LOS ANGELES — R. Crumb has a new comic book! After a 23-year hiatus, Tales of Paranoia comes out this month, published by Fantagraphics, and the underground comic guru is exhibiting original drawings from the book at David Zwirner gallery.
The exhibition comprises original illustrated panels included in the comic book along with a few other recent drawings and excerpts from his sketchbooks. Now a widowed octogenarian based in France, his latest work demonstrates the same masterful rendering of his subjects, sans his prurient material. However, his witty humor, self-deprecation, paranoia, narcissism, anti-establishment commentary, and self-proclaimed neurosis — almost to a point of pride — have reached a new level of darkness. Clearly, he misses his wife and collaborator, Aline Kominsky-Crumb, who passed away in 2022. Her absence seems to have heightened his self-awareness and self-reflection. Left to his own devices, he explores his afflictions — and now mortality. “What does it all mean at this point in life?” he seems to muse.
A panel made in collaboration with Aline and their daughter, Sophie, “Crumb Family Covid Exposé” (2021), shows how the pandemic threw him into a tailspin, as he tunneled down a rabbit hole of COVID-19 conspiracy theories. He is an anti-vaxxer who deeply mistrusts the government and freaks out behind his wife’s back as she makes sure to get her vaccines. The two of them draw themselves in each panel from their own perspectives.
In “The Very Worst LSD I Ever Had” (2023) — one of the most disturbing stories — Crumb revisits a bad acid trip that has haunted him since it happened in 1966. What bothered him most about the experience was how it was blocked from his memory. Crumb was no stranger to psychedelics, but this trip left him paranoid. He and his first wife, Dana, had visited a house they heard was giving out the drug; after taking it, he became convinced that they were part of a science project. When Crumb explained his feelings to Peter Cornell, who doled out the drug, Cornell responded, “And now you’re going to die.”
With a long history in the comic world, Crumb caught national attention in the 1960s through his unique art. His crosshatching, done with his favorite tool, the Rapidograph pen, soon established his signature style, while album and book covers brought his work into mainstream pop culture, particularly the iconic 1968 Janis Joplin album Cheap Thrills.
Crumb’s work has long been embraced by the fine art world. This latest series of comics are now neatly matted and framed in Zwirner’s second gallery. To break up the monotony of the presentation, the back wall is painted a bright mustard yellow, with the title of the show, and a seating area is set up with a few of his books to peruse. (Too bad one can’t rip a drawing off the wall to sit with and read; standing for hours reading the comics can become challenging, if not straight-up tiring.)
Many of Crumb’s personality traits don’t exactly match up: He’s liberal-minded but against vaccines; self-doubting but confident; a monogamist with a wandering eye. He is a mixed-up guy and is not afraid to put it all on display — perhaps for his own catharsis. In this new series he mainly concentrates on his paranoia with the vaccine and the political overseers, not trusting anyone. Two panels of “Conspiracy Theories!” (2025) are just text, spelling out the dire situation of today’s political climate. It’s difficult to get through the dense text, but a few gems stand out: “Large numbers of people now harbor suspicions that there was something phony or rigged about the whole pandemic narrative,” “What’s really going on?,” “Where does one turn for reliable sources of information,” and in big black block lettering, “QUESTION AUTHORITY.” One could easily walk away from this exhibition with a sense of doom.
What is unusual about this new work, especially for me, is that I find myself sympathizing with him. The authenticity of his emotions — his feelings of helplessness and paranoia — can get to you. A cover line on his comic book, Tales of Paranoianstallation , says in a big yellow starburst, “Batshit Crazy or True Persception — Who Can Tell?” That pretty much sums it up. Welcome to Crumb’s world of 2025 — it’s not a pretty picture.
R. Crumb: Tales of Paranoia continues at David Zwirner gallery (616 North Western Avenue, Melrose Hill, Los Angeles) through January 10. The exhibition was organized by the gallery.
