15 years in the making…

by John M. Ellison IV

To paraphrase the words of the “Don Mega” Ice Cube, October 27th 2009 was a good day. Literally a week before this day, I was checking my Facebook page and I noticed a banner ad for R. Crumb. I’m thinking it was odd because well. I didn’t type anything in reference to R. Crumb so it wasn‘t an AdSense kind of deal. To those who aren’t aware, R. Crumb is the penname of pioneering underground cartoonist Robert Crumb. I looked closer at the ad and the ad said “R. Crumb RVA.” When I saw the letters, “RVA” I thought “Richmond, Virginia? Nah, it couldn’t be…could it?” After clicking on the link, it was confirmed that RVA did stand for Richmond, Virginia! This tour isn’t just a goodwill appearance for Robert; this is a promo tour for his new project “R. Crumb’s The Book of Genesis.” No, seriously…he actually drew the first 50 chapters of Genesis verbatim. But like most of Robert’s work, controversy has followed it. There have been Christian groups and irate readers of the New Yorker who published an excerpt from the project. I’m in the midst of reading “R. Crumb’s The Book of Genesis” and this isn’t the usual R. Crumb fair. This is literally, a direct illustration of the first 50 chapters of Genesis. To say I was elated with this would be an understatement. Let me explain how important this is to me. When I was around 8, I started reading comics and by 10 years old, I was a comic book fiend and a budding comic book artist as well. I loved the traditional super hero comic books a la Marvel and D.C.; I created my own characters, drew my own epic superhero battles etc. But this wasn’t the usual kid hobby of drawing; I wanted more out of this interest. I wanted to be the first black published comic book artists and creator under the age of 18. But, that’s another story for another time. I could safely say that when we’re younger, we have people we look up to. Whether it’s a sports star, rapper, a coach…mine weren’t any of those. When kids said, “I want to be like Mike” I said I want to be like the dude who drew this comic! Around 1994-1995, I got this hardback book on the history of comic books. It featured comics from the 1800s to the 1980’s. I found this section on underground comic books or “comix” as they called them. I read about the great works of Gilbert Shelton, Frank Stack, S. Clay Wilson, Victor Moscoso, but one name stood out to me. R. Crumb. I saw a drawing of Robert at his drawing table with his popular character “The Snoid” jumping out of the page, it drew me in. This wasn’t like the Jack Kirby and Jim Steranko silver age comics that I tried to imitate; this was something that spoke to me on a personal level. His comics reminded me of old cartoons with a sleazier edge. I read the mini-bio on Robert and I was very intrigued by this guy with coke bottle glasses and a cheap suit. Weeks passed and I couldn’t shake my interest in this mysterious artist. Then, by happenstance as I was flipping through the Washington Post to the comics section, I found an article in the style section about R. Crumb and this documentary done on him called “Crumb.” Having supportive parents, they noticed my interests and did the best they could to find information of this iconoclast of their heyday. They knew of Robert’s work from back in the 70’s. For those who aren’t aware of underground comics, you know that these comics weren’t made for kids. But luckily I convinced them that I was different, I was a budding cartoonist and they saw the artistic merit that were in the comics and how they could influence my work.

Aside from R. Crumb, I looked into the works of S. Clay Wilson, Bill Griffith (I met him at Small Press Expo back in 2000) and his comic strip Zippy the Pinhead, Gilbert Sheldon and The Fabulous Furry Freak Brothers. When I immersed myself in underground comic book counter culture, I slowly started to drift out of the superhero comics that I would usually draw and focused my ideas into something more subversive. Being barely in double digits, (like around 10 I guess) I knew my voice was squeaky and limited. But with these comics, a world of freedom of speech was a possibility. I filled sketchbook after sketchbook with crazy cartoon characters that reflected the world that I saw.

