XYZ Comics ...cheating the alphabet with R.Crumb
to close out 2023's alphabetic soup of comics, we're closing the year with a cheat and reading \u201cXYZ Comics,\u201d by cartoonist legend R. Crumb. \u201cXYZ Comics,\u201d published in 1972, is more of a 28 page pamphlet that reflects Crumb\u2019s rather interesting state of mind at the time. Crumb was a few years out from doing a massive, year-long LSD trip that began in 1965. It greatly impacted his work. He was already known at the time for strips like Fritz the Cat, Mr. Natural and Angelfood McSpade - much of which is quite problematic. Starting in the mid-1960s, Crumb's work really started to reflect what he described as the seamy side of America's self-conscious, and drawing these strips almost as stream-of-consciousness. As he said in his eponymous documentary "it didn't have to make sense, it could be stupid, it didn't make any difference\u201d \u2014 and \u201cXYZ Comics\u201d really magnified all this because it was created literally while Crumb was on a road trip, which is, \u201cpartly why it\u2019s such a jumble of disconnected images.\u201d So close out the year with us with an LSD trip of a comic, and bring your toothpaste.