History Creator / RobertCrumb

* BornInTheWrongCentury: Crumb is very fond of the 1920s and 1930s, generally hating most aspects of pop culture after the 1940s. a theme that can be found in his work as well. Music of the 1950s onward is the biggest example, recounting that he "fell asleep" at Music/TheGratefulDead and Music/JimiHendrix concerts, and thought that certain modern blues musicians would be more appealing to him if they played ''acoustic'' guitars, finding the sound of the electric guitar to be intolerable. The love for the early 20th century didn't him from [[{{Irony}} making comics that probably would have gotten him arrested then however]].

* BlackJezebelStereotype: [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Angelfood_McSpade Angelfood McSpade]], one of Creator/RobertCrumb's most notorious creations, may be the trope codifier, being a black woman with large exposed breasts, large buttocks, and almost no clothing save for some jewelry and a skirt made from palm leaves. The narration regularly describes her voracious sexual appetite, and claims that she has to be confined to "the wilds of darkest Africa" because civilization would collapse if she were allowed to run free. Crump had a ParodyRetcon in 2004 claiming she was a criticism of the stereotype, but the fact that he retired her in the 1970s really didn't help.

* {{Blackface}}: This imagery is frequently satirized in Crumb's work, which was ironically accused of being racist itself, even though the intent was actually to ''satirize'' racism. Considering ''ComicBook/AmericanSplendor'' and his more realistic portrayals of African-Americans (including portraits of blues musicians he admired), Crumb did not use blackface imagery outside of his satires (including "Angelfood [=McSpade=]" and the parody ad for "Nigger Hearts").
* BornInTheWrongCentury: Crumb is very fond of the 1920s and 1930s and generally hates almost any aspect of modern life after the 1940s. It's a theme that can be found in his work as well. [[{{Irony}} And yet he makes comics that probably would have gotten him arrested back then]].

** Though one of his most famous works is the album cover to ''Cheap Thrills'' by Music/JanisJoplin's band Big Brother & the Holding Company, Crumb dislikes that band's music, and rock music in general.

* CreatorThumbprint: Among his non-sexual interests include classic cartoons and comics, blues and jazz music. He has an express dislike for modern-sounding music, recounting that he "fell asleep" at Music/TheGratefulDead and Music/JimiHendrix concerts, and thought that certain modern blues musicians would be more appealing to him if they played ''acoustic'' guitars, finding the sound of the electric guitar to be intolerable. Crumb also founded a retro-based band, the Cheap Suit Serenaders, which plays 1920s jazz, blues, country, Hawaiian and pop songs, although he hasn't played with them since the late 70s. (Another known member of the band, Creator/TerryZwigoff, later directed the documentary ''Crumb'', and some mainstream films like ''Film/GhostWorld'', ''Film/ArtSchoolConfidential'', and ''Film/BadSanta''.)

* MatzoFever: Frequently references his love of Jewish women in his comics.

Robert Dennis Crumb (born August 30, 1943) is an UndergroundComics creator best known for ''Zap Comix'', "Keep on Truckin", ''ComicBook/FritzTheCat'', ''Mr. Natural'' and the album cover for Big Brother and the Holding Company's ''Music/CheapThrills (1968)''. He began his career working for Topps and the American Greetings corporation; there, he drew several of the earliest ''Fritz the Cat'' comics and the graphic novel ''Oggie and the Beanstalk''. He had some work published by Harvey Kurtzman in ''Help!'' magazine, but [[EverybodyMustGetStoned experiences with LSD]] led him to create some of his best-known comics, which he either published himself or submitted to other underground publications.

Some of this work earned him a lot of criticism from other underground cartoonists and social commentators. Works depicting {{Blackface}}-inspired imagery and [[NWordPrivileges use of the N-word]] earned Crumb false accusations of racism, even though the comics were actually a ''satire'' of racism, not racist work in of itself. Harder to deny, however, was Crumb's [[HeManWomanHater rampant misogyny]]: his comics frequently featured women being beaten up and raped, and even enjoying being sexually assaulted. Crumb commentators have associated this viewpoint with Crumb's then-unhappy marriage, noting that after remarrying and having a daughter, Crumb has drawn significantly more feminist-themed material since the 1980s.

** [[UpToEleven Flakey Foont]]

* BlackComedy: His comics frequently use this type of humor.

* FanDisservice: Some pornographic scenes he draws are examples of BlackComedyRape, IncestIsRelative and even ILoveTheDead, all done more to shock his audience than anything else. It's a wonder whether anyone except himself ever got aroused reading this stuff. He's openly admitted to illustrating it mainly because he had incredibly disturbing desires that he was afraid to discuss with other people.

* IncestIsRelative: One of Crumb's most infamous stories, "Joe Blow," depicts this in father/daughter mother/son variance.

* MushroomSamba

* BigBeautifulWoman: One of his many specific fetishes

* BiggusDickus: Crumb himself, according to ex-wife.

* FearfulSymmetry: Was it in "Ruff Tuff Creampuff"? Can't remember.

* {{Blackface}}: This imagery is frequently satirized in Crumb's work, which was ironically accused of being racist itself, even though the intent was actually to ''satirize'' racism. Considering ''ComicBook/AmericanSplendor'' and his more realistic portrayals of African-Americans (including portraits of blues musicians he admired), Crumb did not use blackface imagery outside of his satires (including "Angelfood [=McSpade=]" and the parody ad for "Nigger Hearts").