| The Superman and the Deviant Artist: A Reflection on Auto-Biography in Crumb |
| Written by LC | Tuesday, 10 February 2009 22:20 | |||
 Robert Crumb's focus on self-depiction of his reality and fantasies is a factor that helps distance his work from the mainstream superhero comics that dominated – and continue to dominate – the comics market. My Troubles With Women features the author as a main character, and Crumb's presentation of himself as a perverted psychopath establishes the next stage of evolution (or devolution) in comics. Tracing the lineage of comics up to the late 80's, there is a clear path of progression from the “perfect” Superman of the 30's to Marvel's flawed heroes of the 60's to the superhero deconstruction in Watchmen and DKR. However, while these latter works treated with ambivalence their characters who firmly believed in their own morality and righteousness, My Troubles mainly avoids the potential for a conflicted viewpoint in exchange for self-mockery and a portrayal of the real experiences of, as Crumb puts it, a “crazy artist” (“My Troubles pt. 2,” pg. 10). It is through this irreverent auto-biography that Crumb challenges cultural, social, and political norms that have dominated the American way of thinking for generations.Crumb's deviation from the mainstream is marked by some aesthetic changes in addition to the broader thematic issues. First, the artwork relies heavily on extensive use of hatching and shading, not only to help present the grittiness of reality but also to minimize production costs by eliminating the need for expensive coloring. Second, the comic is centered around a weak man and strong women, inverting the typical superhero formula where there is a powerful male character and a dependent damsel in distress. These strong female characters that Crumb lusts over, though, are particularly unattractive by normal standards, and this contrasts significantly with the superheroines of mainstream comics, such as Wonder Woman, Catwoman, and Storm, who are representative of society's ideals of beauty. Lastly, the amateurish drawings and lettering by Aline emphasize the comic's connection to personal and mundane subject matter, especially in the sense that Crumb values Aline's creative role more than his own ability to draw her realistically. These factors combine to create a visual style completely different from anything being done by the mainstream comic industry. The style and content of My Troubles not only demonstrate the viability of comics existing outside of the mainstream but also display the necessity for comics to develop along with society. While there was no market for hyper-sexualized comics in the 30's-60's, a combination of specialized comic stores, an older audience, and cultural shifts meant that the opportunity was finally there for “weirdos” like Crumb to use comics to fully express themselves. Culturally, though, the subjects in My Troubles were nothing new – concepts like id, repression, and libido had been coined and popularized since the early 20th century and have been inherent in human nature since the dawn of civilization. Hence, our experience of Crumb operates on two levels: in one sense, we must relate to Crumb because he embodies universal psychological turmoil, and in the other sense we must distance ourselves from Crumb because he reacts to his inner turmoil in grossly inappropriate ways. However, I think the portrayal of sexual deviance in general is not as significant and important as is Crumbs's choice to publicize and sell his experiences. Every facet of our collective consciousness, as well as the comic itself, affirms that Crumb is a crazy pervert and that it is wrong for him to think and behave the way he does; yet, despite this blatant social pressure to obscure or even deny his wrongness, Crumb is somehow comfortable with showing his perverseness and lack of self-control as well as trying to explain and understand his deviancy. As a result, Crumb makes it possible to view and  analyze his kind of psychology through an introspective lens rather than choosing to sweep his problems under a figurative carpet.Crumb's deviancy is the main appeal in his comics: they fascinate us with a level of irreverence that we, ourselves, are not capable of; an irreverence delivered in the purest, most genuine way, which is through self-ridicule. All of My Troubles' inversions of and contrasts with American mainstream comics work stylistically to further foster this irreverence in the direction of popular culture (in this case, specifically popular comics culture). Crumb's highlighting of his weaknesses and misdoings differs spectacularly with the grandfathers of the superhero industry, Joe Shuster and Jerry Siegel, who dealt with their feelings of inadequacy and alienation by making comics about an infallible, ideal superhuman unaffected by the desires and vulnerabilities of the common man. Crumb's work is also politically irreverent in its inherent function, as it is through his marketing of his “wrong” and “perverse” thoughts and experiences through comics that Crumb is able to acquire wealth and support “correct” behavior such as supporting his family, raising a child, and making improvements to his house out in the country, suggesting that this “normal” way of life is somewhat tainted. By focusing on contradictions such as these, Crumb rejects many of the standard notions associated with our way of life while simultaneously acknowledging his role and participation in the world around him. Despite the way Crumb distances himself from society and popular culture, at times he also reminds us of normal and familiar experiences, such as when he is bullied at school in “My Troubles pt. 2” and has a mid-life crisis in “Uncle Bob's Mid-Life Crisis.” Plus, there is no explicit cause for Crumb's behavior in the book; instead, Crumb narrates in “My Troubles pt. 1," "Even as a tiny tot there was already something unsavory about my personality,” as his childhood version straddles a girl's leg. It is through instances likes these that Crumb asserts his relation and relevance to human behavior and society and avoids using his status as a social outcast as merely a vehicle for entertainment and/or shock value.
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| Last Updated on Monday, 02 March 2009 02:57 |
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