# Recommend me some R. Crumb?
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-me-some-r-crumb/462511
**Category:** Cafe Society
**Created:** [September 7, 2008, 6:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-me-some-r-crumb/462511 "2008-09-07T18:08:14Z")
**Posts on this page:** 7
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@Freudian\_Slit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Freudian_Slit)
#### Post date: [September 7, 2008, 6:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-me-some-r-crumb/462511/1 "2008-09-07T18:08:14Z")
Just saw Terry Zwigoff’s movie “Crumb” and am starting a mild obsession, I think. There seems to be a lot of stuff out there, though, and I have no idea where to start. In the movie, I really liked his devil girl/no head comic, and I’m really interested in how he draws women. Any recommendations?
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### Author:  [@An\_Gadai](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/An_Gadai)
#### Post date: [September 7, 2008, 6:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-me-some-r-crumb/462511/2 "2008-09-07T18:16:25Z")
There’s an anthology of his work with Harvey Pekar that I have enjoyed immensely in the American Splendor Series.
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### Author:  [@pseudotriton\_ruber\_ruber](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pseudotriton_ruber_ruber)
#### Post date: [September 7, 2008, 6:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-me-some-r-crumb/462511/3 "2008-09-07T18:22:41Z")
Here’s a [link](http://members.tripod.com/jakemw/contents.htm) to a website connecting you to some choice Crumb. WARNING: Loud stupid music accompanies this link, but you can quickly get out of it. I’d mute my speakers before linking, personally.
That was a hellacious movie, wasn’t it? I saw it at the NY Film Festival premiere a few years back, and as I was marvelling at that leggy chick who ran the magazine Crumb pimped himself out for, who did I run into in the lobby? And she was wearing a miniskirt too!
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### Author:  [@Horatio\_Hellpop](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Horatio_Hellpop)
#### Post date: [September 7, 2008, 8:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-me-some-r-crumb/462511/4 "2008-09-07T20:25:27Z")
Fantagraphics Books is publishing a massive compendium, The Complete Crumb. Each softcover volume is $19.95 and over a hundred pages. They are in chronological order and the first two have lots of embarrassing crap from his childhood and teenage years.
I prefer the later stuff from the 80s and 90s; when he was editing and then drawing for _Weirdo_, he was at the peak if his technical proficiency. He was also doing a lot of collaborations with his wife Aline which, frankly, are best left skipped.
Just as an illustrator, I like _Art & Beauty_, which is drawings of women accompanied by hilariously pompous beauty tips and philosophical insights.
His musical career is worth looking at, both with the [Cheap Suit Serenaders](http://www.epicure.demon.co.uk/rcrumb.gif) and [Les Primitifs du Futur](http://docjppjournalsexplosif.ifrance.com/docjppjournalsexplosif/cd%20world%20musette.%20crumb.%20rnc.gif) (the musette band he hooked up with when he moved to France).
The guy does lots of album covers, both for bands he’s a part of and others. [Please Warm My Weiner](http://www.bookpalace.com/acatalog/CrumbWarm.jpg) remains a sentimental favorite, as does [Cheap Thrills](http://tralfaz-archives.com/coverart/B/big_brother_cheapf.jpg).
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### Author:  [@Ukulele\_Ike](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ukulele_Ike)
#### Post date: [September 7, 2008, 8:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-me-some-r-crumb/462511/5 "2008-09-07T20:34:36Z")
I remember getting a copy of [R. Crumb’s Carload o’Comics](http://www.amazon.com/R-Crumbs-Carload-Comics-Anthology/dp/0878164030/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1220819267&sr=1-3) for six bucks when it first came out back in '76. Okay, it’s dated.
The Complete Crumb series Krokodil suggests is great, if you’re a completist like me. Others may not care for all the personalized birth announcements, or the newspaper ads for organic delis in Winters, California.
The Last Gasp theme-based anthologies are good, and enable you to consume Crumb in small and palatable doses. Try **R. Crumb’s America** or **R. Crumb Draws the Blues.**
If you can still get a copy of the great **Head Comix** from the late '60s (its been reprinted a lot), do it!
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### Author:  [@Horatio\_Hellpop](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Horatio_Hellpop)
#### Post date: [September 7, 2008, 10:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-me-some-r-crumb/462511/6 "2008-09-07T22:01:23Z")
BTW: **The Complete Crumb** is up to Vol. 17, and the complete set will run you upwards of $400. That’s a big commitment for a Crumb newbie. My recommendation? [The R. Crumb Handbook](http://www.amazon.com/R-Crumb-Handbook-R/dp/1840727160/ref=pd_sim_b_4). It has a cross-sampling of his best work over the past 45 years plus a CD including songs from all his different bands. For $16.50 new, I can’t imagine a better starting point.
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### Author:  [@Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biffy_the_Elephant_Shrew)
#### Post date: [September 7, 2008, 10:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-me-some-r-crumb/462511/7 "2008-09-07T22:53:47Z")
> [@Krokodil](#):
>
> [Please Warm My Weiner](http://www.bookpalace.com/acatalog/CrumbWarm.jpg) remains a sentimental favorite
I see he uses the acceptable ethnic variant.