Customer Reviews (2)

Dispair
Once again, Robert illustrates something that we all feel, eventually.

He has a gift for expressing things that exist, but have not been condensed into images and stories, that are fun, funny, and sadly true.

This comic was the inspiration for the 45 RPM record cover for "Turn On Your TV" by Larry Groce ("Junkfood Junkie")

Not long after reading the original comic, I was working with Janis Joplin. One morning I came home from the studio at 8:30 AM. I could hardly breathe. Everything in my studio seemed so meaningless. I started hauling things up to the trash... and then I realized "so this is despair"... I felt it.

Definitely worth a look and read...

Dispair
Once again, Robert illustrates something that we all feel, eventually.

He has a gift for expressing things that exist, but have not been condensed into images and stories, that are fun, funny, and sadly true.

This comic was the inspiration for the 45 RPM record cover for "Turn On Your TV" by Larry Groce ("Junkfood Junkie")

Not long after reading the original comic, I was working with Janis Joplin. One morning I came home from the studio at 8:30 AM. I could hardly breathe. Everything in my studio seemed so meaningless. I started hauling things up to the trash... and then I realized "so this is despair"... I felt it.

Definitely worth a look and read... ... Read more

Product Description
Seven short stories and poems by E.A. Poe as amazinglyillustrated by Maxon Crumb. A fleeting glimpse in the hit movie CRUMBonly hinted at Maxon's inimitable artwork. MAXON'S POE now showcaseshis stunning creativity and confirms his rightful place among theCrumb family of artists. Works include: The Raven, Tell-Tale Heart,Pit & the Pendulum, The Bells and The Cask of Amontillado. ... Read more

Product Description
In an informed and irreverent exploration of what hasn't been told about the brain's mysterious ability to hallucinate, an award-winning, independent science writer details what neuroscientists, psychopharmacologists, medicinal chemists, and psychiatrists have learned about LSD and its effects on the brain in the 54 years since its discovery. 132 illustrations, 32 in color Targeted print ads. Radio promo. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (9)

The story we ought to be telling the kids
Unless you are a neuropharmacologist the chances are very good that nearly everything you think you know about hallucinogenic drugs is wrong. None of the widely disseminated information published by anti-drug campaigns is accurate and nearly everything in the alternative press is at least biased if not illusory. Pellerin saw the famous TV ad, "This is drugs. This is your brain. This is your brain on drugs. Any questions?" She answered in the affirmative, "... a lot of questions." TRIPS is the result of a decade of research, interviews, web searches and insight. It is also wildly funny, opinionated, scientifically stringent, historically illuminating and illustrated by R. Crumb, the cartoonist of record for the 1960s. Do you know that LSD, mescaline and psilocibin do not cause hallucinations? They only mimic them. The difference is that true hallucinations appear real. A schizophrenic does not know he is hallucinating. Virtually without exception the LSD user understands clearly that the experience is drug induced and will pass. (The exceptions appear to be borderline psychotics who may be pushed over the edge by the experience. The few and widely reported suicides evidently occur in already suicidal individuals.) Nor are these drugs addictive, more the opposite since users often experience uncomfortable introspection and/or a sense of having gotten the point and tend to leave the experience behind. None of which information eliminates the fact that street drugs are by definition illegal and quite possibly of dangerous composition. The wide dissemination of LSD and other hallucinogens which blossomed as the Summer of Love in 1967 and either saved, wrecked or had no lasting impact on American culture (take your choice) began in Army and OSS/CIA research. In searching for better interrogation/mind control/chemical weapon-type drugs, U.S. government researchers administered a whole panoply of mind-bending substances to test subjects, themselves and each other. Then the government funded private research labs as well, letting the cat out of the top-secret bag. Because many of the psychotropic drugs have virtually no lasting physical effects they are difficult to evaluate in animal studies. How can you tell if a rat has changed it's attitude about authority or had an out-of-body experience? Therefore psychiatrists and psychologists who wanted to test such substances as possible therapeutic tools often experimented on themselves to get insight into what they were doing to patients. Timothy Leary and Richard Alpert (Baba Ram Dass) are only the best known among hundreds of participating researchers and thousands of clinical test subjects. TRIPS fills you in on the strange contortions of regulatory policy as well. For example, in the late 1980s when an estimated 10-20% of American college students were using MDMA, known popularly as Ecstasy, FDA policy classified the drug as too dangerous to test and denied all research permits. (MDMA had been tested on rats with dire results. Today FDA policy has changed and a spokesperson admits that Ecstasy is one of many drugs which rats should avoid. In humans it can cause nerve damage only in very large doses, with undetermined residual effects.) Pellerin's intent is not to promote drug use, but simply to get accurate information to the public. Illegal hallucinogen use has remained at a relatively constant level since the 1960s. It is her belief that former users and potential users need to be fully informed about their choices, the very real dangers, and the best available explanation of what it is that these substances do. Perhaps surprisingly, even after three decades of brain chemistry research there are vast gaps in our understanding of how our heads work. She applauds the more open experimental policy of the last few years and foresees fairly rapid progress in untangling the mystery of thought and consciousness. An illuminating read.

