Robert Crumb

Robert Crumb has provided decades of entertainment (and offense) thanks to his satirical, drug-influenced comics art, which often puts contemporary America in its crosshairs. After working as a greeting card illustrator for most of the '60s, Crumb moved to counterculture mecca San Francisco and helped kick off a new era of underground cartooning with Zap Comix. Crumb's work in Zap pushed the boundaries of good taste; like many of his underground peers, it combined social relevance with equal parts shock value. Fame followed, along with accusations of misogyny, racism, and sexual perversion. Under Crumb's pen, African-Americans were often depicted as racial stereotypes and women were reduced to exaggerated body parts. To his credit, however, Crumb seemed to have his finger on the pulse of the turbulent and uncertain times. For example, the adventures of his magical guru Mr. Natural allowed him to poke fun at America's quest for spiritual meaning while his notorious comic, Joe Blow, which featured an outwardly normal nuclear family engaging in spirited incest, suggested that the foundation of America was corrupt in an extreme way. Despite his "outsider" status, Crumb's work has proven popular with the masses. Fritz the Cat, adapted into a film by animator Ralph Bakshi in 1972, has grossed over $100 million internationally, while the strutting men from the single-panel comic "Keep On Truckin'" became a widely reproduced image (thanks to decades of unchecked copyright violations.) Crumb is currently a contributor to the independent art publication Mineshaft, and while the underground scene he helped found may have faded away, Crumb's example of using comics for artistic expression lives on in the thriving alternative comics scene.