Tuesday, March 1, 2016

06_ Underground Comix

        This week I have read a few stories of Robert Crumbs underground comix. What drew my attention is the weird, yet natural interest many may have with his work. Everyone, or most, has a natural draw towards sexual tendencies whether we admit it or not. 

        These stories share different sexual encounters that tend to be humorous yet very wrong. I find it difficult to know whether I should be laughing like I instinctively do or if I should feel concerned. At the same time what interests me with Robert Crumb is that his stories often feel more natural than what people want to imagine for a sex scene. We see in the movies how romantic everything is or has to be but truthfully it’s all a dream. Looking at “A Pastoral Interlude” we see two girls trying to get it on in the woods because no one knows about the secret girl scout spot. Rather than making the story follow the perfect romance they struggle to fool around because of natural obstacles. The sharp rock, the wet grass, the ants, and of course the intruding boy scouts. These are all possible problems anyone could run into while out in the woods with someone else. I respect Crumbs choice of the explicit truth we all try to hide.

        Another interesting piece from Tits and Clits is “I Was a Sex Junkie”. The style seemed to create a fifties feel as we are told so energetically what we can and can’t do. The girl seems so excited to tell us of her sex drive but at the same time she appears completely terrified. Crumb has set an interesting mood were I felt the girls excitement in her tone of voice yet we are essentially watching the life of a girl who was taken advantage of or perhaps raped. She is so turned on when thinking of it but the in the moment scenes she resists and says no but couldn’t do anything. Crumb introduces the reality of what may happen to girls that are taken advantage of at young ages. They amy turning into sexually driven women that turn to the negative aspects in life which potentially destroy them. In the end it wasn’t the life they wanted, it was forced onto them and Crumb shares that feeling of mockery as we catch ourselves be entertained by another person taken advantage of. 

        Lastly I had read Robert Crumb’s Whiteman. This was a great read for its random change of gears. The most obvious one is how smoothly Whiteman gets comfortable with the Sasquatch and basically convinces himself of how nice this new freedom was. My favorite line was when he had mentioned that his wife would never be down for whatever he had been doing to Sasquatch. I love the unnatural ending of having Whiteman completely give up his wife and kid to become an ape as well. It’s interesting to see such little care in ones actions. I think what really makes this a grossly illustrated comic are Sasquatch facial expressions and sound effects during sex. There was one moment were her vagina had HISSED... Just imagining that is disgusting but so perfect for the mood and exaggeration of this story.


        Overall Crumb’s sexual comics are interesting for bringing the hidden truth to a situation and the natural ways of life rather than the expected, perfect sexual experience. 

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