HoffmannWasn'tWrong...
A often overlooked point of view that the war on drugs culture tends to ignore or neglect is the fact that "even the best theories are history if enough people produce the right number of contradictory findings". So, in my opinion this book does a great service in informing those whose opinions are not biased towards total allegiance to the status quo.
I have to laugh when i see headlines in the news about how the government is willing to ignore it's own findings on the medicinal uses of marijuana due to the ideological monetary inconvenience that information imposes on the financial structure of certain government agencies...even more so given that the money could be better spent on policing real issues such as terrorism, violence...etc,etc.
The desire to alter conciousness is as old as humans themselves and this book illustrates that clearly and precise. There is even an altered states graphic form for the prospective experimenter to fill out.
Overall the nice comic illustrations provide the needed comic relief to get through some light scientific reading...although very accurate it's too light for any serious scientific or chemistry buffs. But for the average user(reader) it's good to know all that is included before you take any risks.
The section in the back of the book filled with URL's is also a great place to further your understanding of all the issues and information regarding LSD or any other illegal substance. A good fast read and I highly recommend this book.

Truth at last!
Looking for a little reality in the nonsense-clogged canon of drug texts?Yes?Then this is the book for you.The author has meticulously separated the wheat from the chaff, dispensing with the usual shock propaganda and instead using real science (imagine that!) to explain, in just the right amount of detail, how hallucinogens work.This is a remarkably honest and even-handed text that assembles the results of the most up-to-date research into a fascinating and relevant subject.Well-illustrated, factual and entertaining, I'd recommend this book to anyone with curious teenagers.In short, "Trips" is a ray of light in an otherwise benighted field of inquiry, and Ms. Pellerin should be applauded for this courageous and intelligent work.

Simple and comprehensible
A simple and comprehensible book about psychedelics; the history, the way they work and how they work. It justly denonciates the lack of understanding and ignorance of federal institutes and the media directed paranoid public.

How we know what we know about what we don't know
Yes, the subtitle of Trips is "How Hallucinogens Work In Your Brian", but it didn't describe the process as much as I hoped it would.The suprising reason for the lack of complete explanation is thatthere is no complete explanation.We don't know exactly how thesecontroversial chemicals work!The most important aspect of this book isthat it explains why hallucinogen research lets us understand the mysteriesof the brain.This book is not a guidebook for acid-heads, it is foranyone interested in our brains!It is a quick read, so don't expect along rigorous exposition.My only complaint is that the Crumbillustrations have nothing to do with the text, and mainly just supply atextual scenery. ... Read more

Product Description
'What do I have in common with the Jews? I don't even have anything in common with myself.' Nothing could better express the essence of Franz Kafka. Alienated from his roots, his family, his surroundings, and even his own body, Kafka created a unique literary language in which to hide away. This fantastic introduction reveals the dark humour in Kafka as well as the paranoid side he is better known for. ... Read more

Product Description
Thirty-Six different characters with short histories on the reverse! R. Crumb Trading Cards is the perfect gift or addition to the collection of any even half-serious Crumb fan. The boxed set is very similar in format to the popular Heroes of the Blues, Early Jazz Greats and Pioneers of Country Music card sets also published by Denis Kitchen Publishing and available here and from specialty retailers everywhere.

