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#REDIRECT [[Crumb family]]
{{Short description|Older brother of American cartoonist Robert Crumb}}

{{Use mdy dates|date=March 2024}}
{{Rcat shell|
{{Infobox person
{{R to related topic}}
| name = Charles Crumb
| birth_name = Charles Vincent Crumb, Jr.
| image =
| caption =
| birth_date = March 13, 1942<ref name=FamilyHistory>[[Robert Crumb]], [http://crumbproducts.com/pages/about/familyhistory2.html "Family History,"] CrumbProducts.com. Accessed December 28, 2017.</ref>
| birth_place = [[Philadelphia]], [[Pennsylvania]], U.S.
| death_date = February 1992 (aged 49)
| death_place = Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, U.S.
| education =
| occupation = Artist
| children =
| relatives = [[Robert Crumb]] (brother)<br>[[Maxon Crumb]] (brother)<br>[[Sophie Crumb]] (niece)<ref name=EW>{{cite magazine|magazine=[[Entertainment Weekly]]|title=A new documentary focuses on Robert Crumb – ''Crumb'' highlights the cartoonist's dysfunctional family|author=Lovece, Frank|date=June 2, 1995|author-link=Frank Lovece|url=http://www.ew.com/article/1995/06/02/new-documentary-focuses-robert-crumb}}</ref>
}}
}}

'''Charles Vincent Crumb Jr.''' (March 13, 1942 – February 1992)<ref name=FamilyHistory /> was the older brother and original childhood mentor of American cartoonist [[Robert Crumb]]. He is best known for his on-screen role as a subject in the documentary film ''[[Crumb (film)|Crumb]].''

==Life==
Charles often appears as a character in his younger brother [[Robert Crumb]]'s comics stories and autobiographical writings; Robert credits Charles's childhood obsession with making comics as the foundation of Robert's own devotion to his art. The two brothers drew comics together as children, often about "Animal Town"—one of the characters of which was Fuzzy the Bunny, who served as an alter ego for Charles, his creator.<ref name="Pahls">{{cite book |last1=Pahls |first1=Marty |title=The Early Years of Bitter Struggle |edition=third |series=The Complete Crumb Comics |volume=1 |date=May 2003 |orig-year=1996 |publisher=Fantagraphics Books |isbn=0-930193-42-3 |pages=vii; x–xi |chapter=Introduction: Right Up To The Edge }}</ref> Robert later created several works adapted from things that he and Charles did as children, as well as telling stories about Charles in his comics. For instance, in 1970, Robert redrew an early Fuzzy the Bunny story written by Charles in 1952; it was published in ''[[Zap Comix]]'' #5.<ref name="CrumbCoffee-3">{{cite book |last1=Crumb |first1=Robert |title= The R. Crumb Coffee Table Art Book |isbn=0-316-16333-3 |page=3; 6–18 |chapter= My earliest memory of comics is the way they smelled! |year=1998 |publisher=Little, Brown }}</ref>

As Charles entered adulthood, he began showing signs of mental illness. He later said that he had "[[homosexual]] [[pedophilia]]c tendencies". According to his own testimony, Charles Crumb never succumbed to his urges and remained determined not to. As a teenager, he had already developed a particular obsession for [[Bobby Driscoll]], child star of the 1950 Disney film ''[[Treasure Island (1950 film)|Treasure Island]]'', and much of his art focused on themes and characters from the film and novel. Throughout the years, Charles remained constantly terrified that his sexual tendencies would be discovered by his mother, or by anyone.<ref>[[Robert Crumb]], [[Maxon Crumb]] (edited by), ''Crumb Comics: The Whole Family Is Crazy!'', Last Gasp, 1998, pp. 29–33</ref>

During his adult life, Charles never left his family home, where he lived with his mother, and rarely ventured outside. In c. 1972, Charles was staying in a Philadelphia-area [[psychiatric hospital]], where he was visited by Robert, who subsequently drew a story, "Fuzzy the Bunny in 'Nut Factory Blues,'" that was mostly made up of dialogue between the two brothers taken from Robert's visit.<ref>Crumb, R. "DEALING WITH REALITY: Crumb looks back at his work in 1972–73, his obsession with old music, and performing with the Cheap Suit Serenaders," Crumb on Crumb (June 1992).</ref><ref>Crumb, Robert. "Fuzzy the Bunny in 'Nut Factory Blues,'" ''XYZ Comics'' (Kitchen Sink Press, June 1972).</ref>

In Charles's adult years, his art exhibited repetitive and pains-taking concentric lines, filling in otherwise normal Crumbesque drawings, reflecting an obsession with filling every last centimeter of white space. Charles Crumb and his art received wide public attention as a result of the success of the 1994 feature-length documentary film ''[[Crumb (film)|Crumb]],'' in which Charles and some of his work are featured prominently. His artwork, including notebooks filled with [[Asemic writing|tiny gestural marks that suggest handwriting]], has been published and exhibited, sometimes in the context of [[outsider art]].{{cn|date=December 2022}}

In the film ''Crumb'', Robert Crumb describes how Charles would often react to things by saying "How perfectly goddamned delightful it all is, to be sure." It was a catch-phrase of his. Robert remarks, "Whenever he said that, it always took the wind out of my sails.”

Charles Crumb died by suicide in February 1992, aged 49, reportedly by overdose.<ref name=EW/>

==Further reading==
* ''Crumb Family Comics'' (Last Gasp, 1997)
* ''[[The Complete Crumb Comics]]'' (Fantagraphics, 1997–2005)
* ''Your Vigor for Life Appalls Me: Robert Crumb Letters 1958–1977'' (Fantagraphics, 1998)

==References==
{{reflist}}

==External links==
* {{IMDb name|0190047}}
* [https://www.lambiek.net/artists/c/crumb_charles.htm Lambiek Comiclopedia article.]

{{CrumbFamily|state=expanded}}
{{Robert Crumb}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Crumb, Charles}}
[[Category:American comics artists]]
[[Category:American comics writers]]
[[Category:Outsider artists]]
[[Category:Artists who died by suicide]]
[[Category:1942 births]]
[[Category:1992 deaths]]
[[Category:Artists from Philadelphia]]
[[Category:American people of English descent]]
[[Category:American people of Scottish descent]]
[[Category:1992 suicides]]
[[Category:Drug-related suicides in Pennsylvania]]

Latest revision as of 03:10, 25 April 2024

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