434 MY TROUBLES WITH WOMEN
top of a pile of comatose women, stuffi ng his penis into one of their mouths. Although
an epilogue brings Crumb out of his fantasy, to be chastised by a “Lil’ Hitler Pig,” who
calls him a “poor twisted devil,” the shock eff ect is hardly vanquished by this fi nal ad-
monishment. Crumb’s women are consistently objectifi ed, often as bodies to be literally
contorted for Crumb’s self-caricatures to climb onto and penetrate; their misuse (often
presented as passive or willing) is hardly tempered by Crumb’s consistent presentation
of himself as thoroughly dominated and deranged by their powerful stature, and in his
later work, such as this volume, the image of Crumb as a self-identifi ed pervert seems
designed to be purposely unsettling alongside his depictions of himself as a doting fa-
ther and subservient husband. Here and elsewhere, Crumb can be both narcissistic and
masochistic, indulging and berating himself in turn: his claims to have reformed his life
do not, he reveals, control his fantasies, which have remained consistently disturbing,
stubbornly maintaining his emotional immaturity despite the remarkable accomplish-
ment of Crumb’s images. Indeed, if Crumb’s depictions of women (at least in his nar-
rative work, rather than his more fl attering portraits) seem to have never developed
beyond adolescent fascination and revulsion, this collection off ers examples of his ma-
ture style as an artist. Such contradictions are perhaps at the heart of Crumb’s career, an
odd balance of hard-won artistic legitimacy and a still disreputable status, both in some
measure celebrated by his fans.
A number of subsequent publications have also focused on Crumb’s representations
of women and sexuality, though these are again persistent themes of a now long career:
both the gentle Gotta Have ‘ Em: Portraits of Women (Greybull Press, 2003) and the
unapologetic Robert Crumb’s Sex Obsessions (Taschen, 2007) were packaged as fi ne art
collector editions. Th e Sweeter Side of R. Crumb (MQ Publications, 2006) also seeks
to temper the artist’s reputation as a misanthropic sexist. In addition to their collab-
orative work, collected in Th e Complete Dirty Laundry Comics (Last Gasp, 1993) and
Crumb Family Comics (Last Gasp, 1998), Aline Kominsky-Crumb’s perspective on her
famous husband is provided by sections of her Need More Love: A Graphic Memoir
(MQ Publications, 2007).
Corey K. Creekmur
