Drawn Together

Since the 1970s, pioneering underground comics creators R. Crumb and Aline Crumb (nee Kominsky) have been drawing comics together, their distinct art styles sharing the same panels. All these works—stand-alone comics as well as shorts featured in Weirdo and the New Yorker—are now collected together in one volume. Semi-autobiographical, the stories reveal sordid details about the romantic relationship of the Crumbs, from their active (and somewhat violent) sex life in their youth to their still deviant sexual life in their sixties. Plagued by self-hatred, the creators spend most of each panel in dialogue with each other about how awful the world is, how self-deprecating they are, or how much they want to have sex. The best moments are when the Crumbs draw themselves discussing the panels they’ve already drawn together, or make notes about each other’s drawings. The thematic cohesion, despite the two very different styles, is an achievement, one further enhanced by guest illustrations from daughter Sophie and cameos from Art Spiegelman and Charles Burns. A must for Crumb fans, but these somewhat self-indulgent looks at a quirky couple may be an acquired taste for others, regardless of the high level of cartooning. (Oct)