R. Crumb, King Of Underground Comics

Fresh Air

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Tv & Film, Arts, Society & Culture, Books

4.4 • 34.4K Ratings

🗓️ 9 May 2025

⏱️ 51 minutes

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Summary

R. Crumb created Zap Comix and such characters as Mr. Natural and Fritz the Cat. His comics were a staple of the 1960s counterculture, and came out of his nightmares, fantasies and fetishes. There was a time when he wanted to censor that part of himself — but then he took LSD. He told Terry Gross about that experience in a 2005 interview. We'll also hear from his wife Aline Kominsky Crumb, who is also a cartoonist.

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1:20.1	David B. and Cooley. R. Crum is the most renowned of the underground cartoonists who emerged in the
1:25.8	1960s. He created Zapp Comics, featuring an
1:29.6	entire menagerie of his characters, such as Fritz the Cat, Mr. Natural, the Snoid, and Devil
1:35.6	Girl. His comics were eccentric, and so was he, as a 1994 documentary by Terry Zweigoff makes
1:43.0	clear.
1:49.1	Crum wrote a memoir in 2005 titled The R Crumb Handbook.
1:53.5	Reviewing the book then in Newsweek, Malcolm Jones wrote, quote,
	...

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