Does anybody under 40 have ANY familiarity with this?
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Familiarity, yes. Knowledge, no.
… and I just realised I’m 40+ …
I just turned 40, so I guess I’m the cutoff?
The Yellow Kid, right?
I know who it is, just making an age point.
I’d have to be under 40 to answer the question.
You might have been able to push that to 50. I mean, I’m 56 and while I know who that is and who the artist is, that’s about it.
I’m on the wrong side of 40 to be a proper data point, but I’ve a few friends in their early 30s who are way more familiar with Crumb than I am (I could recognize most of his big characters, know a bit about the man himself, and could recognize his style from a mile off, but haven’t read a whole lot of his work), so…yes, they would definitely recognize Mr Natural.
People of all ages know of Garfield and Peanuts because of the continual merchandising and publicity that goes on. R. Crumb, who permanently moved to France a long time ago, does very little self-promotion or merchandising. His works are slipping away into obscurity, and for all I know he prefers it that way.
“Keep on Truckin’ !”
R. Crumb did the entire Book of Genesis in comic book form. It’s done verbatim.
Hmmm, when I was under 40 I recognized Howdy Doody and resented people assuming I wouldn’t, so I imagine there are some under 40 who recognize it.
But even more I resented people who assumed I *would* recognize Howdy Doody and viewed it as a moral shortcoming that I wouldn’t not familiar with with something that went off the air several years before I was born.
So I will assume most won’t. A few will. But we shouldn’t act surprised the result either way.
Then again my sisters, 43 and 53 might not. (My sister 59 would but she’d get every fact about it wrong and might not, but probably would, be able to name him.)
I’m going to embarrass myself and ask my twenty to thirty something game/trivia buddies. I predict two will know something like “he’s that … that guy… ” and seven will have no idea.
Yeah…. not a single one knew it and it was all treated with an eye-roll “Oh, come on…..”
I never really read any of Crumb’s work, but I recognize it as a character of his. That’s about all.
I hadn’t followed him for quite some time, but when the Book of Genesis (mentioned by Ken) came along, I read it and was really wowed.
There was a failed comic that tried to launch in the 1990s. It involved a group of people travelling by ballooon. They land among a supposedly primitive group of people who “recognize” a guy who looks a bit like this as Mr. Natural. It only ran for a few months, and (1)I may be the only one who remembers it & (2) That’s all I remember.
I’m 41 and have seen the character and know of R. Crumb, but couldn’t name him.
I have a young friend who’s in his 20s and loves Krazy Kat and Old-Time Radio, but even he probably wouldn’t recognize Mr. Natural.
I’m 60 and read the undergrounds, but I was actually too young for them. Had a brother who was 7 years older than me.
I too was a bit young for “Keep on Truckin'” and the other R. Crumb comics we had around the house, but being the oldest kid, I couldn’t get them from an older sibling. The ones I read belonged to my parents.
P.S. Shortly after Crumb’s “Genesis” was released, I received a copy as a present from my dad.
I’m 30 and I’ve seen art in this style before but I don’t know anything about it like artist, meaning, etc.
Every single word of Powers’ comment applies to me as well.
What I don’t get, when I show these things to my 20s and 30s friends and they always respond with a WTF? There’s no why in a million years I’d know that! … If they don’t know what it is, then how would they know to respond so vehemently? How do they know it’s an obscure over 40s thing they are obliged to find utterly alien rather than simply something they just don’t know?
Maybe I should do an experiment where I pick random unknown images and ask if they know them and judge their vehemence.
I mean they must recognize *something* about the image if the know they are supposed to deny knowing it so greatly.
=====
“People of all ages know of Garfield and Peanuts because of the continual merchandising and publicity that goes on.”
I don’t think people under 40 know Garfield or Peanuts as much as you think. My friends recognize Garfield but never read it. They know there is a comic strip called Peanuts but don’t know the names of any of the characters except Franklin and can’t distinguish a drawing from Peanuts from a drawing from Blondie.
“R. Crumb, who permanently moved to France a long time ago, does very little self-promotion or merchandising.”
Ten years ago after Genesis and history of Jazz and has many publications in the New Yorker and the documentary a few decades earlier he was more well known and recognized than he was in his the 70s. Actually one of those being more famous for being the guy who used to be famous than he was for originally being famous deals. It may have dipped off a bit more now.
“What’s it all mean, Mr. Natural?” “Don’t mean shee:t”
“What he talkin’ ’bout?” “I dunno, sumpin’.”
Ignatzz brings up a good point – why would the cutoff be 40? Crumb’s heyday was mostly before those of us in our early 40s were born. He’s continued producing sporadically, but he’s been far, far less prolific since the late 70s. Anyone in their 40s who’d know him would still know him, even if we were still in our 30s or even 20s, just because we don’t know him as someone currently producing comics, but as a historical figure in the industry.
I think 40 is a realistic cut of point. Those of us 40 to 60 would not know him directly but know his historical significance (I barely read him ever) but those under 40 may not need to know the significance.
I have Crumb’s “Book of Genesis” and it really is a masterpiece. But the book I most want to see is S. Clay Wilson’s “Book of Revelation.”
I’m 34. I bought a Robert Crumb t-shirt in High School, and got quite a few comments on it. A lot of artsy types knew his work, and a bunch of other people had seen the movie.
