R Crumb - The Book of Genesis

I got the new Crumb book for Christmas off my brother. I enjoyed it no end, the drawing is brilliant as you would expect. Crumb really doesn't leave anything out (as it says on the cover 'All 50 Chapters') so I must admit I skipped through the many pages of thingy begot thingy, and his sons were... Crumb does a lovely job of making up the hundreds of different faces for these chapters, all individuals, but they are still just lists of names really. He doesn't do anything satirical or change much as he goes along, just kind of illustrates the stories, which are really weird when you re-read them again. I thought his notes at the end were good too, he has done lots of research and has read some interesting ideas about the stranger bits, which don't make much sense when you read them straight from the text.

R Crumb - Hup no. 4

I'm feeling somewhat depressed at the moment, what with the DFC getting cancelled, just heard today that Ted May has stopped doing anymore of his Injury Comic which I always enjoyed due to the new Diamond disribution minimums, and the crappy economy in general, so I thought I'd talk about an old classic by Crumb.

I often forget just how funny Crumb is in his later stuff. In this one he's like a classic comedian on top form with his humour. It's got the headless devil girl story in too (as seen in the film Crumb). All the other stories are really funny and brilliant such as Crumb going to the Academy Awards (see, it's funny already) to cover them for Premiere Magazine, and 'You Can't Have Them All - Magnificent Specimens I Have Seen' (another of his 'Troubles with Women' series). Also you get Crumb's take on religion in 'Can You Stand Alone and Face up to the Universe'. Even the Mr Natural stories are pretty funny in this one and they are my least favourite of Crumb's stories.

Weirdo no. 28 - Edited by Aline Kominsky Crumb

Weirdo no. 28 is the very last issue of Weirdo, it came out a couple of years after no. 27. By now it was edited by Aline Kominsky Crumb and she has some nice pages of her 'Bunch' comics in here. As the Crumb's are living in France there are a lot of French cartoonists in here too, JC Menu (see page above, he is travelling around in America with his now ex wife), Baudoin and Matt Konture. They all do stories about their experiences of America. Crumb has one of his best stories in here 'When the n*****s Take over America' (Dont worry, it is very satirical). Also there are good stories by Phoebe Glockner and Mary Fleener, so it's a very good classic issue.

Weirdo no. 12 - edited by Peter Bagge

Weirdo is still in print isn't it? They are very good though I don't have that many issues. The best thing in this one is the classic Rory Hayes story (page of it above) 'The Keeper of the Mind - Popoff Hayes the Drug Fiend'. It's a great little tale and is the best introduction to Hayes in my opinion. This issue also has some cartooning by Peter Bagge (I've never read much of his stuff for some reason, though I like his drawing a lot) and a cool 80's Crumb story - 'Mode O'Day' about yuppies. 80's Crumb is very interesting to see, it's a lot different than the better known 60's stuff.