R. Crumb's illustrations have appeared on the covers of albums by Big
Brother and the Holding Company, on bootlegged T-shirts, and in several
underground newspapers. He is, however, first and foremost, known as the
father of underground comics and for work that paved the way for both
satirical comics and autobiographical work in the comics medium.
He has been compared favorably to Brueghel, demonized as a misogynist,
defended by feminists, and portrayed as the subject of Crumb, an
award-winning documentary film. Having created such iconic characters as
Mr. Natural, Fritz the Cat, and even himself as part of his cartoon
universe, R. Crumb (b. 1943) is firmly established as one of the most
significant, controversial, and technically gifted cartoonists of the
second half of the twentieth century.
R. Crumb: Conversations collects interviews that span the late 1960s
to the beginning of the twenty-first century. In these Crumb proves to
be iconoclastic, opinionated, and--despite his celebrity--impervious to
the commercial moods of the public.
Crumb appears alternately as neurotic, witty, acerbic, gentlemanly,
cruel, verbose, and reticent. His persona in comics form (as an
unattractive, continually nervous, lecherous, obsessive man) is both
confirmed and challenged by the person who emerges from these
interviews.
Gathered here are interviews and profiles that extend over the various
periods and events in his life and work, including his early days as a
countercultural figure in San Francisco, his verging on a nervous
breakdown after the release of the X-rated film Fritz the Cat, his
editing the groundbreaking comics anthology Weirdo, his move to France
in the 1990s, and the resurgence of his popularity when Crumb was
released.
