COMPLETE CRUMB COMICS VOLUME 16

The Mid-1980's: More Years of Valiant Struggle

By Mike Whybark     October 08, 2002

Since 1987, Fantagraphics has been slogging through every line that R. Crumb has ever drawn; that's when THE COMPLETE CRUMB COMICS VOLUME ONE (The Early Years of Bitter Struggle) was first published. The current volume at hand brings us up to the material that Crumb was working on at the time when Volume One was published (more or less).

The mid-'80s were for Crumb, uh, more years of valiant struggle. He and his wife were co-editing WEIRDO, nearing the end of its long run as an artistically ambitious anthology title on Last Gasp. WEIRDO was a kind of West Coast answer to Speigelman's RAW, publishing underground and alternative veterans as well as breaking new cartoonists. Among those new cartoonists (to me anyway) was Crumb's wife and co-editor Aline Kominsky-Crumb, with whom Robert co-authored and drew several projects in the time-honored "jam" fashion.

Included in VOLUME 16 are the trial strips for a proposed daily comic to be drawn in this fashion, "The Crumb Family." I found these strips fascinating, because I'm a particular aficionado of the four-panel form, and I have no recollection of seeing any four-panel work from Crumb's pen previously. It's a pity that the strip was not picked up.

Themes of family misadventure dominate in Crumb's work from this time. Oh, the adventures of the bohemian family that chooses antique refrigerators! Here's what it's like to move to France! We love our child! These stories are not the strongest that Crumb ever did; they feel like letters home, and that quality of relaxed narrative is interesting in and of itself. Additionally, for me personally, these were the first stories of Crumbs I read, and so rereading them here was occasion for pleasant nostalgia.

In addition to the family tales, there's a barn-burner in Crumb's music history work, "Jelly Roll Morton's Voodoo Curse," which is about what you'd think it would be. Also presented is a recounting of the celebrated SF author Philip Dick's experience of mystical enlightenment - or psychotic episode; and some miscellaneous stories from WEIRDO and other places.

There are lots of other goodies in the book as well, including arrays of Christmas cards, magazine covers, posters, and spot illustrations, as well as every one of Crumb's PIONEERS OF COUNTRY MUSIC trading card series. It was distinctly odd to realize I knew of and had music by about fifteen of the forty or so entertainers pictured, as I do not consider myself an expert on the history of American rural music.

In conclusion, if you're a completist or have a specific personal interest in this period of Crumb's work, by all means pick this up. Persons interested in Crumb's work on music will also find this to be a treat. If you're counting your pennies and are interested in an introduction to Crumb's material, consider looking into obtaining Volumes 4, 5, and 6 of the COMPLETE CRUMB series, which contain his breakthrough (and best-known) work from the end of the sixties.