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A review by jsjammersmith
The Book of Mr. Natural by Robert Crumb
5.0
Just tonight I compared the work of Robert Crumb to the disheveled boil on the ass of the body of the comics medium, and I stand by that metaphor. After finishing The Book of Mr. Natural I understand more and more why Robert Crumb has acquired his title as "THE controversial" comics artist. For while I have read the works of many great comics artists who are considered edgy, or offensive, or even controversial, having read most of those artists they seem pale to the most deplorable pages of Crumb who, in just one or two panels, manages to create moments which linger after the reader. They just haunt you for their visual quality combined with their embedded racism or sexism and yet, for all of it, they still manage to come across as beautiful in their own disturbing fashion.
Mr. Natural wads one of the many recurring characters in Crumb's oeuvre, and his place seems largely to be a horned up, snake-oil salesman of a spiritual guru. But alongside Mr. Natural is the figure of Cheryl Borck, the "Devil Girl." Without giving too much away the reader is sure to remember this woman if only for the chapter in which her head is removed so that she can be more "tolerable."
I won't lie, I have troubles reconciling my appreciation for Crumb. He can be vile, repulsive, racist, sexist, and generally gross. But I stand by what I said before, the images in this book are in their own deviant fashion, beautiful and worth the reader's consideration largely because there really isn't anything like them. Crumb is a true original, and while the passages of Mr. Natural can be exhausting, they've impacted comics and those who make them, appreciate them, study them, to read them ever since. The barbaric honesty of these characters' flaws have left their impacted on the collected consciousness of comics creators and everyone has to see Crumb's work to see what is possible.
Crumb may be the boil of Comics's ass, but The Book of Mr. Natural reminds the reader that he's the boil that helped change everything. And even if you don't like him, he probably doesn't care anyway.
Mr. Natural wads one of the many recurring characters in Crumb's oeuvre, and his place seems largely to be a horned up, snake-oil salesman of a spiritual guru. But alongside Mr. Natural is the figure of Cheryl Borck, the "Devil Girl." Without giving too much away the reader is sure to remember this woman if only for the chapter in which her head is removed so that she can be more "tolerable."
I won't lie, I have troubles reconciling my appreciation for Crumb. He can be vile, repulsive, racist, sexist, and generally gross. But I stand by what I said before, the images in this book are in their own deviant fashion, beautiful and worth the reader's consideration largely because there really isn't anything like them. Crumb is a true original, and while the passages of Mr. Natural can be exhausting, they've impacted comics and those who make them, appreciate them, study them, to read them ever since. The barbaric honesty of these characters' flaws have left their impacted on the collected consciousness of comics creators and everyone has to see Crumb's work to see what is possible.
Crumb may be the boil of Comics's ass, but The Book of Mr. Natural reminds the reader that he's the boil that helped change everything. And even if you don't like him, he probably doesn't care anyway.