R. Crumb: Existential Comics - by R Crumb (Hardcover)

Book Synopsis

This volume brings together twenty-five of R. Crumb's most ambitious, acclaimed, and profound comics.

One of the most influential and iconic cartoonists of our time, R. Crumb is celebrated for pushing the boundaries of representation, mass consumerism, and polite society. The comics in this volume exemplify Crumb's creative output over twenty-five years following his early experimentation in the 1960s and 1970s.

The comics collected here depict characters searching for an understanding of the world around and within themselves. Through adaptation, autobiography, biography, and short fiction, Crumb--much like his subjects--demands we pay attention to our darkest desires, compulsions, fears, and obsessions. Existential Comics also features a new, introductory comic strip by Crumb, reflecting on his practice in the context of this volume.

Editor Dan Nadel's essay further weaves together Crumb's life, career, and influences, delving into the creative environment that informed some of the artist's most outstanding comics.

About the Author

Instrumental in the formation of the underground comics scene in the 1960s and 1970s, R. Crumb (b. 1943) has helped challenge and expand the boundaries of the graphic arts and redefined comics and cartoons as countercultural art forms. Widely circulated and celebrated, Crumb's published imagery, such as his comic strips Fritz the Cat, Mr. Natural, and Keep on Truckin', offers a mordant satirical critique of modern society.

Dan Nadel is the author of the forthcoming book Crumb: A Cartoonist's Life (April 2025). His previous books include It's Life as I See It: Black Cartoonists in Chicago (2021), Peter Saul: Professional Artist Correspondence (2020), and Art Out of Time: Unknown Comic Visionaries (2006). Nadel has curated exhibitions for galleries and museums internationally, including the Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago, the Manetti Shrem Museum of Art, UC Davis, and the Whitney Museum of American Art. He is the founder of PictureBox, a publishing and packaging company that produced more than one hundred books, objects, and zines, including the Grammy Award-winning design for Wilco's 2004 album A Ghost Is Born. Nadel is the curator-at-large for the Lucas Museum of Narrative Art, in Los Angeles.