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Rating: 
Summary: just like us other comic geeks
Review: STwow. that is all I have to say. I have read this book twice now, and I'm sure I'll pick it up again. It is perhaps the BEST buy I have ever made. This book is a must read if you, like me, idolize R. Crumb. I am 22 years old which is about the age he wrote these letters. When I read it I felt like I was him, like I was in his skin, I was as close to greatness as I think I'll ever get. It also made me realize he was a hell of a lot like me and other social misfits. If you are nerdy, overly intellectual, sappy, idealistic and long for the path to a meaningful life, well so was R. Crumb and he found it. THis book gives me hope that I too can find hapinness, success, and your inner genius as he had.
Rating: 
Summary: Pre-fame R. Crumb is just like us other comics freaks
Review: This book is for established Crumb fans only. The subtitle "Robert Crumb Letters 1958-1977" is a bit misleading. Most of this book contains very LOOOONNNG letters written by R. to two different friends, all in the days BEFORE he got famous! Only the last 15 pages contain anything during or past his rise to power in the national spotlight, in 1968+. This is still interesting reading for Crumb fanatics, though! It gives a really concentrated and personal look at his state of mind, as a high school student, to the days of his indentured servitude to the establishment as an American Greetings commercial artist. This is mostly a book full of text, but there are still many, many pages printed as copies of the actual letters, on the many occasions when R. would illustrate many, many letters. So this is an excellent look at his formative years and state of mind. What we get is not the jaded celebrity, world reknowned artiste' of the trashy comix medium. No, no, no. Here is a hopeful loser clinging to a hopeless but relentless passion for an unrequited goal of success as an artist ON HIS OWN TERMS, but realizing that this is a astronomically unlikely goal. Cowering in the shadow of his recently past childhood of humilation and oppression, the young Crumb is resigned to his small life and grim fate, yet holding on to his dream because there simply is nowhere else to go. This is a young man at the end of his rope, at the end of hope. In other words, he is just like us, the typical Crumb fan. What makes this book so fascinating is seeing that the young Crumb truly is an immature fanboy, yet a trailblazing fanboy. He's out there as R. Crumb the pioneering fanzine maker! He's R. Crumb the obsessed collector of small, forgotten treasures of trashy pop comics and old, forgotten music. He is the prototypical comic book collector, as well as the ultimate comic collector because he eventually makes it to the other side - fame and (mis)fortune, and his world lies at his feet! But this "Vigor for Life" book only shows us the formative years, when he still writes and thinks like us, his future fans. We are like him, and this book shows R. Crumb when he truly is like us still, unknown yet dreaming hopeless dreams not based on reality. Initially, I was disappointed with this book, in that it gives so little insight into the successful R. But the book truly redeems itself with the in-depth coverage of the pre-fame R. It is also surprising to see that R. is equally obsessed with discussing his extensive musical finds of old 78s records. He talks about the fine details of obscure musicians and their releases with as much passion, love, and detail as he discusses comics! Believe me, this book contains pages and pages of nothing but talk about trivial details of release dates and catalog numbers, etc... But he also touches on plenty of life and philosophical issues. A real deep thinker for a comics fan, just like any comics fan. This book is like a fascinating evesdropping on a guy who, at this point in his life, is so much like us that he truly is R.selves. Revealing, but not spiritually uplifting, if you like Crumb, then this is worth a read, and it's an important addition to any true Crumb fan's library. If you've cared enough to read this far, then you will most likely enjoy the Crumbiness of this personal book. Recommended!
