r/graphicnovels • u/bloodyzombies1 • Feb 07 '26
Horror What did I just read? Tales of Paranoia by Robert Crumb is an embarrassment
I made the mistake of buying Tales of Paranoia by Robert Crumb. I’ve never read anything from Crumb before, and was excited to try something new from a legendary creator. But I almost immediately found it off-putting, and not for the typical subject matter Crumb is associated with.
The comic is essentially an explanation of, and advocation for, Crumb’s anti-vax stance. There is an attempt to elevate this position into a broader throughline on the concept of paranoia, but it reads like a comic adaptation of your Grandpa’s Facebook posts, down to the exhaustive walls of text and random personal anecdotes.
Crumb's argument seems to boil down to 'vaccines come from authority, therefore they should be scrutinized like any other product of authority'. But he never convincingly separates this stance from any other form of conspiratorial thinking. Rather, he suggests commingling vaccine denialism with these conspiracies is an intentional action from 'the deep state' to deligitimize his viewpoint. Yes, he actually uses the term deep-state unironically. There's also no attempt to engage with the problematic aspects of vaccine denial, like the danger it puts children in. It's a cherry-picked selection of arguments unfairly assembled to put Crumb in the best position possible. And even then he still comes up short.
Crumb's so preoccupied with trying to rationalize his ideas that he forgets to tell a story. There's so much text in each panel that the art has no room to breathe. It's as overwritten as any silver-age comic, but without any of the fun.
I'd say the tone is actually closest to impassioned desperation; just endless walls of text hoping to change the reader's mind with just one more factoid paraphrased from Crumb's late-night rabbitholes on Google. It's like being at a comedy show that's bombing, when the comedian is trying to recover the show by rushing through their material, only to dig the grave deeper. I never thought such an awkward feeling could be transcribed to a comic, but here we are. I guess that's something.
This may be worthwhile if you're a huge fan of Crumb or can't look away from old people crashing out. But if you’ve used Facebook at any point in the past 15 years there’s nothing new this comic has to offer. It’s barely compelling enough for a single issue, let alone a fucking museum exhibit.
I can think of a million things that would be a better use of that space. And that’s just when I think of my bathroom.
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u/financewiz Feb 08 '26
I remember walking into a comic book shop in SF’s Mission District decades ago. Out of nowhere, the cranky old clerk pulls me aside and gleefully shows me a copy of a book containing Crumb’s infamous “When The N******s Take Over America!”
I am familiar with irony and can spot sarcasm in text, so I wasn’t particularly shocked. Crumb has always been “problematic.” That’s his brand. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn’t. In this case, it worked too well and Crumb was treated to the stomach-churning spectacle of finding this comic reprinted verbatim in white supremacist rags. Oops.
His biographical comics of PKD and Krafft-Ebing are classics and should be widely read. But those were published in the 80s and I’m certain he’s in his eighties now. People have forgotten that vaccine skepticism was an ancient hippie trope. I’ll give this book a pass, thanks.
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u/bloodyzombies1 Feb 08 '26 edited Feb 08 '26
There is some sarcasm in the book, like the final page which has text so excessive and rambly that it's practically daring your eyes to glaze over. But like you said, it's pretty easy to sniff out genuine sarcasm, and most of the material in this book is dead serious. The book really is Crumb's desperate plea to make his friends at art galleries take RFK Jr seriously, and it's just as awkward as you'd expect.
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u/FishHockeydrop Feb 08 '26
I read it while thinking, “Here’s an old guy who lost his long time wife who kept him on some kind of track all these years. Now he is off the track.”
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u/forgerelli Feb 08 '26
He started on the anti vaxx thing before Aline died. Their last collaboration had a ton of it.
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u/FishHockeydrop Feb 08 '26
I never read that one. I just finished the Crumb biography and the author did say Crumb had an interest in the subject for a long time.
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u/forgerelli Feb 08 '26
He's always been into conspiracies, which are just stupid, and mostly harmless, anti vaxxers on the other hand are promoting the death of children. It's the only thing from him that I find offensive, but it's as offensive as it gets. If a personal friend started saying that shit I'd have a hard tome staying friends with them.
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u/Ok_Paint9449 Feb 08 '26
We saw quite a few older icons come out as antivax during that time period. Age seemed to be the common denominator tbh.
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u/forgerelli Feb 08 '26
I think boredom and too much free time has a lot to do with that.
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u/Subliminal_Kiddo Feb 10 '26
Some of them it seems just want to be contrarians. Like Bill Maher.
