Divebin #4: Crumb Biography, Dan Nadel on Wallace Wood, Drawing Again

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There’s been a bit of a Crumbissance lately due to the release of Dan Nadel’s biography, Crumb: A Cartoonist’s Life. Nadel had complete access to Crumb and clearly respects the man and his work, but the book is far from a hagiography. Crumb granted his involvement on the condition that his story be told warts and all, and as everyone who has seen the famed Zwigoff documentary knows, there are a lot of warts.

I’ve recently finished the book, and it’s an easy recommend to anyone interested in the legendary cartoonist’s life and work. While those long acquainted with Robert Crumb likely know much of the story, there are parts that haven’t been covered anywhere else (such as Aline’s death).

Still, there’s room for criticism. One aspect unexplored is Crumb’s contentious status in the current comics scene. Despite being a founding father of the underground that led to current indie alternative comics, Crumb himself is persona non grata in much of that community. This was put in stark relief after the book was published and Nadel himself was refused an appearance at the Small Press Expo.

To be fair Nadel doesn’t avoid other controversial aspects of Crumb’s life and work. Crumb’s always been a bit of a contrarian, an old school left-winger critical of the right in interviews, while at the same time rankling left-liberal sensibilities with his art. Nadel covers earlier controversies, such as Crumb’s run-ins with Trina Robbins, but stops short at more recent ones.

But it’s a small nitpick in an otherwise definitive biography. I’ll likely cover it in more depth along with Crumb’s latest comic Tales of Paranoia, coming out in November. With terms like deep state and conspiracy in the description, it’ll likely give some insight into where Crumb’s mind has been lately.

Dan Nadel on Wallace Wood

Dan Nadel was also the editor of The Comics Journal from 2011 to 2017. While doing some research on Crumb, I wasn’t totally surprised to discover that Nadel wrote one of my favorite reviews, covering Wally Wood’s EC Stories Artist’s Edition (one of my prized material possessions besides Crumb’s sketchbooks).

Wood is acknowledged as one of the legends. But I find he’s often brushed off as ‘just’ a great craftsman, under-appreciated for the richness of his art. The common conception is that his work was wooden as his last name, lacking dynamism until Kurtzman’s layouts jazzed it up. It’s a criticism not totally without merit, though I wonder how much of it originates from the late Jules Feiffer’s estimation of Wood’s work.

Feiffer worked with Wood and Eisner on The Outer Space Spirit in 1952. From an interview with Gary Groth:

FEIFFER … I didn’t understand then, and I don’t understand now, his popularity. I never got the point of Wood’s work. I didn’t like what he did for the Spirit, I didn’t like what he did before, I didn’t like the stuff for Mad magazine. I just never got it. He always seemed to me derivative. And heavy-handed, and unripe. Earnest though—he loved comics, and we got along well because we both loved comics. But when I met [Harvey] Kurtzman for the first time, or saw his work for the first time, I knew I was in the presence of someone extraordinary. It was a joy to see the work, and a joy to be around him. I knew that I was in the company of an artist. With Wood, I felt that I was in the presence of a carpenter. Somebody who worked very hard at his craft, and by working hard got results, but there were no sparks. And there was certainly no invention.

The dismissal of Wood as a ‘carpenter’ always struck me as reductive. Claiming skill as his primary strength is curious because some illustration purists point out that Wood was technically a bad artist who never quite mastered perspective or foreshortening. Yet there’s a hypnotic quality that makes his work appealing, and I think Nadel nails it down well while seeing it in all its glory:

And while it may sound nuts, Wood's work here has what can only be described as charisma. That is, the best artworks just radiate an energy — it's that ineffable thing we respond to when standing in front of, say, a drawing by H.C. Westermann or a painting by Francis Picabia: It radiates feeling. Wood has that. If you respond to artwork in general, you can't not be effected by this.

Charisma describes it well. Not that Wood’s work lacks beauty, but it’s hardly the polish of an Alex Raymond. But it has that ineffable quality that draws appreciators in, some might call it soul.

Despite The Comics Journal’s artsy reputation, its writers have a good track record of giving the unpretentious Wood his due. Another highly readable article is Austin English’s Notes Toward a Future Understanding of Wally Wood.

Drawing Again

I’ve recently finished a comic Ode to R. Crumb, signaling my return to drawing. My journey in art is unusual, and long: drawing while very young, into my teens, getting a degree in graphic design, working as a designer for about a decade, burning out, getting married, working a series of menial jobs … all along I’ve drawn off and on, but more off. But I’ve never really committed to comics, out of some misdirected sense of practicality. But sometimes too much practicality can be impractical if you’re not committing to something you clearly love to do.

So I’m gonna do it in some capacity from here on out. What else am I gonna do with the time I have left? Just as well hunker down and do something I love. And though I hardly see myself as some guru (or even worse, an influencer) maybe I can share some of my struggles here that could give other creators some insight and direction. Until next time …