Argue with me until you're hopping mad. You won't change my mind that Robert Crumb is the greatest living American artist. And this anthology of his comic book stories from Weirdo, the magazine that he founded in 1981 (only 13 years after creating Zap the title that launched the underground comic book revolution), contains some of Crumb's finest work. Not only does Crumb plumb deeper than ever into the depths of his neurotic soul, he also lays bare the behavior of modern society with a keen eye and a bittersweet sense of humor. Most interesting to me are Crumb's comic book versions of old books, such as Psychopathis Sexualis, and science fiction author Philip K Dick's bizarre religious experience (which Dick described as a "vision of the apocalypse.")
Crumb's output seems to have slowed to a trickle in recent years, which is alarming to a fan like me. Fortunately, Crumb's work is usually so rich and dimensional that it can stand up to repeated readings, which I have done over the years.
R. Crumb: The Weirdo Years includes not only every comic book story that he wrote and drew for Weirdo, it also includes all 28 covers he illustrated. If you already are familiar with's Crumb's comics, this is a convenient way to reread all of his Weirdo stories. If you don't know Crumb, this is probably the best introduction to his work.
See sample interior pages at Wink