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u/forgerelli Feb 10 '26
I stopped watching Maher the 1st time he went anti vaxx with the California suburb moms, and stopped watching him forever after he did it again. And platforming guys Like Steve Bannon gets a big fuck you from me.
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u/bonghoots00 Feb 08 '26
I should have know it was garbage when the guy at the comic shop didn't charge me for it when I picked up with the Joe Matt Peep Show trade the other weekend. Got halfway through and ditched it.
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u/DustDevil66 Feb 08 '26
Did you get to the two page wall of text where he tells you to watch joe rogan and read rfk jr’s books
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u/Zealousideal-Ear481 Feb 08 '26
jfc did he really? that so sad
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u/bloodyzombies1 Feb 08 '26 edited Feb 08 '26
Yeah that's in there. The RFK recommendation is even worse because he leads into it with a line that says 'read,read,read! People don't do enough of it. RFK's books show you the truth'.
I do find it funny how many people brag about reading these days without any consideration for the quality of the material they consume. It'd be like bragging to everyone about the amount of junk food you can eat; a shitty diet can be just as bad as a lack of food.
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u/cerebud Feb 08 '26
The only redeeming quality is that he knows he’s out of his depth and questions himself. Still comes to the wrong conclusions. The other thing about Crumb is he’s never been a likable figure. He’s a weirdo.
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u/bombachero Feb 10 '26
man that's quite a weekend you laid out for yourself, Joe Matt and r crumb are like the foundations of a course syllabus on gooning
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u/bonghoots00 Feb 10 '26
Lol, I feel like I should have grabbed some Chester Brown to complete the trifecta.
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u/Balseraph666 Feb 10 '26
Last time I heard of something like that is our local comic and gaming shop literally, quite literally, could not give away the issues Kitty Pryde; Agent of SHIELD they had for free.
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u/Lama_For_Hire Feb 07 '26
You completely nailed my experience from start to finish but I didn't even bother finishing it, as I was having zero fun and not seeing any point to this tirade
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u/DustDevil66 Feb 07 '26
Yeah, it’s garbage. I wish i could say it is surprising that the indie comics crowd has praised it or just turned a blind eye to it but I think, as much as i hate to think about it, the scene in general is more conservative in a lot of ways that I think people realize.
A lot of the ‘brashness’ and counter cultural ideas you can find in crumbs work back in his heyday, to the themes in works like hate, to much of the alt work i see to this day really just ends up looking a lot like conservative libertarianism if you bother to investigate it at all
For me, personally, i really already kind of hated crumb and knew he was like this and has in many, many ways been like this since the beginning. The thing that really disappointed me about this whole affair is the reaction of those in the scene like i mentioned earlier. Oh well
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u/KingKoil Feb 08 '26
Ugh, Robert Crumb is anti-vaxx? He needs to stick to topics he understands, like…gigantic asses, I guess?
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u/wrasslefights Feb 08 '26
I did, in fact, buy it to witness an old man crashing out in comic book form and I was not disappointed.
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u/Tumorhead Feb 08 '26
Fantagraphics was like "whatever"
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u/littlecozynostril Feb 08 '26
They sold the first run almost immediately, and Crumb has been mostly publishing with higher end publishers for the last decade. They were probably very happy to have it.
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u/Tumorhead Feb 09 '26
I mean ya a Crumb book is just printing money. Just wish they had some self-respect and didn't publish Grandpa's Facebook Feed just for money.
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u/littlecozynostril Feb 09 '26
First of all, it's notable that Crumb isn't on the internet and has his emails printed out for him.
Secondly, the reason it's like printing money is because people actually want to read it. It sold out its run very quickly. I don't see how Fantagraphic's self-respect is impacted by publishing it.
While I don't agree with his position on vaccines, I think grown adults should be able to make their own decisions about what they read, regardless of your opinion of it.
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u/future_forward Feb 08 '26
Zwirner published the Crumb family’s covid comic but must have drawn the line
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u/littlecozynostril Feb 08 '26
Zwirner just published multiple huge Crumb collections. Sauve Qui-Peut was a short run art zine. They probably don't have the capacity to do a large run floppy comic, which is clearly how Crumb wanted it published. Fantagraphics used to print floppy comics primarily, and were jumping for joy to get a new Crumb project in their catalogue.
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u/future_forward Feb 08 '26
I was just being facetious! but interesting to learn about the print run on their $40 “zine.” Honestly had no idea.
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u/SeparateSpend1542 Feb 07 '26
This is an accurate review. I felt the same way and I’m a huge R Crumb fan. Sad to see his once great brain broken by MAGA misinformation.
