The legendary underground cartoonist
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This page is a fan’s tribute to Robert Crumb. I probably first saw his drawings in Oz magazine in the ’60s. I’m fairly certain the drawings there were photocopied from early American comics, and that Robert received no payment for them.
I’ve created these pages to promote his work because for decades I had difficulty getting hold of comics and books. Robbie the Pict had a head shop in St Leonard’s Street in Edinburgh which sold some of them, and indeed, Robbie was instrumental in getting Mr Crumb to come to Edinburgh’s Theatre Workshop. You can read more at my description of The Complete Crumb Comics volume 16.
Robert Crumb hasn’t to my knowledge been fiercely protective of his work but I’ve exercised care not to display any high resolution scans here; almost all are 72 dots per inch, reasonable for samples on-screen but no good for printing. If you like what you see here then buy the books. I’ve also shied away from displaying anything that’s provocatively pr0n0graphic!
[The preceding text has been edited from my old HTML website. Rather than try to reconstruct the pages I will instead create a gallery and add some of the comments from the original pages.]
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Volume 3 was the first one of the series I bought. I'm a collector but not a 'completist'. This book has 128 pages and consists largely of early Fritz the Cat cartoons.
It Also has some colour illustrations from Robert's early days when he was employed as an artist designing greetings cards.
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In Volume 4, about halfway through, the influence of mind-expanding drugs has a noticeable difference on Robert's output. His most famous stoned picture is probably the poster Stoned Agin.
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After the 'hairy' picture next in the sequence there are two pages from the five page cartoon Eggs Ackley in Eyeball Kicks. To see the entire cartoon you'll have to buy the book!
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In Volume 6 I had to choose samples which couldn't be construed as pr0nographic. Much of Robert Crumb's work from this period is regarded as unsuitable for children or those easily offended.
The sample shows his amazing talent for anthropomorphising vehicles. He does this to great effect with everything you can think of, not just trucks and cars.
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This sample shows his amazing talent for anthropomorphising vehicles. He does this to great effect with everything you can think of, not just trucks and cars.
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Volume 7 has more of Mr Natural, one of Robert Crumb's most loved characters. Shown next in the sequence are the title pages of two different cartoons from the book.
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Just glancing at volume 8, I can see many pages I'd like to sample. I chose the first 3 pages from the 21 page story Whiteman meets BIGFOOT. After Whiteman gets captured the story and pictures become rather risqué - to put it mildly.
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Volume 10 features contributions by Aline Kominsky Crumb, a cartoon about aliens one of whom may have been the inspiration behind a character in the CGI movie Monsters Incorporated, some self analysis and strips about the state of America.
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Volume 11's first cartoon is a long Mr Natural strip. I've only shown one page & two sample pages from Cry Baby's Blues.
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The LAP O' LUXURY cartoon is a favourite. The sample here is how Robert perceived his interview with High Times magazine (first 3 pages only).
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Lots of Snoid cartoons in this volume. The characters in the first sample below are somewhat nicer though, cute and adorable... Just the first 2 pages are shown here.
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The front cover is a colour version of one of the scenes from TV BLUES, the title page of which is shown next in the sequence.
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After a sample page from Mode O'Day are 2 sample pages from Goldilocks and the Three Bears.
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Robbie the Pict's presence here is due to his being responsible for my meeting my hero Robert Crumb in Edinburgh's Theatre Workshop.
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The first sample and the other pages from PEOPLE... YA GOTTA LOVE 'EM should (like everything else depicted here) be seen in high resolution i.e. in the book.
The next gallery consists of low resolution samples from books I’ve bought from Amazon. These samples are OK to view on-screen but not good enough to print. If you want more of Robert Crumb’s work, buy the books from Amazon. In previous years I had to import them from overseas.
Donald Trump – Crumb’s thoughts in 1989
Thanks to Waldemar Janusczak on Twitter for drawing my attention to Robert Crumb’s cartoon strip from 1989 about Donald Trump. The first page was posted on Twitter. After searching my files I found all six pages which I’ve reproduced here. It was Robert’s 76th birthday recently. Many happy returns and I hope you continue to enjoy rural France.
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