![]() Crumbalsoprovided material to Last Gasp, the final additiontothe underground comic book industry's "Big Four" ofpublishing houses. Natural #1-2 toSan Francisco's new Rip-Off Press, one of whosefounders was Gilbert Shelton, another earlycontributor to Kurtzman's Help! In 1970Crumbvisited Denis Kitchen in Milwaukee WI and gave him HomeGrownFunnies -the all-time best-selling comicfor his Kitchen Sink Press-and later XYZComics ,Snoid, Mr. He provided titles like BigAss,Motor City and Mr. Though Zap wassuccessfullypublished by Berkeley's Print Mint, Crumb wasacutelyaware of his pre-eminence in the quickly mushroomingunderground comix genre and was determined to spreadhis influence around. Snoidand the ubiquitous big-foot image Keep-on-Truckin'. Natural, Flakey Foont, Fritz the Cat, Mr. Though hedid not regard himself to be a "hippie," henonetheless created such '60s and '70s icons such asMr. In1967 he created Zap Comix, personallysellingcopies out of a baby carriage in the Haight-Ashburydistrict during the fabled "Summer of Love." The"underground" comic book became a cult hit, leadingtotwo solo Zap sequels before Crumbcharacteristically began sharing the title's contentand royalties with other Bay area artists. His drawing style and subject matter werepermanently affected by the mind-altering drug. ![]() There,caught up in the burgeoning counter culture, hebeganusing LSD. Kurtzman helped Crumb land oddjobsdrawing trading cards and promotional material forWoody Gelman's Nostalgia Press, but he had nofurtherpractical work for Crumb, having committed to a alongrun on "Little Annie Fanny" for Playboy.Crumbsettled in at American Greeting Cards in Cleveland,cranking out cute illustrations for the mass market.One day in 1966 he walked away from his job andimpulsively accepted a ride to San Francisco. Crumb was in the process of movingto New York to become Kurtzman's new AssistantEditor(replacing future Monty Python member and filmdirector Terry Gilliam) when Help! foldedin1965. ![]() Crumb has said that seeing the WillElder/Jack Davis cover of Humbug #2"changedhis life."īy 1964 Crumb was good enough forKurtzman's latest satire magazine, Help!,contributing early "Fritz the Cat" pages, and astarkdocumentary cartoon view of the streets of Harlem.Impressed, Kurtzman sent the 21 year-old Robert andhis new bride Dana on an unlikely honeymoonassignmentto Bulgaria, resulting in grim images of thebackwardSoviet satellite. An avid andearlycomic book reader, Robert was heavily influenced bythe work of Harvey Kurtzman (creator of MAD),particularly Humbug, a short-livedexperimental satire publication (1957-58) that hepored over. At a certain point in his teens Robertsurpassed his brother's skill level, an event thatpermanently scarred Charles' psyche. His life has been thoroughlydocumented, both by ample numbers of his ownno-holds-barred autobiographical comics and inseveraldocumentaries, including the award-winning CrumbbyTerry Zwigoff.Īs a boy in Milford DE andPhiladelphia he spent countless hours creating homemade comic books, initially under considerablepressure from his domineering older cartoonistbrotherCharles. Hehas increasingly achieved recognition in thehigh-browfine art world, a status denied even famous fellowartists who labor in the traditionally low-browcartooning profession. ![]() ROBERT CRUMB(R.Crumb) (1943-) is the most prominent member of the"underground comix" movement.His comics are distinctive fortheir cross-hatched artistry, idiosyncraticstory-telling and uncompromising subject matter.
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