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u/bloodyzombies1 Feb 07 '26 edited Feb 08 '26
Yeah reading the line 'Trump was right about the deep state' and seeing him cite Joe Manchin as a politician fighting the good fight against big pharma were some of the biggest red flags I've ever seen in a comic.
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u/bluedevils9 Feb 08 '26
Shows how good the propaganda is. Joe Manchins wife Gayle was the president of the WV board of education from 2013-2014. Upon election she spearheaded a campaign to require every school to have X amount of EpiPens per student. Mylan pharmaceuticals owned the rights to the EpiPen and raised the price like 300% after the law passed. Im sure it’s just a coincidence that Mylens CEO Heather Bresch was the daughter of Joe and Gayle Manchin. Blatant corruption and nothing happened to any of them. Bresch also got in trouble for receiving an MBA from WVU but she had never completed the courses. WVU rescinded the degree but only because they all got exposed.
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u/Mt548 Feb 08 '26
I didn't catch any Manchin reference. He did namecheck Joe Rogan and his show. Unfortunately.
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u/bloodyzombies1 Feb 08 '26
In the deep state woman section he mentions Senator Manchin from West Virginia introduced a bill investigating big pharma.
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u/WickedDeity Feb 08 '26
I would need more info on Senator Manchin's bill. Big Pharma does need to be looked into not for vaccines but all the damn drugs people are being prescribed all the time. To many people are over medicated out there.
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u/littlecozynostril Feb 08 '26
But he's also anti-Trump and anti-MAGA. The thing to remember is he lives in France where right wingers are the pro-vaccine crowd and anti-vax is more common still on the left.
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u/FishHockeydrop Feb 08 '26
Here’s an excerpt from the Crumb biography by Dan Nadel
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u/future_forward Feb 08 '26
Also an example of why I didn’t like the book. Nadel treats Crumb as an art exhibition, not a subject for a biography. Completely uncritical stuff. “Understandable” indeed.
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u/FishHockeydrop Feb 09 '26
I’ve read very few biographies so I don’t know if most are “hands off.“ Overall, I liked the book. Lots of interesting comics history packed within. As far as Crumb-the-man, I wouldn’t want his life in order to draw good.
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u/Bub-bub Feb 10 '26
Doesn’t he admit he knows very little and the whole theme is more about an analysis of paranoia in general?
I haven’t finished it, but he does have a page of him arguing with his doctor friend who pretty much backs him into a corner.
Crumb has always been about exposing his darkest self, and he’s doing no different here.
To be fair I haven’t finished, but I like what I’ve read
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u/future_forward Feb 07 '26
Disappointing, sure, but not at all unsurprising. He’s always played coy with his paranoid lunacies. He likes to draw himself, and he obviously likes to draw other people that he hates, too. It’s pretty much what I expected but way worse.
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u/SecondHandPeacePrize Feb 08 '26
Like everyone else, I too was disappointed and though I really tried, could not finish it. It didn’t even feel like a comic because each panel was just him talking - 85% text, 15% his head. I’m not sure if that’s accurate, but that’s the memory I’m left with after trying to read it. I usually drop off comics I don’t want at the free library thing, but I don’t want to pass along that crap. I guess I’ll put it in the trash.
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u/Canavansbackyard Feb 08 '26
What a painful slog. I’ve always found Crumb’s views to be problematic, but at least in the past the presentation was somewhat skillful and artful. This most recent comic is just a wall of text that seems to have been largely purloined from the media sites of kooks and conspiracy theorists. At least it was kinda short.
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u/bloodyzombies1 Feb 08 '26
Several times when I was reading it I asked myself, 'why does this have to be a comic?' I guess that's the easiest way for Crumb to draw attention to his message.
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u/littlecozynostril Feb 08 '26
What would it be otherwise? A video essay?
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u/bloodyzombies1 Feb 08 '26
Sure. Or a blog post, an Op-Ed, anything. It's so text-heavy it makes no use of the comic medium. Other than it being a format that will draw more attention to Crumb's work, there's no craft on display that justifies it even being a comic book.
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u/littlecozynostril Feb 08 '26
Crumb isn't even online. He gets his emails printed out by his secretary. Like he's going to make a blog post. Ridiculous.
There also is plenty of "craft on display." Have you ever tried to hand letter a two page spread? Have you read some of Kim Deitch work? They give awards for lettering you know.
Like, I get it; content-wise there's a lot to complain about, especially if you analyze comics based on how well they align with your own political ideology, but it's just ignorant to claim there's not craft to it. And frankly, it's bad faith to say that a comic has to have some unspecified degree of mastery of craft to justify its existence.
