202 / Crumb and Cheap Thrills
O.k. I'm coming out now, after all these years. Here goes: I'm a Crumb fan from way back.
With all the press he's getting - coming to Sydney, not coming to Sydney - I embarked on a nostalgic journey back into the sixties / seventies. Fritz the Cat anyone? Mr Natural? I use to have that album Cheap Thrills from Big Brother & the Holding Company with Janis Joplin ... the one where he says: "The record company paid me 600 bucks and then stole my artwork. Later on it was sold for $21,000" … probably that's when he developed his fourth chakra: Depression, Bitterness, Morbidity, Self-pity, Despair.
And when you look at his drawings of the ideal woman, the 'True Amzon', it helps to know he idealizes Serena Williams; says the self confessed very eccentric, oddball weirdo: "… she's my dream girl. I always look for pictures of her in magazines …"
And how about Comic-Mom? That's so true for me too. Keep on Truckin', man. Oops, sorry, couldn't resist (he hates having that thrown at him.) Here's a Mr. Natural comic.
Update:
Robert Crumb's open letter to Sydney: Why I can't come. This is very sobering reading; Sydney, be ashamed, very ashamed.