69. Crumb Books You Don't "Need"

As far as we know, none of these books contain new material (except perhaps the covers).

postcards

This one's in The Complete Comics
 

trading cards

This cover is in the Complete Crumb Comics Vol. 17

myriad foreign language compilations of Crumb's work

68. Drawn Together (2)

Liveright Publishing, 2012 
hardcover

drawing (w/ Sophie)
Introduction by A. & R. Crumb
Dirty Laundry # 1 (cover) (in color)
Let's Have a Little Talk
Funtime Funnies
Dirty Laundry # 2 (cover) (in color)
First a Few Words From the Artists
Their Cute L'il Life Together
Bunch's Tips on Housework and Exersize (in color)
Turnabout's Fair Play (in color)
Aline & Bob Go to the Whole Earth Jamboree
Everyday Funnies (11x)
That Thing in the Back Bedroom
The Crumb Family (12x)
More Good Clean Fun With the Crumb Family
Troubles With Cute Old Refrigerators
Our Lovely Home
The Complete Dirty Laundry Comics (cover) (in color)
Euro Dirty Laundry / Merci au Revoir (w/ Sophie Crumb)
Self Loathing Comics # 1 (Robert cover) (in color)
Epismetizin' on the Puppitudes
A Day in the Life [just Robert]
Self Loathing Comics # 1 (Aline cover) (in color)
A Day in the Life of Aline Kominsky-Crumb [just Aline]
Self Loathing Comics # 2 (cover) (in color)
A Couple A' Nasty, Raunchy Old Things 
  (w/ Peter Poplaski, Art Spiegelman & Charles Burns)
Aline, Bob 'n' Soph (w/ Sophie Crumb) (in color)
Head For The Hills! Trying to Escape the "R. Crumb Thing"
A Day in Our Beautiful Life
Fashion Week in New York or Glamour and Free Lint Removers (in color)
Creeping Global Vision (in color)
Harvey and Me or Aline & Bob Do the 57th Annual Cannes Film Festival
On Human Depravity or Me and George (in color)
Saving Face (in color)
Walkin' in a Winta Wunda Land (in color)
A Love Story 35 Years in the Harnass Together
Our Beloved Tape Dispenser (in color)
Don't Talk with Your Mouth Full (w/ Sophie Crumb) (in color)
High Road to the Shmuck Seat / Dinner With Slacky
drawings of Aline by Robert:
Cynthia Steffe Dress (also in The Sweeter Side of R. Crumb)
Marc Jacobs Dress with Stuart Weitzman Shoes (in color) 
 (also in The Sweeter Side of R. Crumb)
Narciso Rodriguez Dress
D & G Dress (also in The Sweeter Side of R. Crumb)
Douglas Hannant Dress with Manolo Blahnik shoes
Vivienne Tam Outfit with Gucci Shoes (in color)

All strips/drawing by Robert & Aline "The Bunch" Kominsky-Crumb, unless otherwise indicated.

We here at the Crumbpendium are very fond of Aline. Doesn't she look cute here?

 

This one is NOT in this book, folks.

But like many people, when the first Dirty Laundrys appeared, we weren't so sure about Aline's art. But over the years she has shown a marked improvement, and we have come to adore her comics.

A Couple A' Nasty, Raunchy Old Things, Creeping Global Vision, Aline & Bob Do the 57th Annual Cannes Film Festival, Saving Face and Our Beloved Tape Dispenser are simply fabulous. Do not miss Don't Talk With Your Mouth Full, a story about a trip to a Crumb family reunion.

The drawings of Aline at the end have appeared in other books, as did the drawing at the very beginning. There is no Table of Contents in this book, nor references to where the strips first appeared.

Vivienne Tam Outfit with Gucci Shoes

You may want Aline's own Love That Bunch...

67. Mystic Funnies # 3

Fantagraphics, 2002

Notice how the cover price keeps dropping with each successive new publisher.

The Opening Shot with Stan Shnooter

The Hipman

Don't Tempt Fate

Super Duck

Mr. Natural & Flakey Foont in Don't Fuck With Him

Cradle to Grave (in color)

More great stuff, so find this one too! The autobiographical Don't Tempt Fate is a must-read. The (dare we say it?) Disneyesque Super Duck is disgusting and fabulous. Despite the cover, Flakey Foont is hardly in this one at all.

