Book of Mr. Natural

Great to see a collection of Mr. Natural!

If--perish the thought!--all of R. Crumb's work except his Mr Natural comix were lost to humankind, we'd still have what I take to be his most important legacy. An entire college course could be taught--probably HAS been taught somewhere--with the Mr Natural comix as texts.Mr Natural is a guru who does exactly what good gurus ought to do: he shakes us up by refusing to act like we think holy people should act. He has a roving eye for the ladies, he cusses, at times he appears heartless or indifferent, and the advice he offers--when he does offer it, which isn't all that often--frequently comes across as whacky. He's so irreverent that it's easy to see him as irrelevant. But nothing could be further from the truth, because Mr Natural is like one of those Taoist sages who, dressed in rags and laughing uproariously, serve as living reminders for the rest of us not to take ourselves, our lifestyles, and our values so seriously. Self-honesty is what Mr Natural wants from us.As Flakey Foont discovers over and over in the Mr Natural comix, though, self-honesty is hard to come by, because self-deception feels so damn good, especially to us "booshwah" types. We deceive ourselves all the time about our seething sexual desires ("Mr Natural stops Talking," "The Girlfriend," and the marvelous Devil Girl stories). We deceive ourselves about our piety, pretending that what we want to believe is what we should believe ("Mr Natural Goes to a Meeting of the Minds," "Om Sweet Om," and "Sittin' Around the Kitchen Table"). We deceive ourselves about work and ambition ("It's a workaday World") and, in one of the best two stories in this volume, we deceive ourselves when we think about God ("Mr Natural Meets 'The Kid'").* In all these stories, sacred cow after sacred cow runs off into the sunset, mooing gaily.And as if all that's not good enough, R. Crumb gives us the definitive biography of Mr Natural--complete with early and rare photos--in this volume (pp. 42-44). This story alone is worth the price of the entire book.Truly, a great collection!_________* The other best story here is "Mr Natural's 719th Meditation."

The only thing in color is the jacket. The contents are black and white. I remember the comics in color.

Fantastic book, fantastic supplier. Thank you

Shipping was a bit slow. Item arrived well packaged. However, the item description told me that this book is a 1995 printing. It is a second 2022 printing. Regardless, the book is a wild ride through the mind of Robert Crumb. The underground comic book artist. I highly recommend this book to those who can appreciate potentially offensive adult subject matter.

The first half of the book, with the 1970s era simply drawn Mr. Natural underground comics, was wonderful. But then the second half was 1990s era long ones with Devil Girl; these were so different it's as if there was a different artist involved. I'll keep it for the first half.

I've always been an R. Crumb fan and with this purchase I relived that 60s' experience again.

If you were a child of the 60's, Crumb rules! Some say sick, others say brilliantly funny stuff! Mr. Natural in the desert with Big Baby one of the most hilarious Cartoons!

underated crumb hero

If you've got this far you'll know all about Mr Natural so you don't need me to tell you how great the little guy is. However, the Amazon description tells you the book is complete but there is at least one story missing - the one where Mr Natural falls down a well, fights the devil, loses his clothes, decides to form a commune, and goes to Flakey Foont and Ruth's place to tell them of his idea... whereupon they declare him crazy and get him put in a mental home for ten years. The story the follows it is in here (the whole books in chronological order), unfortunately this tale isn't, wonder why?