''Weirdo'' was a magazine-sized

comics anthology A comics anthology collects works in the medium of comics, typically from multiple series, and compiles them into an anthology or magazine. The comics in these anthologies range from comic strips that are too short for standalone publication to co ...

created by

Robert Crumb Robert Dennis Crumb (; born August 30, 1943) is an American cartoonist and musician who often signs his work R. Crumb. His work displays a nostalgia for American folk culture of the late 19th and early 20th centuries, and satire of contem ...

and published by

Last Gasp Last Gasp or The Last Gasp may refer to * Last Gasp (publisher) * ''Last Gasp'' (''Inside No. 9''), a TV episode * '' The Last Gasp'', a 2007 album by Impaled * ''The Last Gasp'' (novel) * "Last Gasp" (song) {{dab ...

from 1981 to 1993. Featuring cartoonists both new and old, ''Weirdo'' served as a "low art" counterpoint to its contemporary

highbrow Used colloquially as a noun or adjective, "highbrow" is synonymous with intellectual; as an adjective, it also means elite, and generally carries a connotation of high culture. The term, first recorded in 1875, draws its metonymy from the pseudo ...

Raw Raw is an adjective usually describing: * Raw materials, basic materials from which products are manufactured or made * Raw food, uncooked food Raw or RAW may also refer to: Computing and electronics * .RAW, a proprietary mass spectrometry dat ...

'', co-edited by

Art Spiegelman Art Spiegelman (; born Itzhak Avraham ben Zeev Spiegelman on February 15, 1948) is an American cartoonist, editor, and comics advocate best known for his graphic novel ''Maus''. His work as co-editor on the comics magazines ''Arcade (comics maga ...

. Crumb contributed cover art and comics to every issue of ''Weirdo''; his wife, cartoonist

Aline Kominsky-Crumb Aline Kominsky-Crumb (née Goldsmith; August 1, 1948 – November 29, 2022) was an American underground comics artist. Kominsky-Crumb's work, which is almost exclusively autobiographical, is known for its unvarnished, confessional nature. In 20 ...

, also had work in almost every issue. Crumb focused increasingly on

autobiography An autobiography, sometimes informally called an autobio, is a self-written account of one's own life. It is a form of biography. Definition The word "autobiography" was first used deprecatingly by William Taylor in 1797 in the English peri ...

in his stories in ''Weirdo''. Many other autobiographical shorts would appear in ''Weirdo'' by other artists, including Kominsky-Crumb,

Carol Tyler Carol Tyler (born November 20, 1951) is an American painter, educator, comedian, and eleven-time Eisner Award-nominated cartoonist known for her autobiographical comics. She has received multiple honors for her work including the Cartoonist Studi ...

Phoebe Gloeckner Phoebe Louise Adams Gloeckner (born December 22, 1960), is an American cartoonist, illustrator, painter, and novelist. Early life Gloeckner was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Her mother was a librarian and her father, David Gloeckner, was ...

, and Dori Seda. David Collier, a Canadian ex-soldier, published autobiographical and historical comics in ''Weirdo''. The anthology introduced artists such as

Peter Bagge Peter Bagge (pronounced , as in ''bag''; born December 11, 1957) is an American cartoonist whose best-known work includes the comics ''Hate'' and '' Neat Stuff''. His stories often use black humor and exaggerated cartooning to dramatize the reduce ...

, Dori Seda,

Dennis Worden Dennis Worden is an American comic book writer and artist best known as the creator of the comic book ''Stickboy''. Worden's alternative comics caught the public's attention in the early 1980s, via Robert Crumb's '' Weirdo'' comics anthology, f ...

, and Carol Tyler. With issue #10, Crumb handed over the editing reins to Bagge; with issue #18, the reins went to Kominsky-Crumb (except for issue #25, which was again edited by Bagge). The three editorial tenures were known respectively as "Personal Confessions", the "Coming of the Bad Boys", and "Twisted Sisters". Overall, the magazine had a mixed response from audiences; Crumb's fumetti contributions, for instance, were so unpopular that they have never appeared in Crumb collections.