66. Mystic Funnies # 2

Last Gasp, 1999

Bad Karma

Mr. Natural & Flakey Foont in The World and Its Ways (in color)

This one is back to black-and-white. The entire issue is taken up with the astounding Bad Karma.

Apparently still available to order from Fantagraphics.

65. Mystic Funnies # 1

Alex Wood, 1997

This one's all in color, folks! It's good. Get ahold of it somewhere!

Mr. Natural & Flakey Foont in Thinkin' about Death 'n' Stuff

Mr. Natural & Flakey Foont in Who Are You?

Mr. Natural & Flakey Foont in Look and See

A Highly Spiritual Discussion Between Flakey Foont
      and Shuman the Human

Mr. Natural & Flakey Foont in Ah Yes, So It Goes

Mr. Natural & Flakey Foont in Big Man

Mr. Natural & The Gang in Omen in the Gloamin'

Mr. Natural & Flakey Foont in The Saints

Mr. Natural in I Don't Get It

64. HUP # 4

Last Gasp Eco-Funnies, 1992

R. Makes No Apologies! No Siree Bob!

Mr. Natural On The Banks of That Silver Stream

Can You Stand Alone and Face Up to The Universe?

Mr. Natural

R. Crumb "The Old Outsider" Goes to the Academy Awards

Mr. Natural in Distractions Distractions!!

You Can't Have Them All - Magnificent Specimens I Have Seen

letters to HUP
Mr. Natural & Flakey Foont in A Bitchin' Bod!

R. Crumb Dartboard (in color)

Hup. Yep. Hoo Ha. It's all goooood! A Bitchin' Bod features Devil Girl. ...Goes to the Academy Awards is also in The Complete Comics Vol. 17.

63. HUP # 3

Last Gasp Eco-Funnies, 1989

Yes, HUP #3 could have been included in the Complete Comics as well (in theory).

Let's Give a Warm Welcome to...Stan-the-Man-Shnooter!

The Story o' My Life

Nausea

Point The Finger

letters to HUP

Mr. Natural in He's a Natural Man

Flakey Foont and Devil Girl also appear in the last strip. It's all thin-line style by now of course, but it's all good stuff.

61. HUP # 2

Last Gasp Eco-Funnies, 1987

Sure, they could have put this one into the Complete Comics too. More good stuff you need!

Stan Shnooter Talks About This Issue of Hup

The Mighty Power Fems vs. The Horrible Homunculi

If I Were a King

The Meeting (last page in color)

The Meeting is a Flakey Foont, Mr. Natural & Devil Girl story.

60. HUP # 1

Last Gasp Eco-Funnies, 1987 
 

Although HUP #1 was published within the date range of The Complete Comics, it was not included there. Note the extra white space at the top where some kind of lettering was supposed to go.

An Important Message From Mr. "Hup" Himself...Stan Shnooter!

The Ruff-Tuff Creampuffs Take Charge!

Uh-Oh! He's Back! Who's Back? You'll Find Out!

My Troubles With Women Part II

Here He Comes Again!

Don't Worry About It! 

The Ruff-Tuff Creampuffs Take Charge! and My Troubles With Women Part II are simply fantastic. Uh-Oh! He's Back! and Here He Comes Again! are Mr. Natural / Flakey Foont strips (the latter featuring Devil Girl).

59. {R. Crumb's Sex Obsessions} 2

Well folks, we promised you a list of the contents of Taschen's  
R. Crumb's Sex Obsessions, so here it is.

1. The Id (drawing)

2. R. Crumb on Devil Girl's lap (title page) (drawing)

3. Girl Drowning in Her Own Sensuality (drawing)

4. Shuman-like Humans climbing on a girl (drawing)

5. Introduction by R. Crumb
6. The Snoid Goes Bohemian (Snoid Comics)
7. Adam & Eve
8. "Dahling whata you -- (drawing, ID # 2)
9. "Don't Try to Be Witty...or Clever..." (drawing, ID # 2, Complete Comics 17)
10. Yeah Yeah Yeah (drawing)
11. What's His Problem? (drawing *)
12. My Troubles With Women, Part II (HUP # 1)
13. From My Secret Life (drawing)
14. If I Were King... (This is Boring) (drawing, ID # 1)
15. Mr. Snoid in "Boop-Oop-A-Doop!" (drawing)
16. Shameless Comics (drawing)
17. They're Like Us and Yet They're Not Like Us (drawing)
18. Overheated Imagination (drawing)
19. The Mighty Power Fems (HUP # 2)

