Way back in the 70s, when I was a pseudo-hippie, one of the great hippie-icons was R. Crumb's "Mr. Natural." From rcrumb.com: "Robert Crumb was born in Philadelphia on Aug. 30, 1943, to a Marine father and Catholic mother. His family moved frequently during his childhood, and moved to Delaware in 1956 when his father retired after twenty years in the U.S. Marine Corps. Robert’s mother often behaved erratically and was probably manic depressive. Robert was a faithful Catholic until he was sixteen. His biggest influence during his youth was his older brother Charles, who loved comics and who co-wrote many of the comics they produced as children. Crumb was anything but popular in high school and felt alienated."
Crumb writes: "I started taking L.S.D. in Cleveland in June of ’65. That changed my head around. It made me stop taking cartooning so seriously and showed me a whole other side of myself.” After a temporary breakup with [wife] Dana, Robert traveled to New York, Chicago, and Detroit during this acid-soaked period and created many of his future characters: Mr. Natural, Mr. Snoid and Angelfood McSpade."
"Except for the occasional expedition to Paris or America, Crumb has nestled himself in the south of France, where he is hard at work on a long-term project illustrating the book of Genesis."
See that? R. Crumb's book of Genesis is done. It'll come out in October 2009. See "R. Crumb Zaps the Bible." Crumb says, “It’s very visual. It’s lurid. Full of all kinds of crazy, weird things that will really surprise people.”