Whenever I felt lost artistically, I would just scratch through issues #1 and #0 of “Zap Comix” and keep drawing. In 1996, I found out that Crumb was released on home video. This movie wasn’t exactly a walk in the park to find. But, on Christmas day, I noticed a VHS box and from looked like a blank cassette, but further examination, I realized that there was a label on it and it said “Crumb.” I nearly passed out from excitement. Now October 2009, I’m 25 years old and I got the chance to see an interview. My mom, who was and still is an ardent supporter of my work booked two tickets so the missus and I could cover this event for my blog. But due to circumstances regarding a backlog of homework being due midnight (and Richmond being 2 hours away) the missus couldn’t make it. So, my mom and I headed out to cover this.
“Dude…You brought your mom to cover an event about R. Crumb? What’s next bringing granny to a John Waters/Russ Meyers retrospective?” Well, in this case, why would this be so shocking? My mom was the one who helped me find these comics in the first place. So, we headed out to Richmond, VA and found the Centerstage. The Centerstage is a new theater that was just recently built as of September, so it had that new theater ambiance that I felt. Surprisingly, the theater was full. There might have been only 10 vacant seats. Then, the man of the hour, R. Crumb walked onstage. It was him! He had the same coke bottle glasses, the cheap suit and charmingly awkward cartooning pioneer…well now with a white beard. Him being in his mid-60s, he kind of looked like a composite of his creations Flakey Foont and Mr. Natural. Everything was going smooth…until he fell ass over tea kettle onstage. But, he was fine. When he got up, they applauded him. Here are some highlights from the evening.

It was Aline’s (his wife of 35 years) idea to move to France. R. Crumb mostly stays in and reads and works on comics. Also, Aline has a fitness studio in France that she teaches aerobics in and is slowly turning the women of village they live in into Amazonians as Robert put it.

R. Crumb is a grandfather now. Sophie (the daughter of Aline and Robert Crumb) is now a mother at 28 years old.

Robert made an entire audience cringe regarding his comic “Don’t Touch Me” that was featured in Snatch Comics by saying “I think most guys have a rape fantasy…” Yeah, talk about awkward. But, he brushed it off by playfully saying “moving along…” with a huge laughter from the crowd.

He was baffled by one of his covers for Weirdo magazine by going “What the fuck is that?”

He spoke of his work with the New Yorker and the covers he did for them.

Mentioned that former collaborator S. Clay Wilson is now brain damaged after a drunken fall.

The popular Robert Johnson postage stamp was actually Robert’s drawing…but they took the cigarette out.

He does listen to CDs of his favorite genres of music if he can’t get the 78.

Although music is influential on his style…he works in total silence when he’s working on a comic.

During the question and answer segment, someone asked if he was going to draw the Torah or Qur’an. With an emphatic no and laughter from the audience, he said basically that the books were too old and they have been translated so much that it would be almost impossible to do that.

Then, a young black girl with braids and basically Crumb’s body type asked about his first LSD experience. After Robert’s first acid trip, he didn’t see the world the same. He saw it as a “cardboard farce.” Interesting enough, the trip was odd for Dana as well. During this psychedelic experience, Robert and Dana were tripping so hard that he vomited on her. She didn’t realize it was vomit and thought she was being reborn. He quit doing acid after that. He smoked a lot of pot daily for years afterwards, but quit in the late 70’s. He more or less said drugs aren’t necessary; you’d be surprised by the power of your own mind.

He also talked about the differences between America and France. One example being that the health care system in France is free. When Sophie was in labor and delivered the baby, it was free. He also re-iterated a point about the corporate structure of America and how it was messing us over.

Well, the interview was over and to perfectly book end the interview, he did another pratfall and the audience cheered him. My mom and I walked out the theater, laughs were had by both. Oddly enough, there were a few merchandise tables with his graphic novels and comics for sale. Write your own jokes, folks. I saw the young woman who asked the LSD question. I asked my mom to hold my place in line. I asked her “Excuse me, are you apart of Afro-Punk aka Mason Rose Lee?” She mentioned she was in the movie. I asked if she was on the board and I mentioned I was as well. She asked who I was on there. I said the magic words, Ghetto Punk Rocker. She knew who I was and got excited and talkative. I said, “I thought that was you! I mean, it’s Richmond and you’re the only other black person here aside from me and my mom.” She laughed.

She was covering this event for her blog, Liger Beat. Liger Beat is a female driven porn blog with humor, Imagine Play Girl and Mad Magazine. Fair warning, it’s packed with more weenie action than a 4th of July barbecue. I explained how that I’m such a huge fan of R. Crumb and I’ve been waiting for this moment for 15 years. She talked about her boutique “Rumours” and her triumph over the legal issues regarding her shop as well. She also mentioned how she’s a professional pornographer now. We took a few photos…WITH OUR CLOTHES ON! I also mentioned the fact that the missus is a fashionista. So, the missus and and I are looking to hang with Mason at her boutique as soon as possible.

I picked up an R. Crumb Sketchbook, R. Crumb’s Book of Genesis and Self-Loathing #2 by R. Crumb and Aline Kominsky-Crumb. The night was a success.