Aline Kominsky-Crumb (1948–2022)

This book is great! It's like hanging out with a best friend! Lately I've been thinking about friends of my mother that I haven't seen since the '90s, like Corinne with all the lawn art, or Deborah with the big butt, all unmarried artists with curly hair and a lot of jewelry. This book is the spiritual bridge between me and them. I can't tell you how much... that means to me...!

Aline Kominsky Crumb is one of the pioneers of women’s comix and the book draws on her remarkable body of strips from the ‘60’s undergrounds, through anthologies such as “Twisted Sister” and onto more recent work such as “Self Loathing Comics”, with husband R. Crumb. Her style of drawing is sketchy, scratchy and wild, with her self-portraits being nothing short of grotesque. That vitriolic art, however, when combined with her humorous, challenging and painfully self-critical show more writing makes for some of the most personal, unflinching and revealing comics of the last thirty years. The book itself is a weighty autobiographical tome that tells her story through both prose and comics, following Aline’s life from being a nice Jewish girl in Long Island, New York through her struggles with her dysfunctional family, into the bohemian Greenwich Village scene and on to the Californian sex, drugs underground comix scene. Aline is unflinchingly honest about herself, but this can at times feel like self-obsession and self indulgence. Some areas are mysteriously skipped over and large years just disappear. R. Crumb is obviously a looming presence but he does not overwhelm. The book also pulls together all kinds of art, photographs and memorabilia, most of which is presented in full, glorious colour. Overall the book is an excellent read that throws new light on a highly individualistic, important and sadly underrated artist. show less

Kominsky-Crumb's ugly art and perverse confessional writing style are not without their charm in this large collection of strips produced over decades, and I enjoyed the first 50 pages more than I expected as I read through them at a leisurely pace. But the book was coming due at the library and I decided to power through the next 150 pages in a day, and at that pace the short strips start to take on a whiny and repetitive drone.

I allowed myself to slow down for one of the last and longest show more stories in the collection, which benefited from having an actual structure as the author revisited the homes she has had throughout her life.

Kominsky-Crumb will never be one of my favorite creators, but this book is worth a look for its artistic and historical value. show less

I have enjoyed quite some of Robert Crumb's works in the past. Sadly, I can't say the same about Kominsky's. Nevertheless, I gave it a try and secretly hoped to like the experience. It didn't really work out…

I keep wondering.. why, Robert? WHYYY? Why did you put up with this? Why did you wait for Aline to finish a certain story? Sure, you can't rush things… and probably you had other things going on as well… but 2 years? Come on?! :D
You should have finished it all by yourself.. and I show more might have liked it a bit better ;)

If you are a Crumb-fan, go ahead… it's worth checking out this collaboration. But if you are unfamiliar with either of them, I have only one address: Robert Crumb! show less