Curator and author Dan Nadel explores cartooning legend Robert Crumb in all his glory and depravity in Crumb: A Cartoonist's Life. Nadel, author of several books about cartoonists and artists, has created a nearly 500-page volume that's exceedingly thorough. In the foreword, Nadel explains, "Robert imposed just one condition on this book: that I be honest about his faults, look closely at his compulsions, and examine the racially and sexually charged aspects of his work." And that Nadel does, pulling from Crumb's personal archives, which include "correspondence, diaries, sketchbooks, and notes," as well as interviews with Crumb and his friends and colleagues, plus plenty of b&w and color illustrations.
Nadel is a lively writer who captures not only the material conditions of Crumb's childhood but also the texture of growing up in a tumultuous, post-World War II household. Physical abuse and suicidal ideation stalked Crumb's family, but Nadel also recounts other sadnesses and disappointments. For instance, when Crumb was eight years old, he received a $25 war bond for winning a poster design contest; his mother asked to borrow the money and never repaid him. After grounding readers in Crumb's early years, which include his crucial discovery of Mad magazine, Nadel moves on to all the twists of life and career Crumb experiences after leaving home.
Along with copious historical and biographical information, Nadel includes details cartoonists will inhale, such as how Crumb first came to use a Koh-I-Noor size 00 Rapidograph and developed his "own vertical hatching technique." Crumb is an enjoyable, all-encompassing read. --Nina Semczuk, writer, editor, and illustrator