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u/bloodyzombies1 Feb 08 '26
Lettering is often overlooked, and I appreciate you highlighting the work it takes to produce.
But aside from that, there's a clear lack of cohesion between the art and script that is absolutely fair game to criticize. I mentioned it in my review, but this is really written like a silver age comic, which were basically novellas where the art was ancillary to the writing. To me a comic is about the synthesis between story and art, so stifling one in favor of the other is a weakness in my eyes. It'd be like watching a movie with wooden performances or poor shot composition. There may be plenty of other things to appreciate, but there's a clear technical shortcoming that handicaps the work from living up to its full potential.
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u/littlecozynostril Feb 08 '26
I would say it's written like an autobiographical alt comic from the 80s or 90s, which Crumb helped pioneer and was part of.
There's all kinds of comics beyond your narrow scope. This book is a collection of shorter narratives, some of which communicate a story (like The Very Worst LSD Trip I Ever Had), while others are arguing a position like an essay (The Narrative).
There are comics that tell stories, there are comics that teach you how to fix a car engine, there are comics doing journalism, and ones that are just a vague sequence of images with no words.
You're smuggling in the "poor shot composition" with your movie analogy, all of the compositions are good.
I agree that there are things in to criticize here, but none of it is "technical shortcomings"
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u/bloodyzombies1 Feb 08 '26
That's fair, I guess a better analogy would be a foreign film that approaches the art form so differently from your preconceived notions of the medium that you don't enjoy it. As I said, I prefer when the art and writing are attempting to work in unison, but it's nice to know this was a stylistic choice that is indicative of another era of comics.
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u/littlecozynostril Feb 08 '26
I disagree that the art and words aren't attempting to work in unison. There's no redundant text or imagery (at least for the narrative he's attempting to relate).
It's probably just wordier than you're used to, and also you've probably not read that many comics where it's one character talking to the reader, panel after panel after panel.
Don't get me wrong, I have complaints about this comic too, but none of it is technical.
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u/littlecozynostril Feb 08 '26
It was still skillful and artful. You try to hand letter a full two page spread of 90% text with that level of mastery and then you can complain the skill.
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u/Canavansbackyard Feb 08 '26 edited Feb 08 '26
then you can complain the skill
When I complained about the lack of skill and artistry in this latest offering by Crumb I was of course speaking in relative terms. I thought that much was evident. If not, my apologies for being less than clear. I don’t think anyone doubts Crumb’s basic credentials as a comic book artist, but to put that skill in the service of something like Tales of Paranoia is (I think) just sad and disappointing. The message being conveyed is nonsensical, and on top of that it’s presented in a fashion that is repetitive and thoroughly unimaginative. You’re naturally free to hold a different opinion, but please don’t tell me I’m not entitled to express mine.
Edit: minor for typos, clarity.
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u/bloodyzombies1 Feb 08 '26
But this is a comic book. Without any artwork, that two page spread is just Calligraphy.
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u/littlecozynostril Feb 08 '26
Those are the only two pages like that; the rest of the book is fully illustrated.
Also, who says every page of every comic has to be fully illustrated? There are plenty of examples of comics having some pages in them that are primarily or entirely text (Kim Deitch off the top of my head).
So in your opinion, if a comic has a single page without drawings on it, then it shouldn't exist as a comic?
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u/bloodyzombies1 Feb 08 '26 edited Feb 08 '26
There's nothing wrong with text pages, plenty of more mainstream titles use it for lore-dumps (Watchmen, 5YL Legion, Hickman X-Men). But in a book already riddled with excessive verbiage, it feels more like Crumb finally getting that pesky art out of the way so his message could get all the breathing room it deserves. And if you're tackling subject matter that requires that much text, why bother putting it in a comic book, which demands a synthesis of pictures and words?
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u/Bub-bub Feb 10 '26
Crumb has written pages full of text before. He is known to experiment, and that’s what makes him a pioneer of the medium. A comic isn’t limited to a specific form.
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u/littlecozynostril Feb 08 '26
Crumb books are often verbose. That's part of his style and common in the genre he's working in and helped create. Dan Clowes and Art Spiegelman are extremely wordy too, but they're two of the most respected cartoonists the world over, whose works, like Crumb's, are lauded for elevating the medium.
It just seems like you are unfamiliar with autobiographical comics. Have you ever read like, American Splendor, or something like that.
Also, the book is fully with pictures except for one page. So I don't know why you're doubling down on this synthesis critique.
