R. Crumb Sketchbook HC (2016 Taschen) comic books 2018

Volume 3 - 1st printing. "Jan. 1975 - Dec. 1982!"

Combining volumes 5 and 6 from the second R. Crumb Sketchbook boxed set, and produced directly from the original artworks, this is one big 444-page Crumb feast for way less than his rare originals. Among the hundreds of subjects included are Crumb's move to rural California, his marriage to Aline Kominsky, the birth of daughter Sophie, as well as further adventures of Mr. Natural, mischievous Snoids, Arcade comics strips, political discontent, existential angst, huge powerful women, geeky little guys, Mao Tse Tung, Mick Jagger and moral outrage, all wrapped up in a quality hard cover featuring front and back illustrations newly hand-colored by Crumb himself.

Hardcover, 7-in. x 9-in., 444 pages, full color. Cover price $40.00.

Volume 4 - 1st printing. "Dec. 1982 - Dec. 1989!"

Combining volumes 7 and 8 from the first boxed set (confusing, we know), it spans the years 1982 to 1989, a period when the artist was comfortably ensconced in rural California, raising his young daughter Sophie, who appears throughout this volume. But Crumb was still Crumb, declaring in one drawing, above a lovingly rendered tree, "As I get older I get more twisted, convoluted, depraved, cynical, embittered, self-centered, jaded, debauched, ruthless, greedy, conceited, set-in-my-ways, long-winded, absent-minded, prejudiced, closed-minded, misanthropic, nervous... To prove this self-flagellating analysis he fills the pages with his signature perversions (in country settings), scathing social commentary, cruel self-portraits, experimental cubism... and some lovely sylvan landscape. His mastery of the Rapidograph pen is at its zenith here in his 40s; we only wish he'd chosen to include his prescient comic of Donald Trump from 1989..

Hardcover, 7-in. x 9-in., 444 pages, full color. Cover price $40.00.