20. "Lord, I Haven't Been Such a Good Man" (drawing, ID # 1 **)
21. If I Were a King...("Tee Hee Hee Hee Hee") (drawing, ID # 1)
22. Big Sad Eyes... (drawing, ID # 2)
23. Kitchy Kitchy (drawing)
24. "Do Your Worst," She Said... (drawing)
25. Aw, Poor Baby! (drawing)
26. Big Healthy Girl Enjoys Deep Penetration From the Rear (drawing)
27. If I Were a King (HUP # 2)
28. Oh Bear Me Away (drawings)
29. The Psycho-Sexual Factor (drawing)
30. Lela! (drawing)
31. View of the Amazon Looking From Underneath (drawing)
32. The Female Body (drawing)
33. Aline's Dream (drawing)
34. The Ride's Over (drawing)
35. The Meeting (HUP # 2)
36. We Went For a Hike in the Country (drawing)
37. I Used to Have This Girlfriend (drawing)
38. Human Sexuality is So Complicated! (drawing)
39. Devil Girl in a State (drawings, ID # 2)
40. The Story o' My Life (HUP # 3)
41. "Memories Are Made of This"(Weirdo # 22)
42. Club Zayante (drawing)
43. The Amazing Dian Hanson (drawing, Art & Beauty # 1)
44. So How About Dian Hanson's Abdominal Muscles! (drawing)
45. The Curse of the Fetish Obsession (drawing)
46. "Not a Word More Was Said..." (drawing)
47. Mr. Defective (drawing, ID # 3)
48. He's a Natural Man (HUP # 3)
49. Championship Wrestling (ID # 3)
50. A Bitchin' Bod (HUP # 4)
51. When I Was Young I Was Quite Romantic (drawing)
52. Divine Sources of Female Power
53. Ol' Picasso (drawing, ID # 1)
54. The Harmless Nut (drawing)
55. Unspeakably Obscene Thoughts (drawing)
56. Barnyard Comics (drawing)
57. You Can't Have Them All (HUP # 4)
58. The Helicopter Girl (drawings)
59. Dream of Dian Hanson (drawings)
60. Patricia Pig's Eating Disorder (drawing)
61. "My Little Pony" (drawing)
62. Naked Women Magazine (drawing)
63. Giant Paleolithic Hunter-Warrior Women (drawing)
64. Bad Karma (Mystic Funnies # 2)
65. How to Have Fun With a Strong Girl
66. Super Duck (Mystic Funnies # 3)
67. San Francisco, 1973 (drawings)
68. San Francisco, 1973 -- She Looked Up (drawing)
69. Yes, It's All True (drawing)
70. Is Crumb a Bum? (Essay by 'A Woman')
71. I Was Raised to Be a Christian (drawing)

(original b/w, here in color)
* A cropped version of this drawing appeared in ID # 2.
** In ID # 1 this was called Put Yourself on the Line.
(If it's not marked "drawing", it's a strip.)

R. Crumb's Sex Obsessions Post 1 (link)

58. {R. Crumb's Sex Obsessions} 1

Well folks, here you have R. CRUMB'S SEX OBSESSIONS, another ridicuously expensive book from Taschen (€ 750). A book you probably don't need, because it is almost all repeat material, and it doesn't come cheap. Oh, it's a nice book. VERY nice. But we ask ourselves (and Taschen) is it worth the price??

258 pages, limited edition of 1000 signed & numbered copies, in slipcase, with a print. The only reason that we here at the Crumbpendium can tell you anything about this book at all is because we got a brand new copy at half price. 

Taschen webpage

The book comes with a numbered (not signed), stamped (with a seal) print:

"I Was Raised to be a Christian"
The print that comes with the book 

(frame not included)

You would think that you could not live without a book called R. Crumb's Sex Obsessions, but somehow, you can. We're not saying the book isn't good, it is. It's just not great. Which is disappointing. It should be GREAT. Especially for the money it costs!