Rating:
Summary: Pre-fame R. Crumb is just like us other comics freaks
Review: This book is for established Crumb fans only. The subtitle "Robert Crumb Letters 1958-1977" is a bit misleading. Most of this book contains very LOOOONNNG letters written by R. to two different friends, all in the days BEFORE he got famous! Only the last 15 pages contain anything during or past his rise to power in the national spotlight, in 1968+. This is still interesting reading for Crumb fanatics, though! It gives a really concentrated and personal look at his state of mind, as a high school student, to the days of his indentured servitude to the establishment as an American Greetings commercial artist. This is mostly a book full of text, but there are still many, many pages printed as copies of the actual letters, on the many occasions when R. would illustrate many, many letters. So this is an excellent look at his formative years and state of mind. What we get is not the jaded celebrity, world reknowned artiste' of the trashy comix medium. No, no, no. Here is a hopeful loser clinging to a hopeless but relentless passion for an unrequited goal of success as an artist ON HIS OWN TERMS, but realizing that this is a astronomically unlikely goal. Cowering in the shadow of his recently past childhood of humilation and oppression, the young Crumb is resigned to his small life and grim fate, yet holding on to his dream because there simply is nowhere else to go. This is a young man at the end of his rope, at the end of hope. In other words, he is just like us, the typical Crumb fan. What makes this book so fascinating is seeing that the young Crumb truly is an immature fanboy, yet a trailblazing fanboy. He's out there as R. Crumb the pioneering fanzine maker! He's R. Crumb the obsessed collector of small, forgotten treasures of trashy pop comics and old, forgotten music. He is the prototypical comic book collector, as well as the ultimate comic collector because he eventually makes it to the other side - fame and (mis)fortune, and his world lies at his feet! But this "Vigor for Life" book only shows us the formative years, when he still writes and thinks like us, his future fans. We are like him, and this book shows R. Crumb when he truly is like us still, unknown yet dreaming hopeless dreams not based on reality. Initially, I was disappointed with this book, in that it gives so little insight into the successful R. But the book truly redeems itself with the in-depth coverage of the pre-fame R. It is also surprising to see that R. is equally obsessed with discussing his extensive musical finds of old 78s records. He talks about the fine details of obscure musicians and their releases with as much passion, love, and detail as he discusses comics! Believe me, this book contains pages and pages of nothing but talk about trivial details of release dates and catalog numbers, etc... But he also touches on plenty of life and philosophical issues. A real deep thinker for a comics fan, just like any comics fan. This book is like a fascinating evesdropping on a guy who, at this point in his life, is so much like us that he truly is R.selves. Revealing, but not spiritually uplifting, if you like Crumb, then this is worth a read, and it's an important addition to any true Crumb fan's library. If you've cared enough to read this far, then you will most likely enjoy the Crumbiness of this personal book. Recommended!
Rating:
Summary: Probably for completists , mostly...
Review: This collection of letters focuses primarily on R. Crumb's life from age 16 to about age 21. It's particularly useful in its presentation of how the budding artist formulated his views while he was still in such an impressionable stage of life. All 50 of the letters printed in this volume are addressed to one or the other of his youthful friends (Mike Britt and Marty Pahls), with whom he shared the primary interests of comic-book collecting (fandom) and collecting records from the 1920s. A lot of the content of these letters consists of lists of comics and records with the accompanying minutiae relating to them. While this makes for tedious reading at times, it demonstrates the obsessive passion Crumb had for the worlds of these particular collectibles. Sprinkled among the letters are incompletely formed philosophical tracts about isolation, religion, the commercialism of American society, and personal relations. It also includes some examples of early artwork which Crumb included within his letters to his friends. While this collection does not present Crumb's evolution past his early-20s, it does give the reader a sense of an idealistic, youthful, and sometimes sweet R. Crumb that his fans are unlikely to find elsewhere. So while I would recommend this to Crumb completists, I would suggest that those less knowledgable about the artist start with Zwigoff's documentary, "Crumb", or "The R.Crumb Coffee Table Art Book".
Rating:
Summary: Probably for completists , mostly...
Review: This collection of letters focuses primarily on R. Crumb's life from age 16 to about age 21. It's particularly useful in its presentation of how the budding artist formulated his views while he was still in such an impressionable stage of life. All 50 of the letters printed in this volume are addressed to one or the other of his youthful friends (Mike Britt and Marty Pahls), with whom he shared the primary interests of comic-book collecting (fandom) and collecting records from the 1920s. A lot of the content of these letters consists of lists of comics and records with the accompanying minutiae relating to them. While this makes for tedious reading at times, it demonstrates the obsessive passion Crumb had for the worlds of these particular collectibles. Sprinkled among the letters are incompletely formed philosophical tracts about isolation, religion, the commercialism of American society, and personal relations. It also includes some examples of early artwork which Crumb included within his letters to his friends. While this collection does not present Crumb's evolution past his early-20s, it does give the reader a sense of an idealistic, youthful, and sometimes sweet R. Crumb that his fans are unlikely to find elsewhere. So while I would recommend this to Crumb completists, I would suggest that those less knowledgable about the artist start with Zwigoff's documentary, "Crumb", or "The R.Crumb Coffee Table Art Book".
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