The Life and Times of R. Crumb: Comments from Contemporaries

by Monte Beauchamp (Editor), Matt Groening (Introduction)

Enhanced by his illustrations, the life of the underground comix artist is celebrated through a collection of contributions from some of today's well-known filmmakers, film critics, publishers, and writers, accompanied by R. Crumb's distinctive artwork. Original. 35,000 first printing.

Genres: Biography, Comics, Nonfiction, Humor, Memoir, History

182 pages, Paperback

First published November 1, 1998

Reviews

[Still · Rating 5 out of 5]

Finished the final entry in this collecion of various artists & writers offering their opinions on the character, artwork and writing of Robert Crumb.
I've been a fan of R. Crumb since I was in my late teens.

I recently watched the Criterion blu-ray edition of Terry Zwigoff's remarkable documentary CRUMB with over an hour of extra material including previously deleted scenes.
Actually watched it twice.

I was inspired to purchase this nifty little tome after consuming that film for the 2nd time in three days.

This book contains an interview with Zwigoff conducted by Roger Ebert which is quite revealing and contains a couple of juicy little nuggets regarding R. Crumb's family not shown in the documentary.

Other luminaries such as Jim Jarmusch, Will Eisner, Drew Friedman, Alan Moore, Paul Krassner, Terry Gilliam and a host of Underground Comix greats including Spain Rodgriguez, S. Clay Wilson, Kim Deitch, and Bill Griffith contribute short chapters.
All of these celebrities and cult heroes lend testament to the genius of R. Crumb and provide short, thumbnail histories of the entire Underground Comix movement.

If you were ever a collector of titles like Zap Comix, Arcade The Comics Revue, or Weirdo you'll cherish every chapter of this slim little paperback.
If you still own your collections of those comix it will inspire you to pull them out from wherever you've stored them and enjoy them all again and with a different perspective.

[Greg L Goldstein · Rating 4 out of 5]

A delightful book that would benefit from a modern edition with a thorough update. (Originally published in 1998.) Cartoonists, filmmakers, critics, et al, offer their opinions and experiences on the transgressive and transformative cartoonist who essentially launched the underground (nee alternative) comics movement.

Artists being artists of course, a few of the essays are extremely self congratulatory, with the Crumb experience a side note. Those pieces made me chuckle out loud. (Your results may vary.)

Out of print, but readily availble from the usual on-line suspects.

[Shane · Rating 3 out of 5]

I haven't actually read any Crumb comics, but I did see a documentary many years ago and he sounded like a pretty interesting character. This was pretty good, a little repetitious at times, but it gave a pretty good picture of how everything went down back then. It also gave more insight into what Crumb was all about.

[Corey · Rating 4 out of 5]

Inspiring.