R. CRUMB SKETCHBOOK Volume 5 1989-1998

As this volume opens Crumb is 46. These middle years bring refinement of his lifelong turmoil and further honing of artistic talent, with many serious portraits mixed with hilarious introspection and one- and two-page strips and never-used comic covers. More words accompany the drawings, demonstrating Crumb’s brilliant powers of observation. The family’s move to France in 1991 is heralded by a switch from portraits of apple-cheeked American girls sketched while waiting for food in California cafes to portraits of girls in French cafes, pastorals of French countryside, and homeless beggars in the Metro. The most notable new character in this sketchbook is a turbaned holy man, named by young Sophie Crumb, Roman Dodo, who seems loosely inspired by Robert’s brother Maxon. Patricia Pig, a cheerful human/porcine hybrid also debuts, alongside portraits of girlfriends present and past. Mr. Natural is here too. As the artist advances into his mid-50s towards the end of the volume, fantasies of regression to childhood, dependence on strong female figures, and even of a good death, carried away on the back of a sturdy young angel, speak less of angst than acceptance of the aging process. Our curmudgeon finds a measure of peace, a certain French acceptance, of the cruel whims of fate. All in all, another killer volume. I find the variety exceptionally good, and with all the comic strips and dialogue and text, this is an intense read that is going to reward the reader with a LOT of dense work. Much of this is fully polished, finished narratives. A fair amount of nudity but after two times flipping though, no explicit sex. Maybe Robert was toning things down while daughter Sophie was still a youngster...