Featured characters include... the mysterious guru Mr. Natural; his loyal devotee Flakey Foont; The Nerds; Pete the Plumber (and his sidekick Plungo); Whiteman and Yeti the Bigfoot both from Homegrown Funnies; Ruff Tuff Creampuff; the raining Meatball from Zap #0; Shuman the Human; Dirty Dog; Smelly Old Cat; The Desperate Character; Mr. Appropriate (way ahead of his time on the ecology front); Vulture Demoness (the dominatrix from Big Ass #1-2); Eggs Ackley (whose eyeballs were stolen by crows in Motor City #1); Sally Blubberbutt; Fritz the Cat (star of the Ralph Bakshi animated cartoons who was then permanently killed in People s Comix); Those Cute Little Bearzy Wearzies (Jippo and Boopsy); The big-foot character from Keep on Truckin ; Onion Head; Patricia Pig; Forky O Donnell (you don t want to have lunch with this guy!); Squirelly the Squirrel; Cheesis K. Reist, star of Hamburgers! ; Boingy Baxter; The Simp and The Gimp; Ruth Schwartz (the original gurl in Big Ass #1 who later helped Flakey Foont institutionalize Mr. Natural in Mr. Natural #3); Devil Girl (from before she had a line of candy); Mr. Snoid; Angelfood McSpade, The Old Pooperoo; Dale Steinberger the Jewish Cowgirl; Joe Blow (from the infamous Zap #4 bust); Little Johnny Fuckerfaster; Bo Bo Belinski (the drunk, not the baseball player); and Robert Crumb himself (a nice self-portrait, but he s also a regular cast member).

On the back of each card is a concise character synopsis written by the late comics historian Dave Schreiner, accompanied by 2-color bonus illustrations. All in a snappy box designed by R. Crumb and Pete Poplaski.

Publisher s Note: This is the first printing from Denis Kitchen Publishing. Old hippies and a few collectors will remember a similar set published by Kitchen Sink Press way back in 1991. How is this set different? First, if you compare boxes, the cover design has been significantly tweaked by Crumb: his background characters and cityscape in the 1991 version are gone and the I am not a swan quote is new. The box lettering is new and bolder. The new box has a glossy finish. The Patricia Pig image (card #21) is all-new, and the beak on Vulture Demoness (card #14) has been fixed, among the differences discerning fans will note. In summation, the sets, two decades apart, are very similar, but certainly not identical. ... Read more

Product Description
A collection of cartoon strips by Robert Crumb, including previously unpublished strips as well as more of his favourite and most successful ones. All are decorated in colour, and there are photographs, portraits and text by Crumb himself.Amazon.com Review
Fans of underground comics god R. Crumb know that he started his career ingreeting cards, but few have seen examples of his earliest work.Fortyyears of his commercial and otherwise unpublished output is collected inOdds & Ends, a lovely companion piece to his better-known work inZap Comics, Weirdo, and the rest. Including advertisementsand announcements done for friends and family, magazine illustrations, andsome surprisingly sensitive portraits, the book is essential for those whowant to see how the man's work evolved in private, parallel to hispublished work. Odds & Ends shows Crumb at his silly, geeky best. --Rob Lightner ... Read more

Customer Reviews (4)

Odd, and no end of it
Odd (in a good way) and no end of it

R. Crumb's" Odds and Ends" is just that -- a collection of this and that from every corner of his private life and work. Crumb gives us his valentines to wife Aline, birth and wedding announcements made for friends, sketches of people he knows, depiction of little-know Black jazz musicians from the 20s and 30s, overs from alternate newspapers and other assorted bric-a-cric. This books is probably noa good intro to Crumb's work, but is more for the Crumb fanatic who wants to see everything the master has ever done.

A Crumb you probably haven't seen
Given Crumb's countercultural weirdness and his penchant for big-bummed women, the title Odds & Ends given this collection is perfect--and surely must originate with Crumb himself!

Odds & Ends focuses largely (but not exclusively) on Crumb the "commercial" artist.Arranged more or less chronologicaly, the book reproduces cards he drew when working, in the early days, for American Greeting Cards; buttons for various causes; illustrations for grassroots community newspapers like "Winds of Change"; baby shower, wedding, and anniversary announcements; letter heads, business card illustrations, and book covers; political cartoons defending environmentalism and mocking Maggie Thatcher (she's depicted as a hen laying rotten eggs) and religious intolerance (a gorilla, thumping his chest and hooting, who wears a T-shirt with a Moral Majority logo); "high-end" sketch portraits (e.g., Woody Guthrie, Alan Dershowitz, George Jones) and a cover for the New Yorker; and wonderfully self-deprecating self-portraits, including one featuring Crumb holding forth to a sound-asleep interviewer.

