The Complete Crumb Comics, Vol 1-16

There are three truly great comic book artists in the world. Two are dead: Carl Barks (who invented Uncle Scrooge, and did a bunch of duck comics for Disney), Jack Kirby (Captain America, Fantastic Four, Thor, Hulk, etc). The third, Robert Crumb, has been drawing comics since he was a little kid, and is still going strong. A lot of creative people get worse as they age (e.g., Charles Schulz, Elvis, Lucille Ball), but Crumb's current work is relevant, insightful, funny, and provocative. (I'm not going to defend or lambaste Robert Crumb for his depictions of women in his comics. Lots of other people already have.)

One of Crumb's strong points is his refusal to compromise. He doesn't do commercial art for anyone. (Toyota once offered him $100,000 to draw an advertisement. He said no. Toyota told him he could draw anything he wanted, anything. Crumb said, OK, I'll draw a picture of a murderer stuffing the headless corpse of a woman into the trunk of a Toyota.) His other strengths are an eye for detail, insight into human behavior, and a love of early 20th century American history, particularly musicians and craftsmen of all kinds. Crumb loves old music, old architecture, and old kitchen appliances almost as much as he hates modern American culture. (In 1995, Crumb moved with his family to a village in France.)

The Complete Crumb Comics, which is now in its 16th volume, is a chronological anthology of everything ever published by Crumb, including comics that he drew as a kid with his brother, and cards he drew for American Greetings before he created Zap (arguably the world's first underground comic). Each volume has new cover art as well as lots of interesting biographical material, occasionally pennned by Crumb himself. Even if you've seen Terry Zwigoff's Oscar winning documentary, Crumb, there's a lot more to learn about the artist in this anthology. But the best thing about The Complete Crumb Comics, of course, is the comics themselves. Crumb is a master storyteller. There are times when I've been disturbed by his work, I've never been bored, and I always come away from his work feeling like I understand a something new about human nature.

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