I am going to cover the dreamweavers, the masterminds behind this all, and highlight some select works of theirs. The writers and artists behind comics, behind cartoons etc. I truely want GW to be a better place for discussing comics (includes all countries of origin) and cartoons(likewise... anime are still cartoons and don't you forget it buster!) and such. Hopefully by reading this you might download the recommended reads .
Today we're gunna look at a man who changed the comic landscape, and strode out against the trend of comics at that time.
ROBERT CRUMB
Why him?
Robert Crumb is the founder of the underground comix movement and one of the few americans at that time to realise the potential for comics as an art that could be used for expressing a point. By using overtely sexual themes in his comics, he was going against the grain of the market comics and the then newly created comics code authority, which ensured him being kept out of the mainstream. Rober Crumb pokes at the pretenses towards sex, sexuality, and the absurd ways of life we lead, and hide. His comics can be seen at a look of human nature at it's most basic. His artwork lifted from early 1900's-30's illustrations creates a nice well drawn look to his comics, which contrasts against the linge claire art style which had become the comic standard (indeed check out next time for a feature on the master of linge claire art). Robert Crumb indeed became one of the few comic creators to become a leading name, a powerful voice and a total visionary.
Recommended reading
Motor city comics
Fritz the cat
Zap
Weirdo (think "Raw mgazine")
Career
His first comics were created in his childhood, with his brother. Robert Crumb carried on despite it's little success(none). Crumb would move to Ohio, where he would illustrate greetings cards, it's here that he would meet Harvey Kurtzman, whose Help! magazine would serve as the birth of Fritz the cat. Fritz the cat is the antithesis of the old comic staple, anthromorphic cats. Fritz the cat is a confident womaniser (attributes Crumb himself lacked), with a strange fixation with his sister (indeed the first Fritz the cat comic I've read featured him returning home, going swimming with his sister and then having sex).
Crumb would then go onto create Zap, a counter culture underground comics magazine, steeped in satire. Many of his characters (such as Fritz the cat) would become icons in their own right, indeed Robert Crumb himself would be seen as the leading figure in the underground comix movement. As Robert Crumb found friends, and a life thanks to his comics, Fritz became more of a parody of contemporary life and culture than a vent for Crumb's frustrations. The success of Fritz the cat would inspire a movie based on the character. The "Quality" of the movie would cause Robert Crumb to kill off the character in 1972. Legal and financial troubles arove in the 70's, and Crumb continued to work, this time with another underground comix magazine known as weirdo. A magazine focused heavily in anti-establishment and counter-culture.
Crumb stopped working on Zap comix in 2000, it is now reached it's 16th issue.
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WHO #3-ROBERT CRUMB