Biography
Growing up in the 1940s and '50s, R. Crumb was drawn to the world of comics and animation, specifically the works of Walt Kelly and the Fleischer Brothers. He followed that love when he graduated high school, and honed his artwork skills drawing cards for American Greetings. He wasn't happy, though, and he lived in squalor. It was around this time that Crumb, married with a young child, started heavily using drugs, mostly LSD. His use of the drug led to an insane, psychedelic creative process that produced most of his notable work. In 1965, at the age of 22, Crumb's drug-fueled work produced Fritz the Cat, a counterculture cat who went on wild adventures that were often risqué. Shortly after, he helped create Zap Comix, an underground comic magazine that featured Crumb's work, notably his racist caricature Angelfood McSpade. The comic also helped popularize Crumb and led to the Ralph Bakshi animated film "Fritz the Cat" (1972), which became a huge success in addition to being the first X-rated animated film. Shortly after, Crumb ditched the character, primarily because of how mainstream the cat had become. After Zap and his film experience, Crumb went on to create Weirdo, a quarterly comic anthology series that was filled with a mixture of weird and off-beat material. In the '90s, director Terry Zwigoff worked with Crumb and his family to create a documentary called "Crumb" (1994), which was released to critical acclaim and heightened a new generation's interest in his work. In his later years, Crumb lived quietly in France with his wife, fellow cartoonist Aline Kominsky-Crumb, and their daughter Sophie Crumb.
