Every comics fan of a certain age or level of degeneracy owns at least one book or comic by Robert Crumb. Since he bummed a ride to San Francisco in 1967, and later that year began his ascent to “America’s Best-Loved Underground Cartoonist” status, Crumb has published a seemingly endless number of comics and books, the latter mostly reprint after reprint of the former.

In his brief introduction to THE SWEETER SIDE OF R. CRUMB, signed as by “Mr. Nicey-Nice Himself,” the artist insists that his work is not beloved by the ladies. Perhaps they don’t appreciate his patronizing tone, or think the joke it conveys is worth the grating condescension.

THE SWEETER SIDE OF R. CRUMB is a sustained joke – from its cover design, looking like a dime-store diary with a picture on it of Crumb wearing a beret and carrying a sketch pad in one hand and a kitty in the other, to an interior trio of nudes with butts so big they’d make Rubens grab a handful of tissues.

Many of the pictures are drawings of Crumb’s beloved early-20th century blues musicians, portraits of the women in his life (past and present) or still lifes. Some of these will come as a revelation to fans who only know the Crumb of Zap and Big Butt. If that’s what you want, look elsewhere. The only picture that so much as hints at the sex-crazed underground comics guy is a 1996 cartoon picturing a boy and girl teddy bear in a claw foot bathtub. He is stroking his ukulele (that’s not a euphemism) and crooning “Singing in the bathtub … happy once again … watchin’ all my troubles … go dripping down the drain …” while she uses a loofah to scrub her back. The teddy bearette has a set of chest bumpers any cartoon lass would envy.

The book contains fewer than 100 pages at a cost of $30. The publisher identifies it as a “graphic novel,” which it isn’t. There’s no real continuity to it at all.

I like Crumb, but this is a definite get-it-from-the-library book. If you like it when you check it out and can’t wait for a paperback edition, well, it’s your money. Personally, I suspect the real Crumb would consider you a sucker if you paid $30 for it, but maybe he’s a more understanding and charming guy than I think he is. Is it possible to be a cuddly cynic? –Doug Bentin

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