Crumb Audiobook By Dan Nadel cover art

Crumb

A Cartoonist's Life

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Crumb

By: Dan Nadel
Narrated by: Rob Shapiro
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About this listen

The first biography of Robert Crumb—one of the most profound and influential artists of the 20th century—whose iconic, radically frank and meticulously rendered cartoons and comics inspired generations of readers and cartoonists, from Art Spiegelman to Alison Bechdel.

Robert Crumb is often credited with single-handedly transforming the comics medium into a place for adult expression, in the process pioneering the underground comic book industry, and transforming the vernacular language of 20th-century America into an instantly recognizable and popular aesthetic, as iconic as Walt Disney or Charles Schulz. Now, for the first time, Dan Nadel, a curator and writer specializing in comics and art, shares how this complicated artist survived childhood abuse, fame in his twenties, more fame, and came out the other side intact.

More than just a biography of an iconic cartoonist, Crumb is the story of a richly complex life at the forefront of both the underground and popular cultures of post-war America. Crumb spans the pressures of 1950s suburban America and Crumb’s highly dysfunctional early family life; the history of comics and graphic satire; 20th century popular music; the world of the counterculture; the birth of underground comic books in 1960s San Francisco with Crumb’s Zap Comix; the economic challenges and dissolution of the hippie dream; and the path Robert Crumb blazed through it all.

Written with Crumb’s cooperation, this fascinating, rollicking book takes in seven decades of Crumb’s iconic works, including Fritz the Cat, Weirdo, and his final book-length comic of The Book of Genesis; capturing, in the process, the essence of an extraordinary artist and his times.

©2025 Dan Nadel (P)2025 Simon & Schuster Audio
Art Art & Literature Artists, Architects & Photographers Authors Witty
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Eye opening work

If you thought you knew R. Crumb, this book will quickly upend that belief. It’s nicely paced, full of great stories and a beautifully tragic view of the Crumb family. After reading this, there’s no need to seek out any other biography/document on the life & work of Robert Crumb.

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Pekar - PEE-Kar!

The book itself I highly recommend. A humanizing portrait and detailed account of Crumb's career and artistic struggles (as well as the struggles of others with HIM).

But be warned that you will repeatedly hear the narrator refer to American Splendor author (and famous media personality in his own right) Harvey Pekar as "Harvey Pecker."

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2 people found this helpful