“ Crumb '' examines the defects of the cartoonist – with sympathy: Revue

In his new biography of Robert Crumb, Dan Nadel writes that his subject agreed to participate in the project in a single condition: “that I am honest about his faults, to look closely at his compulsions and to examine the racial aspects and sexually loaded with his work.” Crumb, graphically honest in his work as a surreal and libidinous pioneer of Comix Underground, expected the same thing of his columnist. And Nadel conforms.

What does not mean “Crumb: a cartoonist's life” is an ax work. Far from it: Nadel, museum curator and comic book expert, expresses palpable admiration for the crumb and sympathy for peripatetic education which could be silently as macabre as everything he drew. He follows with diligence the artistic progress of Crumb, of the collaboration with his brother, Charles, on the teenage bands in the spirit of the heroes of childhood such as Carl Barks of Disney and the creator of “Little Lulu” John Stanley; to launch greeting cards for American greetings based in Cleveland; And to follow the LSD muse in an unhindered purge of subconscious chaos. Nadel draws a lively portrait not only of the crumb but of the explosion of Underground Comix based on the region of the bay in the late 1960s and the early 1970s. “Crumb” is rich in a cultural context, the type of biography which opens an entire scene and movement.

During his stay in San Francisco, Crumb spoke of the Sardonic guru Mr. Natural.

(From R. Crumb)

And when the time comes to explore the problematic representations of Crumb on women (rape fantasies have become a racing reason in the Underground Comix, and in the work of Crumb) and blacks (Crumb has generously destroy the Sambo stereotypes), Nadel does not excuse the artist nor problems of simple condemnation.

As a child, Crumb collaborated with his brother, Charles, on the teenage bands.

(From R. Crumb)

A product of an American (and family) very white and very misogynist American (and family) culture, of crumbs often engage in the same stereotypes with which he grew up – and returned them with grotesque vitality. Take Angefood McSpade, “Robert's racist fantasy of a large black muscle woman and naive apparently made of swollen rubber.” Nadel describes her as “a replacement for each white vision of black women (think of the” sweets “of the Rolling Stones and the marketing of Tina Turner as” Primal “) and finally, for Robert, a symbol and a symbol of all that the American white culture does to blacks.” More generalized racist representations of Crumb, Nadel writes: “Essentially, it is both racist and excoriant. Robert surrenders, the reader and all culture. He can't help but try fate to prove a point.

Nor happy beginnings. Crumb was born in 1943 in Philadelphia in Chuck and Bea, one of the five children of a family grouped with a mental illness. The crumbs often moved, which only increased Robert's self-identification as an adaptation. He and Charles, the brother of the eldest crumbs, withdrew in the world of comics, where they showed remarkable talent and ambition, producing tales of sophisticated animals in the 1950s.

Crumb designed the cover of the seminal album “Cheap Thrils” for Big Brother & The Holding Company, the group's last LP with Janis Joplin.

(From R. Crumb)

Nadel establishes the cultural scene: “Elvis Presley was on the air, Allen Ginsberg diagnosed the country and the comedy” sick “by Lenny Bruce, Death Sahl, Jonathan Winters and Stan Freberg increased.” Perhaps the most relevant, Mad was on the magazine rack. As Nadel writes, “according to” crazy “, everything was absurd, (messed up) and on the verge of destruction, just like the crumb house.” The magazine was a lifeline for Robert, because it was countless other unsuitables from the 1950s. It helped promote an increasing feeling that everything about adult life was a lie, a theme that Nadel skillfully weaves the book.

Crumb escaped Cleveland, where he met his future wife, Dana Morgan, and in 1967, they decamped for San Francisco, where marriage went down in open madness and her dazzling talent converged with and, in some respects, came to define the counter-culture. But even here, he saw himself as a stranger. “He was not interested in hippies anyway,” writes Nadel. “A greater interest was sudden demand for his work.” He drew the cover of “Cheap Thrils”, the 1968 album of Big Brother and the portfolio company – Janis Joplin was a neighbor – created the seminal series of Underground Comix “Zap Comix” and worked on other projects at a manic rate. He spoke of the sardonic guru M. Natural, a little sexual demon called snancing and sweaty and anxious, human and other creatures.

Dan Nadel, author of “Crumb: a Cartoonist's Life”.

(Beowulf Sheehan)

It was so innovative that his work created an existential crisis wave among his peers. “I realized that I had to change my goals in the world,” said Art Spiegelman, who has won a Pulitzer prize for “Maus” (always the only graphic novel to receive this honor), said in the book. “I decided that I was going to become a Buddha because the comics went well without me.” Crumb became famous, and although he loved money and acclamation, he never met with it. Exiled accomplished, he moved to France with his second wife, the artist Aline Kominsky-Crumb, and their daughter, Sophie, in 1991. Aline died in 2022.

Generously illustrated by the work of the whole Crumb's career, “Crumb” is an artist's biography that cleverly connects work to the history of life without forcing or simplifying anything. It works like cultural history and criticism; You will not find a clearer analysis of the Underground Comix movement. Nadel honors the complexity of his subject, even, perhaps in particular, when he becomes ugly.

Vognar is an independent culture writer.