The first biography of Robert Crumb—one of the most profound and influential artists of the 20th century—whose iconic, radically frank and meticulously rendered cartoons and comics inspired generations of readers and cartoonists, from Art Spiegelman to Alison Bechdel.
Robert Crumb is often credited with single-handedly transforming the comics medium into a place for adult expression, in the process pioneering the underground comic book industry, and transforming the vernacular language of 20th-century America into an instantly recognizable and popular aesthetic, as iconic as Walt Disney or Charles Schulz. Now, for the first time, Dan Nadel, a curator and writer specializing in comics and art, shares how this complicated artist survived childhood abuse, fame in his twenties, more fame, and came out the other side intact.
More than just a biography of an iconic cartoonist, Crumb is the story of a richly complex life at the forefront of both the underground and popular cultures of post-war America. Including forty-five stunning black-and-white images throughout and a sixteen-page color insert featuring images both iconic and obscure, Crumb spans the pressures of 1950s suburban America and Crumb’s highly dysfunctional early family life; the history of comics and graphic satire; 20th century popular music; the world of the counterculture; the birth of underground comic books in 1960s San Francisco with Crumb’s Zap Comix; the economic challenges and dissolution of the hippie dream; and the path Robert Crumb blazed through it all.
Written with Crumb’s cooperation, this fascinating, rollicking book takes in seven decades of Crumb’s iconic works, including Fritz the Cat, Weirdo, and his final book-length comic of The Book of Genesis; capturing, in the process, the essence of an extraordinary artist and his times.
Industry Reviews
"Crumb is fabulous, an engrossing biography, both intimate about the man but insightful about the times. Dan Nadel has written a revealing ‘portrait of the artist as a young man’—but also about the mature curmudgeon we all know as ‘R. Crumb,’ the signature Sixties artist of underground comics. Hilarious at times, poignant and always empathetic, Crumb is a marvelous trip crafted by a brilliant biographer."
—Kai Bird, co-author of Pulitzer Prize-winning American Prometheus: The Triumph and Tragedy of J. Robert Oppenheimer
“There’s no better guide through the rough, raw underworld of R. Crumb than Dan Nadel. A definitive account that reads like an intimate memoir, Crumb’s scenic history of counterculture cartooning in America contains the same propulsive energy and vivid details as its subject.”
—Prudence Peiffer, author of The Slip: The New York City Street That Changed American Art Forever
“The intimacy of Robert Crumb’s work has fascinated me for more than half my life. Every artist should read this book!”
—KAWS