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u/ZealousidealWinner Feb 08 '26
I guess any legend who lives old enough becomes a spitting image of themselves.
Wall-of-text storytelling reminds me of another indie comic artist who fell in rabbit hole and started producing walls of propaganda instead of entertaining comics. Mr.Sim says hullo
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u/bloodyzombies1 Feb 08 '26
It kept reminding me of Steve Ditko; it even has his nine-panel grids and stern, finger-wagging tone.
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u/44035 Feb 07 '26
That's disappointing to hear. I wanted to buy but now I think I'll pass.
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u/bloodyzombies1 Feb 07 '26 edited Feb 07 '26
I'd give you my copy but I don't need that on my conscience.
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u/TetZoo Feb 07 '26
I had a similar reaction to it but at least it seemed like Crumb was trying to understand why he had these thoughts. The deep state mention was really off putting though. It is pretty inarguable that that phrase was concocted by fascists to dismantle normal government functions.
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u/littlecozynostril Feb 08 '26
I don't think it is "inarguable." I first heard the term probably 20 years ago used amongst left wing university professors decrying the US military industrial complex, 9/11, and the history of CIA interventions in foreign governments. As a concept it goes back way farther (before the creation of fascism).
If anything I think it's a term worth 'taking back' since the concept is valuable. For example, if a social democrat like Bernie were actually elected to power, they would also be competing to implement their agenda against internal agencies and bureaucracies staffed by unelected lifers with entrenched ideologies.
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u/TetZoo Feb 08 '26
That’s fair enough. Replace “concocted” with “currently used by.”
I don’t fully agree with your last paragraph though: inert, boring bureaucracies are not always a bad thing — in fact it’s often the opposite. They can be what holds governments, and therefore countries, together. The most harmful administrations usually move quickly and drastically to dismantle the institutions that uphold norms and guardrails. Bureaucracies are often where those norms and guardrails are housed.
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u/littlecozynostril Feb 08 '26 edited Feb 08 '26
Yeah, and those 'norms' and 'guardrails' can prevent good reforms from being effective.
Here's an example: In my province, the government introduced a program to help welfare recipients to attend university. A good program to help people improve their long term earning potential. However, while 40 spots were made available in its pilot year, only 2 people were allowed to apply.
Community Services, the agency that administers welfare, was actively telling people that there were no programs like that and that the agency preferred to focus on "employment solutions." I was actually on welfare at the time and attended multiple meetings where people were begging for assistance to go to school and the agents running the meeting outright said there was no possible support for university attendance. When I raised my hand and asked about the pilot program for just that, I was actually threatened with having my entitlement suspended for disrupting the meeting.
This was a case where a progressive program had been created by the government, which was being sabotaged by the entrenched bureaucracy, all unelected, who were mired in 25 years of neoliberal ideology of austerity and means-testing. They placed themselves between the program and the people it was intended to help.
In the 80s there were more programs like that, but over the 90s and 2000s, the mandate had become 'steer people away from education and development programs, disqualify them by any means, and push them into any employment however inadequate.' Those are the 'norms' and 'guardrails' in the Community Services now, and you have to fight against them now if you want to implement progressive reforms.
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u/TetZoo Feb 08 '26
I for one would greatly appreciate it if my state department, justice department, bureau of consumer protection, and many, many others had not been fully gutted and perverted for political purposes in the past year. You can put it in quotation marks as much as you want. The norms and guardrails are real.
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u/littlecozynostril Feb 08 '26
Did I say anything about eliminating the bureaucracy? I said that the concept of a "deep state" is valuable to understand, because entrenched agencies can be ideologically opposed to positive reforms.
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u/TheYardGoesOnForever Feb 07 '26
I liked it. I took it as a genuine attempt to examine his beliefs, which he is well aware are considered stupid by right-thinking people. The lack of plot, the excessive text, the obsessive focus, these are all things that have marked Crumb's work for 50 odd years.
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u/MezzMezzrow1138 Feb 07 '26
I was cautiously optimistic about this comic-- new R. Crumb!-- and I planned to rush right out and buy it as soon as it dropped-- but then I saw a few pages people had posted and I read a few reviews and thought, eh, I can probably skip it
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u/Sensibiliaaah Feb 09 '26
I recommend his adaption of The Book of Genesis if you want to enjoy his illustrations without having to read his words. I found the juxtaposition of his imagery paired with The Old Testament to be incredibly compelling. And way more entertaining than trying to read just the text.
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u/wishlish Feb 09 '26
If you’re looking for rational thought from R. Crumb, you’re in the wrong place.