Publication history

"Personal Confessions" era

While

meditating Meditation is a practice in which an individual uses a technique – such as mindfulness, or focusing the mind on a particular object, thought, or activity – to train attention and awareness, and achieve a mentally clear and emotionally calm ...

in 1980, Crumb conceived of a magazine with a lowbrow aesthetic inspired by

punk zine A punk zine (or punkzine) is a zine related to the punk subculture and hardcore punk music genre. Often primitively or casually produced, they feature punk literature, such as social commentary, punk poetry, news, gossip, music reviews and art ...

s, '' Mad'', and

men's magazines This is a list of magazines primarily marketed to men. The list has been split into subcategories according to the target audience of the magazines. This list includes mostly mainstream magazines as well as adult ones. Not included here are auto ...

of the 1940s and 1950s. Early issues of ''Weirdo'' reflect Crumb's interests at the time –

outsider art Outsider art is art made by self-taught or supposedly naïve artists with typically little or no contact with the conventions of the art worlds. In many cases, their work is discovered only after their deaths. Often, outsider art illustrate ...

, fumetti,

Church of the SubGenius The Church of the SubGenius is a parody religion that satirizes better-known belief systems. It teaches a complex philosophy that focuses on J. R. "Bob" Dobbs, purportedly a salesman from the 1950s, who is revered as a prophet by the Church. SubG ...

-type anti-propaganda and assorted "weirdness" (in fact, Crumb provided early publicity for the Church of the SubGenius by reprinting ''Sub Genius Pamphlet'' #1 in ''Weirdo'' #1). Crumb's detailed cover borders for most issues of ''Weirdo'' were an homage to the 1950s humor magazine ''

Humbug A humbug is a person or object that behaves in a deceptive or dishonest way, often as a hoax or in jest. The term was first described in 1751 as student slang, and recorded in 1840 as a "nautical phrase". It is now also often used as an exclama ...

'' (edited by

Harvey Kurtzman Harvey Kurtzman (; October 3, 1924 – February 21, 1993) was an American cartoonist and editor. His best-known work includes writing and editing the parodic comic book '' Mad'' from 1952 until 1956, and writing the ''Little Ann ...

); Crumb claimed that the elaborate Jack Davis–

Will Elder William Elder (born Wolf William Eisenberg; September 22, 1921 – May 15, 2008) was an American illustrator and comic book artist who worked in numerous areas of commercial art but is best known for a frantically funny cartoon style that helped ...

cover to the second issue of ''Humbug'' "changed his life". Dori Seda's first published comics work was in ''Weirdo'' #2 (Summer 1981), a strip titled "Bloods in Space." Her work appeared often in ''Weirdo'' through issue #24 (Winter 1988/1989), shortly after her untimely death."''Lonely Nights'' Artist Dori Seda Dead At 37," ''The Comics Journal'' #121 (April 1988).

's first published work appeared in issue #4 (Feb. 1982); he was a frequent contributor to the magazine throughout its run. Peter Bagge Bagge sent copies of his self-published comics ''Comical Funnies'' to Crumb, who published some Bagge strips in ''Weirdo'' #8 (Summer 1983). Bagge contributed to many issues from that point forward, mostly illustrating " Martini Baton" stories written by Dave Carrino. In addition to those mentioned above, other cartoonists whose work appeared in early issues of ''Weirdo'' included Robert's brother

Maxon Crumb Maxon Crumb (born March 28, 1945, in Albert Lea, Minnesota) is the younger brother of underground cartoonist Robert Crumb and Charles Crumb, and the uncle of Sophie Crumb. Biography Maxon Crumb was born in 1945 to Charles and Beatrice Crumb ...