The book's creme de la Crumb is the set of color and line illustrations Crumb drew for the 10th anniversary edition (1987) of Edward Abbey's The Monkey-Wrench Gang (a calendar featuring the drawings was also produced.I'd read about the illustrations in other places, but never had a chance to see them until running across Odds & Ends.They're absolutely wonderful, uncannily capturing Abbey's mad (but also refreshingly sane) gang of eco-heroes.

Crumb is perfectly recognizable in the illustrations collected here, and yet there's a freshness to the pieces that's captivating.Most of his fans, I suspect, will never have seen the majority of this work--at least I certainly hadn't.It's good stuff, well worth looking at and thinking about.

What a neat book!
Don't let the fact that it's a remaindered book keep you away!This is a wonderful hardcover collection (no jacket) of Crumb extras:doodles, sketches, advertisements, and comics.The majority are in black and white, but there is some color.Great drawings of Robert Johnson, the Cheap Suit Serenaders, and Tina Lockwood (wooo!), as well as sketches of various women.A few of his trademark characters are also here, including Devil Girl and the Vulture Women.Some photos are included, as well.It's an absolute bargain!

Another great collection of Crumb's work
A must for R. Crumb aficionados, this beautifully designed hardcover collects many of the illustrations done for projects as varied as novels, greeting cards, scripts, and birth announcements, as well as unpublished work. Great stuff! R. Crumb is the master of pen and ink. ... Read more

Product Description
High Quality Content by WIKIPEDIA articles! Robert Dennis Crumb (born August 30, 1943) - known as R. Crumb - is an American artist and illustrator recognized for the distinctive style of his drawings and his critical, satirical, subversive view of the American mainstream. He currently lives in Southern France with his wife Aline Kominsky-Crumb. Crumb was a founder of the underground comix movement and is regarded as its most prominent figure. Though one of the most celebrated of comic book artists, Crumb's entire career has unfolded outside the mainstream comic book publishing industry. One of his most recognized works is the "Keep on Truckin'" comic, which became a widely distributed fixture of pop culture in the 1970s. Others are the characters Devil Girl, Fritz the Cat, and Mr. Natural. ... Read more

Product Description
Chapters: Fritz the Cat, Angelfood Mcspade, Mr. Natural, Keep on Truckin'. Source: Wikipedia. Pages: 26. Not illustrated. Free updates online. Purchase includes a free trial membership in the publisher's book club where you can select from more than a million books without charge. Excerpt: Fritz the Cat is a comic strip created by Robert Crumb. Set in a "supercity" of anthropomorphic animals, the strip focuses on Fritz, a feline con artist who frequently goes on wild adventures that involve a variety of sexual escapades. Crumb began drawing this character in homemade comic books when he was a child. Fritz became his most famous character. The strip appeared in Help! and Cavalier magazines. It subsequently gained prominence in publications associated with the underground comix scene between 1965 and 1972. Fritz the Cat comic compilations elevated the strip into one of the most iconic features of the underground scene. The strip received further attention when it was adapted into a 1972 animated film with the same name. The directorial debut of animator Ralph Bakshi, it became a worldwide success. It was the first animated feature film to receive an X rating in the United States and the most successful independent animated feature ever. Crumb ended the strip in 1972 due to disagreements with the filmmakers. He published a story in which Fritz was murdered by an ex-girlfriend. A second animated film, The Nine Lives of Fritz the Cat, was produced in 1974 without the involvement of either Bakshi or Crumb. Robert Crumb created Fritz the Cat in 1959, influenced by Walt Kelly's Pogo.Fritz the Cat was created in a 1959 by Robert Crumb in a homemade comic book story called "Cat Life", based on experiences of Fred, the family cat. The character next appearance in a 1960 story titled "Robin Hood". By this point the cat had become anthropomorphic and been renamed Fritz, a name derived from a minor unrelated character who appeared briefly...More: http://booksllc.net/?id=530774 ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

"Lurid, Licentious, and Vile: Make Me Smile"
I have an original printing of this notorious underground comic that I had purchased in a "head shop" in New Orleans in the early 70's. But since the pages were turning brown from oxidation, I got this copy as a backup for my permanent collection. The stories rage with the animal lust and complete moral abandon of a wild and horny monkey on steroids; it's absolutely wonderful.

zap
If you are a true zap comic lover you gotta get this one,it is very funny illustrtions are great,A true old hippie omic,so trun on the black lite burn some insence,litea fatty and drop back into the day,have fun and laugh sufi steveyray ... Read more