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u/Mother_Sand_6336 Feb 08 '26
I found it to be an interesting look into his paranoid mind at 80 or whatever. But I’m a completist. (I bought Roger Waters’s Dark Side, etc…)
It is also interesting how in an internet age, something like anti-vax—which is relatively non controversial by underground comix standards—came off as more disturbing because of an Above Ground movement that put the f’in weirdo Crumb’s referencing in the President’s cabinet!
It should have been banal!
But, as far as an autobiographical record, Crumb is also a media-addled Boomer whose wife just died.
And no one should ever have looked to Crumb for socially healthy models of human behavior…
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u/DustDevil66 Feb 08 '26
Anti vax conspiracy pushing was considered controversial, disturbing, and extremely harmful before it had such a foothold in a major party. To those paying attention it was never something banal and this comic is getting only a crumb of the backlash it deserves.
Realistically, crumb has always been a racist, sexist, noted serial sex pest, and a libertarian that hides behind a smokescreen of hippie counter-culturalism. The issue isn’t wether or not people should lend credence to the ravings of a noted idiot, it the fact that many in fact do, and that he and his work are consistently upheld as icons of free speech and artistic transgression
The overlap between the train of thought that leads one to see him as transgressive overlaps significantly with the thought that leads people to believe people like trump, rfk, elon musk, and all their friends are transgressive. There is a reason crumb himself is attracted to ideologies of the cult these people have latched onto.
His wifes death does not excuse this, his age does not excuse this, and brushing aside peoples pushback against this is just very harmful.
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u/Mother_Sand_6336 Feb 08 '26
Idk… You seem to be venting broad opinions about people, and what you think they like, and how you infer guilt-by-association from the Venn diagrams you use to overgeneralize people and politics.
I don’t really care about that.
I do care about Crumb, and I don’t think he needs ‘an excuse.’
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u/DustDevil66 Feb 08 '26
I’m inferring very little. He associated with eugenicists, far right politicians, and propagandists of his own accord. People poo-pooing this sort of stuff and acting like people like crumb are unconnected to how we arrived at our current moment are…..how we got to our current moment. Whatever though ¯_(ツ)_/¯ keep believing people are just overreacting and being politically rabid if you want
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u/Mother_Sand_6336 Feb 08 '26
If there are only two sides in your Manichean world, you’ll find a lot of people guilty by association.
I think the internet, a global pandemic, and the priorities of governing bodies and corporations have had a lot more impact on vax skepticism than R. Crumb has. I’d say he’s a symptom of ‘our current moment,’ just as he has been for fifty years.
But he created art and a market for personally sharing that symptomatic individual long before the internet gave it to everyone for free.
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u/DustDevil66 Feb 08 '26
Again, i didn’t associate him with eugenicists and far right ideologues, Crumb did.
You’re right though. Thank god a racist sex pest came along and created a market for freedom of expression predominantly by white men so i could listen to weirdos online defend him. Our savior
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u/Mother_Sand_6336 Feb 08 '26
And, to you, the association makes him guilty… of whatever it is you’re accusing those other villains of…
I guess the possibility that I don’t see him as a ‘racist sex pest’ doesn’t occur to you, nor that it’s odd to accuse me of being the weirdo online for ‘defending’ him. I responded to a post. You chimed in to me. I’m responding to you.
I’m sorry if you take that response as a ‘defense,’ but you’re the ‘weirdo online’ in this scenario. You just happen to be attacking him.
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u/DustDevil66 Feb 08 '26
Holding someone accountable for harmful far right ideology =/= attacking them. Weird thing to say. And i am very aware you likely don’t consider him racist or a sex pest (despite his own and several women’s admission to his behavior on that latter point). Many convince themselves trmp and epstin weren’t/aren’t sex pests either. I’m very familiar with delusional thought patterns.
Anyway I’m done here. I’ve made my point, mostly for others. Later
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u/Mother_Sand_6336 Feb 08 '26
Okay… ‘holding someone accountable for harmful far right ideology’… if that’s what you think you’re doing…
The difference between you and Crumb is: people value his contributions to a medium that allowed people greater expression, whereas you rely on the internet to play thought police.
This has always been for others.
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u/DustDevil66 Feb 08 '26
People value a racist, sexist white mans racist and sexist comics for allowing greater expression within the world of art largely by other white men after white men spent half a millennium squashing and suppressing the creative freedom of most people in the western hemisphere who don’t look like them. You’re just playing thought police for having an accurate view of history and art
Fixed that for you. Anyway, again, later!