Comics I Don't Understand 
Familiarity, yes. Knowledge, no.
… and I just realised I’m 40+ …
I just turned 40, so I guess I’m the cutoff?
The Yellow Kid, right?
I know who it is, just making an age point.
I’d have to be under 40 to answer the question.
You might have been able to push that to 50. I mean, I’m 56 and while I know who that is and who the artist is, that’s about it.
I’m on the wrong side of 40 to be a proper data point, but I’ve a few friends in their early 30s who are way more familiar with Crumb than I am (I could recognize most of his big characters, know a bit about the man himself, and could recognize his style from a mile off, but haven’t read a whole lot of his work), so…yes, they would definitely recognize Mr Natural.
People of all ages know of Garfield and Peanuts because of the continual merchandising and publicity that goes on. R. Crumb, who permanently moved to France a long time ago, does very little self-promotion or merchandising. His works are slipping away into obscurity, and for all I know he prefers it that way.
“Keep on Truckin’ !”
R. Crumb did the entire Book of Genesis in comic book form. It’s done verbatim.
Hmmm, when I was under 40 I recognized Howdy Doody and resented people assuming I wouldn’t, so I imagine there are some under 40 who recognize it.
But even more I resented people who assumed I *would* recognize Howdy Doody and viewed it as a moral shortcoming that I wouldn’t not familiar with with something that went off the air several years before I was born.
So I will assume most won’t. A few will. But we shouldn’t act surprised the result either way.
Then again my sisters, 43 and 53 might not. (My sister 59 would but she’d get every fact about it wrong and might not, but probably would, be able to name him.)
I’m going to embarrass myself and ask my twenty to thirty something game/trivia buddies. I predict two will know something like “he’s that … that guy… ” and seven will have no idea.
Yeah…. not a single one knew it and it was all treated with an eye-roll “Oh, come on…..”
I never really read any of Crumb’s work, but I recognize it as a character of his. That’s about all.
I hadn’t followed him for quite some time, but when the Book of Genesis (mentioned by Ken) came along, I read it and was really wowed.
There was a failed comic that tried to launch in the 1990s. It involved a group of people travelling by ballooon. They land among a supposedly primitive group of people who “recognize” a guy who looks a bit like this as Mr. Natural. It only ran for a few months, and (1)I may be the only one who remembers it & (2) That’s all I remember.
I’m 41 and have seen the character and know of R. Crumb, but couldn’t name him.
I have a young friend who’s in his 20s and loves Krazy Kat and Old-Time Radio, but even he probably wouldn’t recognize Mr. Natural.
I’m 60 and read the undergrounds, but I was actually too young for them. Had a brother who was 7 years older than me.
I too was a bit young for “Keep on Truckin'” and the other R. Crumb comics we had around the house, but being the oldest kid, I couldn’t get them from an older sibling. The ones I read belonged to my parents.
P.S. Shortly after Crumb’s “Genesis” was released, I received a copy as a present from my dad.
I’m 30 and I’ve seen art in this style before but I don’t know anything about it like artist, meaning, etc.
Every single word of Powers’ comment applies to me as well.
What I don’t get, when I show these things to my 20s and 30s friends and they always respond with a WTF? There’s no why in a million years I’d know that! … If they don’t know what it is, then how would they know to respond so vehemently? How do they know it’s an obscure over 40s thing they are obliged to find utterly alien rather than simply something they just don’t know?
Maybe I should do an experiment where I pick random unknown images and ask if they know them and judge their vehemence.
I mean they must recognize *something* about the image if the know they are supposed to deny knowing it so greatly.
=====
“People of all ages know of Garfield and Peanuts because of the continual merchandising and publicity that goes on.”
I don’t think people under 40 know Garfield or Peanuts as much as you think. My friends recognize Garfield but never read it. They know there is a comic strip called Peanuts but don’t know the names of any of the characters except Franklin and can’t distinguish a drawing from Peanuts from a drawing from Blondie.
“R. Crumb, who permanently moved to France a long time ago, does very little self-promotion or merchandising.”
Ten years ago after Genesis and history of Jazz and has many publications in the New Yorker and the documentary a few decades earlier he was more well known and recognized than he was in his the 70s. Actually one of those being more famous for being the guy who used to be famous than he was for originally being famous deals. It may have dipped off a bit more now.
“What’s it all mean, Mr. Natural?” “Don’t mean shee:t”
“What he talkin’ ’bout?” “I dunno, sumpin’.”
Ignatzz brings up a good point – why would the cutoff be 40? Crumb’s heyday was mostly before those of us in our early 40s were born. He’s continued producing sporadically, but he’s been far, far less prolific since the late 70s. Anyone in their 40s who’d know him would still know him, even if we were still in our 30s or even 20s, just because we don’t know him as someone currently producing comics, but as a historical figure in the industry.
I think 40 is a realistic cut of point. Those of us 40 to 60 would not know him directly but know his historical significance (I barely read him ever) but those under 40 may not need to know the significance.
I have Crumb’s “Book of Genesis” and it really is a masterpiece. But the book I most want to see is S. Clay Wilson’s “Book of Revelation.”
I’m 34. I bought a Robert Crumb t-shirt in High School, and got quite a few comments on it. A lot of artsy types knew his work, and a bunch of other people had seen the movie.