Underground Comics

For this section on underground comics, I read parts of Mr. Natural by Robert Crumb, and the Air Pirate Funnies. I had never had any exposure to any underground comics prior to these, and my reaction to each was quite different. I didn’t have a clue what to expect, and was rather surprised by what I found in some cases.
Robert Crumb clearly has a specific style that stands apart from any other comic artist I’ve ever encountered. The drawings are what I would describe as bulbous and in some cases grotesque. The content was also something that I would say is unique to Crumb’s work. The majority of it is driven by perverted fantasies and seems to do things simply because he can. I wasn’t too fond of all this quite frankly. Gratuitous sex for the sake of shock value doesn’t seem to have the same effect in this age of the internet and all it’s limitless content. However after we watched the interview with Crumb and I got to see his reasoning behind things like his character style, specifically of women, I can respect it a little bit more, but it’s still just him living out his perverted teenage fantasies through his comics.
Air Pirate Funnies I found entertaining mostly because of it’s ridiculous factor. To see characters that so closely resemble those I knew as a child, engaging in acts of sexual depravity and drug related adventures brings a chuckle to me. If they were any other characters however, I probably would not see it any differently than I do Crumb’s materiel. Also I’m quite surprised that someone was gutsy enough to commit such an obvious act of copy write infringement against Disney.