attention to him in 1971, with the appearance of Zap Comics, and, in my 20's, with the Sixties still fresh in everyone's mind, R. Crumb was the perfect pallate-cleanser; a strong dose of cynicism to counter the B.S. that the Nixon administration was calling "truth". Thirty-five years later, Crumb has shifted to a wider target, to wit, from American society and politics to society and politics in general. If you are interested in Crumb, warts and all, this will do him proud. If, on the other hand, you are new to his brand of humor, this may be a bit strong. Crumb has never found it necessary to prune his vocabulary to suit any audience, Jewish, hispanic, caucasian or African-American.

Robert Crumb's practical view of America is just as realistic today as when this book was created. He deals with prejudices, environment issues and war. Robert Crumb isn't just a cartoonist, but has a story to tell.

Any Crumb fan would want this collection. Lots of early stuff. If you are an art student you will get somthing out of this as well. Some really DARK stuff in here. However it also shows how ahead of his time he is(was) regarding Ecology and overpopulation. He actually is a GREEN CRUMB!