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u/RYzaMc Feb 07 '26
It certainly was a strange book. I think in time it'll be seen as an anomaly in his catalogue. Fortunately I washed my brain with Dan Nadel's great biography on him and his Existential Comics selections.
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u/gjazzy68 Feb 08 '26
I liked Crumb early work but every interview I read from him made make think that he is an absolute garbage human being.
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u/littlecozynostril Feb 08 '26
Why would you pick this book to be your first Crumb comic? Terrible choice on your part.
The main reason to read this book is because you're already a Crumb fan and are interested in what would motivate him to make a comic now... at 80...after 20 years ...and the death of his wife and longtime contributor. To casually check out Crumb with this book is uninformed, frankly.
Of course Crumb isn't going to give both sides of the debate; he's a crank! Also he comes from a philosophy of art creation, where you put what ever you want on the page and damn the consequences. And for the record, he's not googling late at nite; he doesn't use a computer. He gets his emails printed out for him!
The reason there's a museum show, is because the original art is going to sell for tens of thousands of dollars each because he's one of the most singularly important cartoonists of all time.
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u/PanchamMaestro Feb 09 '26
This. It’s like starting with Kubrick at “Eyes Wide Shut”. Crumb has clearly lost his mind like most 80+ year olds. Still has his line though; like most 80+ year olds don’t.
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u/LU_in_the_Hub Feb 08 '26
I’m sure I’d find it just as offputting as you did, although I made an unsuccessful stop in my local comics shop to pick up a copy.
But, why don‘t you go to archive.org and read some of his vintage comics from the 60s-80s? Totally free, and much of his best stuff.
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u/forgerelli Feb 08 '26
I'm a huge Crumb fan, and will still buy anything he does, but his Anti Vaxx stuff is just stupid, stupid, stupid. Visit any pre 1900 cemetery to see what life was like before vaccines.
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u/DrKarlSatan Feb 08 '26
I originally thought this might just be a way for him to deal with grief. But no, this crazy talk has been there for a long time.
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u/Cipherpunkblue Feb 08 '26
Crumb better stick to topics he knows, like... Flips through notes Oh no. Oh, no no no
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u/Parabrella Feb 07 '26
I know at least one "indie comix" person who worships Crumb's work, and I'm curious how they're going to manage to justify his anti-vax bullshit to themselves.
Personally, I already hated Crumb's work, so him outing himself as another shitty old comics guy just gives me one more justification for disliking him.
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u/supermgc Feb 08 '26
i enjoy crumb's work. i imagine alot of crumb fans are similar. a lot of his comics going back to the 70s were always highly questionable and mostly an insight into his psyche. i don't think a lot of crumb fans are necessarily reading his work thinking "agree!" "right on!" but are more just fascinated by this dude digging up his darkest thoughts and fantasies and putting on paper and printing it lol. this coupled with the artwork being amazing, it's always been more fascinating more than it's simply something i agree with or "justify". i have no idea why anyone appreciating his art would be expected to justify his dumb outlooks on anything..
also, as for the exhibition with the same name. it has the same name as the new comic but it's not just an exhibition about the new comic. it's presenting a lot of crumbs work over the years and is more a celebration of his work as an artist more than anything. R. Crumb Shares Tales of Paranoia in New Art Show and Forthcoming Comic Book
example of older works on display RCrumbTalesofParanoiaOhanesian-3.jpeg (1080×810)
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u/future_forward Feb 08 '26
Quite a take. You wonder how they’ll justify his anti-vax bullshit? “Outing himself?”
I’m curious what RC you’ve read that makes you think these would be dealbreakers to a dyed in the wool fan.
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u/littlecozynostril Feb 08 '26
You don't need to justify his anti-vax bullshit. You can just say, "he's weird" and move on.
Crumb is part of a comix movement that predates the notion that art has to align with your political values.
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u/Reyntoons Feb 08 '26
You sound like one of them there virtue signalers. And as an Indie comics lover who doesn’t worship Crumb, but is still a pretty big fan, I don’t need to justify anything about buying a comic by somebody who holds political opinions I disagree with. It’s not a crime for people to think differently than you. Haven’t you learned anything these last 15 years? It’s this mentality that gave us Trump again. Wake up.
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u/WebNew6981 Feb 09 '26
The elderly man who is world famous for being a demented freak doesn't have cogent thoughts about medical science?!?!?!
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u/Resident_Amount3566 Feb 10 '26
I always read Crumb as parodizing paranoia etc rather than confessing to it.
