In Sophie Crumb: Evolution of a Crazy Artist, the daughter of Robert Crumb showcases her talent for irreverence and skewed idealism — both inherited and individualized — from age two to 28.
The book is as delightfully weird as one would expect from the progeny of the underground comix icon — who helped edit the collection — but the youngest Crumb is not ultimately stuck in her father’s shadow. A trained circus performer and former tattoo artist, she proves her artistic pedigree with offbeat sketches, cartoons, studies, and doodles, all of which closely chart the growth of the artist’s creative explorations over many years.
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Beyond the big bad wolves of medieval folk tales, animals are mostly appropriated these days for innocent children’s entertainment. From Looney Tunes‘s Bugs Bunny to Ratatouille‘s Remy, fuzzy woodland creatures are now regularly stripped of their primal natures in the name of cuddly, moral-leveraging amusement. But David Sedaris’s Squirrel Seeks Chipmunk: A Modest Bestiary — essentially an R-rated answer to Aesop’s Fables — reaffirms that pop culture has had an equally engaged, if somewhat less overt, relationship with animal characters intended for mature audiences. From books to comics, movies to street art, and puppets to paintings, the following artists have created a spectrum of grown-up animal iconography that’s best kept away from young eyes.
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Most of us are familiar with the inevitable anxiety that comes with seeing a beloved book turned into a movie, but some stories can actually benefit from a little cross-media reinterpretation. Amid the medium’s own rapid ascension toward highbrow acceptance, the graphic novel has proved a flexible format for literary adaptation, transforming texts into improved visual narratives without eliminating the reading process.
Now, with a spate of recently published and upcoming graphic adaptations making headlines — including Robert Crumb’s The Book of Genesis Illustrated by R. Crumb
(which we previously reviewed here) and the sure-to-be-divisive Pride and Prejudice and Zombies: The Graphic Novel
— we recommend ten classic works that have been effectively translated into comic books.
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Underground comix icon Robert Crumb paints the Bible in a new light with his illustrated version of the entire book of Genesis.
Sex, scandal, and subtle satire abound, but with each carefully rendered detail — and the inclusion of every word from the five opening chapters — Crumb has given a new frame to one of the most widely known stories in history. Sure, he’s been under fire since the book’s release, but when has Crumb not been under fire for something or other?
Explore Crumb’s website, read Vanity Fair‘s interview with the artist, witness his personal take on the history of women, and buy the book.
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Underground comic book legend and American Splendor creator Harvey Pekar just launched The Pekar Project on SMITH; the first ongoing webcomic series of his 30-year career, it will feature 20 completed stories illustrated by Tara Seibel, Joseph Remnant, Rick Parker, and Sean Pryor. Later this fall, SMITH hopes to organize an exhibition of their artwork in Cleveland (Harvey’s hometown/muse) and New York City to celebrate his 70th birthday.
Get a sneak peek of some images after the jump and read the first story of the “mundane” — in which Harvey chats on the phone with his old pal Robert Crumb — here. Read More »
Today at Flavorpill, we got off on panda love — and a TMI from the commentating British reporter. We didn’t like this helveticake’s kerning. We thought of our poor, be-babied friends after discovering a baby-mama-dissing blog. We were in disbelief over the power that marshmallow Peeps have over the Wii console. We geared up for the Final Four with a look a good/bad NCAA mascots. We bugged out over a new Takashi Murakami-like toy. We thought that Britannica is a little late to their own game. We started holding our breath for Robert Crumb’s version of the Book of Genesis. And finally, we cowered at the vast, right-wing Snuggies conspiracy.
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