Why isn't it great? 
In a nutshell: because there is no old material at all (the oldest is from 1980), and because some of the strips chosen contain long passages without any sex. Many sexy Crumb things that one would expect to find here are absent. Much of his greatest sex stuff is from the old days -- it's just a fact. So to publish a compilation like this and ignore some of Crumb's greatest work...it just seems weird. WE would have done it differently.

At first we thought editor Dian Hanson was to blame, especially in light of the fact that 4 pix of her are included, almost conspicuously. But according to the Taschen website, Crumb chose the contents himself. Perhaps his current taste in women (the new-school Crumb girl) has caused him to forget the former glory of his older strips. Nothing here from Big Ass, or Zap, or Snatch, or any of the old classics. It's almost all new-school Crumb girls. Even the Vulture Demonesses are new-school.

So what's in this book anyway? 

In theory, sex-related Crumb strips & drawings that we have already seen, this time around many of them (but not all) in color. There are a few pictures we don't seem to have anywhere else; they probably come from Crumb's sketchbooks and in all likelihood are included in the Taschen Sketchbooks.

Okay, but what's in this book exactly? 
You will find the answer to that in the NEXT POST, when we publish a list of the entire contents, including the stuff not listed in the Table of Contents.

Contents of R Crumb's Sex Obsessions

(link)

57. {R. Crumb de l'underground à la Genèse}

You don't need the book R. Crumb de l'underground à la Genèse, per se. But you do want it. Having said that, on p. 53 is a color reproduction of a fat-faced redhead girl, the cover of Arcade # 13, July 1961 "Another hot summer edition". This picture does not seem to appear anywhere else that we know of. (See bottom of this page.)
So if you are a 100% completist fiend, you do need this book.)

This book is the catalog from an exhibit of Crumb's work at the Musée d'Art moderne de la Ville de Paris in France, April 13 - August 19, 2012. The cover is a fold-out poster of a drawing from Sketchbook Vol. 4 (Fantagraphics).

It is an extremely nice book and well worth having, although most of the images you will have seen before. It reproduces several sketchbook pages that you will already have, but there are a great many examples of the original artwork for many drawings and strips. For example, you get many Weirdo covers in their original black-and-white- states. The same for Head Comix, Hup #1 several of the Complete Comics and many more. All of it is quite interesting, actually.

You also get the original art for one of our personal favorites, "Hippy Hexing Teenage Girl to the Horror of Her Parents", used for the cover of San Francisco Comic Book # 3:

p. 103

(The parents are on p. 102.)

There are also several photos of Crumb and the family in the book. Lots of cool stuff here, so get this book now, before it's too late. The price has already tripled!

Arcade # 13

(from the James Halperin Collection)

56. * You've got it all ! *

Congratulations! 

Aline & Robert Crumb

That's it!
You've got it all! 
You're done! 
No more R. Crumb to collect!

Yeah, right. You wish!

First of all, although his output has slowed in recent years, ol' R. is still producing artwork. So you can't possibly have it all, can you?

Plus there's a lot of stuff floating around out there still. Maybe the Crumb Compendium (Carl Richter) can nail it all down for us, we'll have to wait and see.

found on the Internet

What about this "unknown" sketchbook, auctioned off at an art gallery a few years ago?

Plus there's all those ultra-expensive Sketchbooks (Taschen). What's in those, we wonder?

But let's put it this way: 
The Crumb Compendium list of the available works of the great Robert Crumb is now complete. 
We will continue to update as needed.

Here's the short list:

1. The Complete Crumb Comics vols. 1-17
2. The R. Crumb Sketchbooks vols. 1-10 (Fantagraphics)
3. Waiting For Food 1-4
4. The Book of Genesis
5. Kafka
6. The Yum Yum Book
7. Odds & Ends
8. The Complete Record Cover Collection
9. The Sweeter Side of R. Crumb
10. Gotta Have 'Em
11. Drawn Together (w/ Aline Crumb and others)
12. Art & Beauty magazine 1-2
13. HUP 1-4
14. Mystic Funnies 1-3
15. ID 1-3

16. Mineshaft magazine
17. The R. Crumb Handbook (w/ Peter Poplaski)
18. The Crumb Compendium (Carl Richter)
19. The R. Crumb Sketchbooks vols. 1-7 (Zweitausendeins)
20. Your Vigor For Life Appalls Me

21. R. Crumb de la underground à la Genèse
22. Crumb - the movie (DVD)
23. R. Crumb Sketchbooks vols. 7-12 (Taschen)

 

55. Mystic Funnies

More comix you need: Mystic Funnies 1 - 3. All post-Complete Comics.