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u/oldtable Feb 10 '26
I don’t think it’s totally worthless. I think he unfortunately can’t take the big pharma critique one step further and see it from a Marxist perspective, so he unfortunately ends up falling into traps of the right. The deep state refers to a real thing though, that’s FBI CIA and whoever is sending already-redacted files to the DOJ. The people who are too big and powerful to fail. And maybe smart enough to keep their names out of the public consciousness.
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u/therealduckrabbit Feb 12 '26
Your description kinda sound like exactly what one might expect from Crumb?
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u/Reyntoons Feb 08 '26
OP has never read anything by Crumb before except this? No wonder you fucking hated it. Crumb’s brain has always been broken. I disagree with everything he believes in in TOP and yet I found it a fascinating read. It felt to me like his well-known obsessive personality moved on from sex and females (probably thanks to being in his deep 80s) to this crazy Maga shit and he’s more broken than ever now. Plus, he could out-draw the best in his sleep at this point. What is not to love?
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u/changelingcd Feb 08 '26
Well, there's a reason it's been 23 years since Crumb published anything new (and his best work was a half-century ago).
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u/External_Student858 Feb 08 '26
So, just to clarify things a bit...
Do you hate being preached at or the things that irks you is the preaching didn't align with your views?
In my opinion, preaching (ie. "I'm right and all who don't agree with me is dead wrong") should have no place in art, irrespective of one's perspective.
Blankets is a perfect example of how to present a story using someone's point of view without antagonizing opposing views. A clear message, perfectly delivered without a whiff of preaching.
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u/bloodyzombies1 Feb 09 '26 edited Feb 09 '26
Both?
I agree spoon feeding the audience your message is poor storytelling and lazy writing, but I also think there's nothing wrong with being uncomfortable about the themes in a story and using that as a merit to dislike it. The original Starship Troopers novel is a perfectly fine run of the mill sci-fi story, but it also has a pro-fascist message that many are understandably put off by.
Most of the time stories you enjoy the most are the ones that have some idea that you can personally connect with; in that sense the themes of a story are an incredibly important barometer for enjoyment.
I will say this story fails in both aspects. The writing is just Crumb angrily yelling at you from his soapbox; I really wasn't exaggerating when I said the book feels like someone's angry Facebook rant. Coupled with his ridiculous ideas on vaccines, and the whole thing is just a miserable experience.
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u/External_Student858 Feb 09 '26
I wouldn't recommend reading only things that align with your perspective. Creating an echo chamber and engaging in confirmation bias don't seem like particularly good ideas.
I tend to prefer works where the author presents all sides of the issue without explicitly stating which one is "the right one."
But to each their own...
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u/GLAK_Maverick Feb 08 '26
Its like reading modern Frank Miller, Crumb hit his peak like 40 years ago man what did you expect?
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u/uncle_screwball_404 Feb 08 '26 edited Feb 10 '26
Some of you sound like you want him CANCELLED. Which is precisely what he’s going for LOL
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u/Routine-Difficulty10 Feb 11 '26 edited Feb 11 '26
People have tried to get Crumb cancelled at various times in the past. Didn't work.
The only good comments in this thread are the downvoted ones.
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u/Primary_Ad3580 Feb 08 '26
Honestly, what can one expect? What comic writer/artist can maintain themselves over sixty years without eventually coming off as either boring or offensive? Personally, if you enjoy an artist’s work, I’d recommend avoiding any new work from them after half a century; it’s bound to disappoint.
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u/Temporary_lord54 Feb 10 '26
Crumb is severely mentally ill and has been for many years. His whole family is. He just became successful enough to run with it without getting treatment.
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u/sd42790 Jun 19 '26
Wow, you encountered something actually subversive and hated it.
Reading R. Crumb in search of “correct” opinions…a stupid and futile exercise.
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u/Bland-fantasie Feb 09 '26
“Vaccine denialism” for a product, mRNA therapy,for which they had to redefine the word “vaccine”
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u/Ttoctam Feb 08 '26 edited Feb 08 '26
God I hate the "vaccines come from authority so we should be skeptical of them and scrutinize them" take.
Vaccines are scrutinized. Getting a vaccine greenlit takes years, and multiple medical bodies whose whole job is skepticism and scrutinising. There's no point in me attempting to scrutinize them, I don't have a doctorate in medical science or access to really important data necessary for medical evaluations. It's the same shit as flat earthers. The world is flat because "they" keep telling you it's flat.
Fascists exist. Exploitative class disparities that are reinforced by political policy exist. Minority scapegoating exists. Prioritising a vague and nebulous perspective on economy over human welfare and fundamental human rights exists. Unjust wars and genocides exist. You don't need to invent stupid shit to be mad at.