*From the beginning of his illustrious comics career, R. Crumb has maintained an ongoing sketchbook in which he draws virtually every day. Fantagraphics Books is proud to bring you these sketchbooks in a series of volumes in the same format as The Complete Crumb Comics. Volume 1 contains material from 1964-65, never before published anywhere (including in earlier German editions). This is all the material that the Crumb aficionado had never seen. Don't let the word "sketchbook" fool you; although these drawings are sketches in the sense that Crumb draws them spontaneously and in wildly varying locations, most of them are highly developed illustrations, fully inked, and meticulously rendered. They include color work and many comic strips. Many pages are simply overflowing with images. Highlighted are Crumb's by-now familiar obsessions: American society, satire, sexuality. If anything, these sketchbook pages may be even more fascinating and revealing than Crumb's formal comic strips. There is page after page that revels in the joy and playfulness of cartooning. It is filled with the gusto of cartoon exaggeration, humor, and wit along with sharp social observation, beautifully rendered urban landscapes, images of alienation and frustration, comic strips, and, of course, women, women, and more women. It is a chronicle of a great 20th century American artist.
*Source: fantagraphics.com