It's all great. Kinda weird to see Flakey Foont getting older. (Mr. Natural is of course ageless and timeless, ha ha.) Complete list of contents to follow in a later post.

54. The Crumb Girl 1

There seem to be 3 distinct periods and types of "Robert Crumb Girl". We here at the Crumbpendium refer to them as old-old-school, old-school and new-school girls. Perhaps this will help you understand what we mean:

Speaking in generalities: 

The old-old-school Crumb girl (Guntra, Mabel) is softer, plumper, prettier, with a fatter body. 

The old-school Crumb girl (Asper Oggus, Honey Bunch) is cooler, sexier, hipper, with the classic Crumb-preferred body. 

The new-school Crumb girl (Devil Girl, Bigfoot) is harsher, sterner, and less attractive (in our opinion); the classic Crumb bod but even tighter and more athletic.

Beauty is in the eye of the beholder.

53. R. Crumb Sketchbook Volume 10 (Fantagraphics)

June 1975 - February 1977 

the hardcover edition

The last volume in the series, and in some ways, the best. The hardcover edition is printed on glossy paper, which is nice. The whole thing seems like one complete unit, a real book unto itself, not "just" a sketchbook. By now Crumb is fully aware that his mere sketches, too, are indeed "art".

Mostly thick-line style in this one. Loads of actual cartoons and Crumb's written comments. Many pictures of Aline. Several of these pages end up in Gotta Have 'Em. Old-school and new-school Crumb girls together. There is some REALLY great stuff here.

At the moment of this writing, the Fantagraphics website says a reprint of this volume (hardcover or softcover) is available to order, and for an extra $ 30 US "with Signed Bookplate Option".

Although their current cover seems to be purple...

52. R. Crumb Sketchbook Volume 9 (Fantagraphics)

October 1972 - June 1975

the hardcover edition

Mostly thick-line style in this one. Crumb seems to be becoming more self-conscious of his sketches. Lots of pictures of Aline and Crumb's other girlfriends. Some really great stuff here.

At the moment of this writing, the Fantagraphics website says a reprint of this volume (hardcover or softcover) is available to order, and for an extra $ 30 US "with Signed Bookplate Option".

51. R. Crumb Sketchbook Volume 8 (Fantagraphics)

Fall 1970 - fall 1972

Lots of thin-line style, some thick-line style, lots and lots of old-school Crumb girls. Another essential volume. Lots more sex, more sexual weirdness, more stuff that ends up in later comix, lots and lots of women.

50. R. Crumb Sketchbook Volume 7 (Fantagraphics)

Mid 1969 - end of 1970

Lots of thick-line style, some thin-line style, lots and lots of old-school Crumb girls! Another fabulous volume. Lots more sex, more sexual weirdness, more stuff that ends up in later comix, lots of women.

At the moment of this writing, the Fantagraphics website says a reprint of this volume (softcover) is available to order, and for an extra $ 30 US "with Signed Bookplate Option".

49. R. Crumb Sketchbook Volume 6 (Fantagraphics)

Mid 1968 - mid 1969
 

Thin-line style, thick-line style, old-school Crumb girls! It's all here. Another great volume. Some hippy stuff, more sex, more sexual weirdness, more stuff that ends up in later comix (sometimes YEARS later), a few drawings that also end up in other books.

At the moment of this writing, the Fantagraphics website says a reprint of this volume (hardcover or softcover) is available to order, and for an extra $ 30 US "with Signed Bookplate Option".

 

48. R. Crumb Sketchbook Volume 5 (Fantagraphics)

Late 1967 - early 1968

Thin-line style, thick-line style, old-school Crumb girls! It's all here. Another great volume. Some hippy stuff, a hint of sexual weirdness, Fritz the Cat, stuff that ends up in later comix, stuff from Detroit.

At the moment of this writing, the Fantagraphics website says a reprint of this volume (hardcover or softcover) is available to order, and for an extra $ 30 US "with Signed Bookplate Option".