, Robert Armstrong,

Ace Backwords Peter Labriola (born September 12, 1956), better known by the pen name Ace Backwords is an American author and a former underground cartoonist based in Berkeley, California. He sleeps rough on the streets of Berkeley, but is not indigent.

, Drew Friedman, Kaz, J. D. King,

Spain Rodriguez Manuel Rodriguez (March 2, 1940 – November 28, 2012), better known as Spain or Spain Rodriguez, was an American underground cartoonist who created the character Trashman. His experiences on the road with the motorcycle club, the Road Vultures M ...

, Robert Williams, Harry S. Robins (the "Professor Brainard" feature),

Jeff John Jeff is a masculine name, often a short form (hypocorism) of the English given name Jefferson or Jeffrey, which comes from a medieval variant of Geoffrey. Music * DJ Jazzy Jeff, American DJ/turntablist record producer Jeffrey Allen Townes * ...

Terry Boyce Terry is a unisex given name, derived from French Thierry and Theodoric. It can also be used as a diminutive nickname for the names Teresa or Theresa (feminine) or Terence or Terrier (masculine). People Male * Terry Albritton (1955–2005), A ...

, and B. N. Duncan. The magazine's

letter column A comic book letter column is a section of an American comic book where readers' letters to the publisher appear. Comic book letter columns are also commonly referred to as letter columns (or lettercols), letter pages, letters of comment (LOCs), o ...

, "Weirdo's Advice to the Lovelorn," was helmed by

Terry Zwigoff Terry Zwigoff (born May 18, 1949) is an American filmmaker whose work often deals with misfits, antiheroes, and themes of alienation. He first garnered attention for his work in documentary filmmaking with ''Louie Bluie'' (1985) and '' Crumb'' (1 ...

"Coming of the Bad Boys" era

With issue #10 (Summer 1984), Crumb handed over the editing reins to Peter Bagge (who had become a regular contributor with issue #8); Crumb continued as a regular contributor. New contributors to ''Weirdo'' during this period included

Kim Deitch Kim Deitch (born May 21, 1944 in Los Angeles, California)Donahue, Don and Susan Goodrick, editors. Deitch bio, ''The Apex Treasuet of Underground Comics'' (Apex Novelties, 1974), p. 127. is an American cartoonist who was an important figure in th ...

Mary Fleener Mary Fleener (born September 14, 1951) is an American alternative comics artist, writer and musician from Los Angeles. Fleener's drawing style, which she calls ''cubismo'', derives from the cubist aesthetic and other artistic traditions. Her f ...

John Holmstrom John Holmstrom (born 1954) is an American underground cartoonist and writer. He is best known for illustrating the covers of the Ramones albums '' Rocket to Russia'' and '' Road to Ruin'', as well as his characters Bosko and Joe (published in S ...

Carel Moiseiwitsch Carel is a given name, and may refer to: Arts * Carel Blotkamp, Dutch artist and art historian * Carel de Moor, Dutch etcher and painter * Carel Fabritius, Dutch painter and one of Rembrandt's most gifted pupils * Carel van Mander, Flemish painter ...

Diane Noomin Diane Robin Noomin ( Rosenblatt, May 13, 1947 – September 1, 2022) was an American comics artist associated with the underground comics movement. She is best known for her character DiDi Glitz, who addresses transgressive social issues such as ...

Raymond Pettibon Raymond Pettibon (born Raymond Ginn, June 16, 1957) is an American artist who lives and works in New York City. Pettibon came to prominence in the early 1980s in the southern California punk rock scene, creating posters and album art mainly for ...

Savage Pencil Edwin Pouncey (born June 1951), also known by the '' nom de plume'' Savage Pencil, is an English comics artist, musician, and music journalist. Biography As Savage Pencil and otherwise, Pouncey has contributed to magazines such as '' Sounds' ...

, J. R. Williams (his first published comics), S. Clay Wilson,

Ken Struck Ken or KEN may refer to: Entertainment * ''Ken'' (album), a 2017 album by Canadian indie rock band Destroyer. * ''Ken'' (film), 1964 Japanese film. * ''Ken'' (magazine), a large-format political magazine. * Ken Masters, a main character in t ...

