Hey, Ike, I saw your Mr. Natural and Professor Wawanowski reference in another thread, and it was like a breath of fresh air. I still have that old magazine, too. That was one of my favorite adventures! I like the cultural confrontation between the old frank Mr. Natural and the obnoxious “fan boy,” listening to Bruce Springsteen on his boombox. Have you seen the Yeti adventure? Hilarious!
I also love some of his more modern strips drawn together with his wife Aline; these strips document some great stuff about marriage, money, work, kids, etc. Most recently, I’ve seen some truly spectacular drawings he has done of jazz greats, taken from some artwork he purchased in France.
I’ve heard he lives in France nowadays, and I’ve wondered about the reason. Tax evasion? Preference? Does anyone know why?
Check out the documentary. I think its called “Crumb” or something like that.
Truly a great story. His family is quite nutty.
I’ll second Mr. Nipples and suggest you find the documentary, which I was able to find at Blockbuster under the “Special Interest” section. It is indeed called “Crumb” and very interesting. His family is strange and the bit about his brother made me sad. I believe the film was made just before he moved to France. It’s been years since I’ve seen it, but I think he discusses his reason for leaving the USA.
“Crumb” (it’s a very good film) simply follows Robert around. Early on you wonder how a klutz like that could survive in this world. About halfway through you start
to realize that he’s probably the most sane member of his dysfunctional family (a sister or two are referred to, but
apparently chose not to be in the film).
He defined an era in cartoons. He really does live his life the way he thinks it should be lived.
And he loves old blues.
The movie is kind of creepy, but definitely interesting and worth seeing.
Salon did a profile of him:
http://www.salon.com/people/bc/2000/05/02/crumb/index.html
They also have a couple of links to additional material.
Flakey Floont: Mr Natural, what does it all mean?
Mr Natural: Don’t mean shit.
Ah, wise words that have guided my life for thirty years. Perhaps I have found my new user name: Flakey Floont. Mr Natural is a better name but I don’t want to seem like I’m putting on airs, taking the name of such an important philosopher.
Aaah, warm affection for Robert Crumb…
At first he was the guy who did the cover to The Janice Joplin album (I got dem ol cozmic blues again mama, with Big Brother and the Holding Company).
Then he became the underground comix guy, then he became Robert Crumb. And this was in New Zealand!!
What I am very fond of is the women he liked. Even though his expressions of sexual interest are often er, crumby, at least he showed strong healthy attraction to Big Women. Women with large thighs and buttocks, made the way god intended. He would curl his lip at the thought of Kate Moss, or that scrawny Flockhart broomstick.
The work with his wife is sensational. At first I hated it, and then I slowly got it, and now I LOVE it. They often tell the same story from two different viewpoints, and with two widely different styles (she is much less mannered and surface-oriented, but more brutally honest). Sometimes they work on the same page, taking turns, criticising each other’s style of drawing or commenting on bad they seem tolook throught the eyes of thier partner.
His love for his daughter, as expressed in the strips, is clearly genuine but not sentimental. He’s no fool, and when a man of clear vision loves, and you know he’s accepting the flaws in his loved ones, there’s something very human and moving about it.
I haven’t seen their work in a while, but then I haven’t been in a comic shop for a while either. That’s something I can do this weekend , I guess.
Thanks for bringing it up pugluvr!
Hey, I’ve patterned my life after R. Crumb.
Urgh, that hurt even to TYPE.
Let’s just say that a lot of his social and artistic philosophy jibes with mine. “Hate th’ modern world…wish it was still 1910, when there were only a few automobiles an’ you could hop on a trolley car for a NICKEL.” – Mister Nostalgia.
Why’s he live in France? I think it was Aline’s idea. R. seems like the kind of guy who’s sorta been led through his life by his nose, first by one woman, then another (you could tell he hated the Disneylandish aspects of the house they built together in Davis, California, although he enjoyed having a comfortable place where he could draw and listen to his records). He’s enjoying the French food and wine, though.
Redboss: Crumb did the design for the COZMIC BLUES album, but he’s more famous for drawing the whole CHEAP THRILLS record jacket.
Don’t know a lot about the man personally, but I do like his stuff. I was introduced to it at my former job with a printing company that did the catalogs for Kitchen Sink Press. We have the metal sign featuring “Mr. Natural Does the Dishes” hanging next to the sink, and a large print to “A Short History of America” hanging in our front hallway. Great stuff.
I’ve heard of the documentary movie, “Crumb,” and I would like very much to see it. However, I heard that Robert Crumb was very unhappy with the movie, though I’m not clear on why. Perhaps its depiction of his and his family’s life was too graphic. At any rate, I read that he threw away his signature fedora after the movie’s release, much as he ceased drawing Mr. Natural after some other artist perfected the skill of copying Crumb’s drawing style. Because I’m such a fan of RC, I decided not to watch this movie if it made him so unhappy. Weird, huh?
As an aside, Mr. Pug is a big Charles Bukowski fan, and I like the RC illustrations which are in some of his books.
I’d still like to know his reason for moving to France. He’s so thoroughly into American culture, it seemed an odd move. I mean, think of all those skinny women over there! What would Mr. Snoid do?
pug: I think you’re confusing CRUMB with FRITZ THE CAT, which Ralph Bakshi made as an animated feature back in 1972 or so. Crumb was ripped off in some bizarre way…everyone involved in the deal was stoned, and he was mighty pissed off with the way the movie came out. And he didn’t get paid, or not as much as he thought he was going to. Crumb was so upset that he wrote a special story about what an asshole Fritz was, which ended up with a female ostrich stabbing the kitty in the back of the skull with an icepick.
CRUMB, on the other hand, was made by his good friend Terry Zwigoff, whom he’s known for years and had been a member of his string band, the Cheap Suit Serenaders. The only reason Crumb might have been unhappy with the documentary is that it got about a zillion times the attention he thought it would get, and changed him from a cult figure into a minor celebrity.
See any number of strips Crumb did during the 70s and 80s and 90s which reference how much he hates being recognized and asked to do little drawings on bar napkins and asked “why he hasn’t done any good stuff for ten years.”
Also, I wasn’t kidding when I cited pussy-whipping as the reason the Crumb family probably moved to France. I see the conversation as unfolding something like this:
Aline: Bob, we’re going to France.
Bob: Yes, dear.
Aline: You may now beat on my big ass with your fists.
Bob: Thank you, dear.