Where's Crumb - Summer 2009

Robert flew to the West Coast early May and visited some old friends. Around May 21st he took the train to Minneapolis where his extended family members brought him to his family's roots in Southeast Minnesota. After some days there, Robert came down to Madison to sign the new Wildwood Serigraph edition (San Francisco Comics).

We have some pictures of our luncheon at John Roussos' New Orleans take-out where Robert ate Jumbalaya, lamp chops, asparagus and bread pudding, The guy can put it down.



Afterward we ambled through the Chazen museum where there was a show about underground comics.



Late May he flew back to France from O'Hare where he will soon begin his collaborative book with Aline. He'll probably be back this Fall for the release of Genesis.

Where's Crumb - Spring 2009

Robert has finished the Genesis project. It's 201 pages. He has also finished the Cover, the Introduction, the commentary (for the back sleeve) and also the Map, which will be in the beginning of the book. The book is soon going to production and it's planned to be released this fall.

And what are his plans now that this huge project is complete? He has to catch up on his correspondence which has been building up some time now. And then a little break—a journey to the States. He and Aline are talking about collaborating on a book upon his return, but that's later this summer.

Where's Crumb - Fall 2008

Robert is on page 184 of Genesis at this time in mid-October. He's scripted the book to be 201 pages long, so he only has about 17 pages to go. Then he has the cover and introduction and other odds and ends of course, but he's in the home stretch! He's currently in Paris now, but he'll soon return to Southern France and resume his work. Hopefully he'll finish the project by this year. At least, we all hope he does.

Where's Crumb - Summer 2008 by Aline Kominsky Crumb

"Robert, Sophie and I arrived at The Crumb Family Farm (established in 1878) for the 130th Crumb Family Reunion, July 12th, 2008. Robert's father, "Chuck," was one of 14 brothers and sisters. Seven of them are still alive and five were there, in New Richland, Minnesota, with various spouses, children, grandchildren and great grandchildren for this years family picnic. There was a cousin from Australia, two from Hawaii and of course, we came from France.

Upon arriving we immediately noticed the resemblance among the Crumb decendants. The Crumb genes seem to dominate, even if it's crossed with my eastern European Jewish genes—our daughter was instantly recognizable to many relatives she had never met before. One cousin, Laurie, who also married a Jew, was astonished by Sophie's resemblance to her son. The most amazing resemblance, however, was that of Robert and his cousin Scott Rollenhagen, who hadn't seen each other since 1952. They are the same height and build (including turkey neck and protruding adam's apple) and were dressed identically down to the sandals with socks and old man's cap. They both have little white beards and thick rimless glasses. Robert, Sophie and Scott played music together at`the party, never having rehearsed or discussed anything in advance. They all knew a lot of the same tunes and had no trouble playing for a few hours. Scott is also an artist, although we haven't seen his work. Robert sez, "Scott is the alternate me. the not famous me, who lives in peace and seclusion in the woods of northern Minnesota." Robert was moved and intrigued by Scott and fantascized a lot about what it would be like to be him!

In general, the Crumb Family was more open, intelligent, liberal and eccentric than I had imagined. Even tho I stood out like a Christmas tree, no one seemed to notice or care. The whole time we were in Minnesota, we stayed at cousin Diane Wendland"s house, along with Robert's sister Carol and nephew Avery. Diane's hospitality was boundless and we really fell in love with her and her 6 toed cats. Cousin Gail put us up in Madison, where we got to know Larry, our half Japanese cousin from Hawaii and visited Alex Wood. We really liked Madison; it seemed like a very liveable place. All in all my preconceptions about Midwestern America were untrue and my fears about meeting the other side of the family were unfounded...Live and Learn, EH???

Voila

That's all folks,"

-Aline Kominsky Crumb

Where's Crumb? - Summer 2008

Robert is planning on coming to America this summer to attend a family reunion in the Midwest. While in the Midwest, he'll sign a couple of new editions we're now printing. He's been working diligently on the Genesis project and is now on page 167—rounding the bend and coming down the final stretch.

Where's Crumb - Spring 2008

Robert is in Southern France this Spring working on the Genesis project. He's working on page 145 presently. He has no other plans other than to illustrate as many pages as he is able before a possible excursion to the US this summer. That trip is tentative at this point, but it would be the first summer visit in several years. Also, Last Gasp is very close to reprinting the Hup series comics books (created in the mid to late 1980's) which have been out of print for some time. This would be very exciting, as the Hup series (four comic books) contain the introduction of Stan "the man" Schnooter, If I Were A King and of course, the return of Mr. Natural and the introduction of The Devil Girl.

Where's Crumb - December 2007

After a short West Coast and East Coast tour on the USA in November, Robert and Aline are back in France. Crumb wants to spend the second half of December and all of January and February working on the Genesis project without interruption. If it means leaving his house and hiding out, so be it. He showed us copies of almost all of the 123 pages he has completed so far, and I can tell you Robert Crumb is at the height of his powers as an illustrator.

The German publishers Taschen plan to release their new book R. Crumb's Sex Obsessions in December, and we're working on purchasing some to sell on this site.