From the mountains of Southern France where he currently lives and works, pop artist R. Crumb makes a grand entrance back to the publishing world with The R. Crumb Handbook. Part biography, part comic book, and part media critique, the latest Crumb book is a feast indeed. In addition to numerous reprints of Crumb comic hits like Fritz the Cat and Mr. Natural, the book also features new works by Crumb, including a hilarious dialogue between the artist and his wife. (Both Crumb's wife and daughter are comic book artists.) Fans already familiar with Crumb’s comic book work will rejoice at the glossy reprints of Crumb oil paintings and sculptures, complete with gallery-owner narratives about working with the artist. There are also record covers reprints that Crumb has drawn over the years, as well as a CD of songs by the artist’s traditional band, R. Crumb and the Cheap Suit Serenaders. But more important, the Handbook helps provide a window into the man himself.

In fact the more you read The R. Crumb Handbook the more you start to understand Crumb is really a political cartoonist, challenging stereotypes, cultural norms, and the media. U.S. media in particular has had a powerful and profound impact on Crumb. Readers will learn what TV shows and books inspired Crumb, the state of comics in the 1960s versus today, the media’s effect on day-to-day life, and what other comics served as models for Crumb in his own work. Artists like Jack Davis, John Stanley, Carl Barks, and the late Will Eisner made powerful impressions on Crumb about what comics could achieve. Crumb offers up some interesting insight into comics during the Great Depression (e.g., Dick Tracy and Superman) and explains how many of these comics mirrored the era and encouraged readers to "fight on" even during tough times. The R. Crumb Handbook is a solid piece of work, not only giving us a glimpse into the artist, but serving as a great read for old and new fans alike. --Pat Kearney

Great book

A nicely done book at a very good price, especially considering the CD packaged with it. It is full of Crumb's cartoon material but also with much well-written commentary on it along with autobiographical notes and observations on US culture in general.

TOOK A LONG TIME FOR ME TO TRULY GET IT

Back in the late 1970's, there was this great little comic book shop about a half hours drive from my home. It was in this little, old time downtown area in a building that had two floors...great old wooden floors that sold old records, movie posters, 8MM movies and books upstairs while the basement was dedicated to comics. Not too far from Captain America and Spiderman was an "adult section" that had just a little wait high door that sectioned it off. I was only 16 but I looked old enough...and there were these comics so unlike the mainstream stuff. Stuff like the Fabulous Furry Freak Brothers and Zap Comix. Zap is where I saw R. Crumb's work for the first time. I remember buying a few and actually being a little scared to have them. I mean they were so counter-culture with the drugs and sex but wow, were they different and were they ever funny! Crumb has changed a bit from those more carefree days. He's more socially conscious, that's for sure although I'm sure I missed a lot of the points to his work way back then, concentrating more on the sex part without really getting the underbelly of his work. Genius is a term that's tossed around to easily these days and I'm not going to confer genius status on Crumb. The book is a satirical marvel but probably won't have a great deal of appeal to non-Crumb fans or at least those like me who still remember those great underground books of the 1970's. It certainly brings back some great memories as I really haven't kept up with Crumb that much over the past 20 years or so. A must read for Crumb fans.

Wonderful (but not for the easily offended)

R. Crumb is a famous underground comic, who in recent years has been elevated to cultural icon. Crumb's work is an exposition of his psyche - sometimes autobiographical, sometimes concentrating on his obsessions with sex and large, powerful women, sometimes, rather disconcertingly, both. His work divides critics - some hail him as a satirical genius: he has been compared to literary satirists Rabelais and Swift; and by art critics to Breughel and Goya. Others view his work as misogynistic pornography, socially degrading, emotionally immature, racist and sexist. There is merit in both views, I can certainly understand why some find his work offensive. However, I love his work and tend to agree with the former view, even if I do find some of the more lavish praise tends towards hyperbole. I suspect that Crumb does not really buy all of the hype - for example the book contains two well-known cartoons, both self-portraits: one with the line "Broigal it ain't", the other with the line "Yeah, but is it art".

This book is part biography including numerous photographs and commentary from critics, part collection of cartoons and sketches with together with a fantastic CD of some of Crumb's music (rooted firmly in the 1920s - an interesting mixture of blues & bluegrass played mainly on the banjo).

The cartoons amazing, the music CD brilliant (to be honest the CD on its own is worth the price of the whole package) and the biography is very interesting (personally I found the photographs the most disturbing part of the book - the picture of Crumb's wife Aileen giving him a piggy back while striking a `muscle' pose is too close to the imagery of the drawings for comfort). This is a wonderful introduction to Crumb, the man and his work, but even readers already very familiar with Crumb's work will find much to enjoy here.

A final note: if you have not seen it then I recommend the wonderful documentary Crumb, directed by Crumb's friend Terry Zwigoff.