, and Ken Weiner/ Ken Avidor.

"Twisted Sisters" era

With issue #18 (Fall 1986), the editorial reins of ''Weirdo'' went to Kominsky-Crumb; the " Twisted Sisters" monicker being a reference to an all-female comics anthology that Kominsky-Crumb co-produced with

in 1976. (Bagge returned for a single issue as editor, with ''Weirdo'' #25, Summer 1989.) New contributors to the magazine during this era included Lloyd Dangle,

Julie Doucet Julie Doucet (born December 31, 1965)
is a Canadian

Dennis Eichhorn Dennis P. Eichhorn (August 19, 1945 – October 8, 2015) was an American writer, best known for his adult-oriented autobiographical comic book series ''Real Stuff''. His stories, often involving, sex, drugs, and alcohol, have been compared to tho ...

, Justin Green,

Krystine Kryttre Krystine Kryttre (born 1958) is an American alternative comics artist, painter, animator, writer, and performer from San Francisco. currently based in Los Angeles. Her work is dark, often explicit, and visually distinctive." Her work has been e ...

(her first published comics), Penny Van Horn,

Michael Dougan Michael Dougan is Professor of European Union law, European Law and Jean Monnet Programme, Jean Monnet Chair in EU Law, at the University of Liverpool. He came to the attention of social media users in the United Kingdom when a video of one of his ...

, and Mark Zingarelli.

Harvey Pekar Harvey Lawrence Pekar (; October 8, 1939 – July 12, 2010) was an American underground comic book writer, music critic, and media personality, best known for his autobiographical ''American Splendor'' comic series. In 2003, the series inspired a ...

began a regular column, "Harvey Sez," in issue #19; his column ran in most of the later issues. Many stories published in ''Weirdo'' from the "Twisted Sisters" era were later collected in the 1991 anthology ''Twisted Sisters: A Collection of Bad Girl Art'' — including work by Kominsky-Crumb,

Carol Lay Carol Lay (born 1952) is an American alternative cartoonist best known for her weekly comic strip, ''Story Minute'' (later to evolve into the strip ''Way Lay''), which ran for almost 20 years in such US papers as the ''LA Weekly'', the ''NY Press' ...

, Penny Van Horn,

, Krystine Kryttre, Julie Doucet, Leslie Sternbergh, Carel Moiseiwitsch, Dori Seda, and Carol Tyler. In 1991, after the publication of ''Weirdo'' #27, Crumb and Kominsky-Crumb moved their family from Northern California to France.Salkinjan, Allen (January 21, 2007)
"Mr. and Mrs. Natural"
''New York Times''.

''Weirdo'' #28: "Verre D'eau"

''Weirdo''s final issue, #28, released after a three-year hiatus in 1993, was an internationally themed 68-page giant subtitled ''Verre D'eau'' (in French, "glass of water"). Promoted as a "One-Time-Only Special International Issue of Weirdo — Absolutely the Last Issue Ever!", it was co-edited by Aline Kominsky-Crumb and French editor Jean-Pierre Mercier. In addition to the usual roster of contributors, issue #28 featured work from French and European cartoonists such as

Edmond Baudoin Edmond Baudoin (born 23 April 1942 in Nice) is a French artist, illustrator, and writer of sequential art and graphic novels. Biography Baudoin left school at the age of 16 and went into military service. He later worked as an accountant at the ...

Florence Cestac Florence Cestac (born 18 July 1949) is a French cartoonist and former publisher. She is the first woman to have won the prestigious ''Grand Prix de la ville d'Angoulême'', in 2000, and was the only one until Rumiko Takahashi in 2019. Career Bor ...

, Jean-Christophe Menu,

Placid Placid is a masculine given name, and may refer to: * John Placid Adelham (17th century), English Protestant minister * Saint Placid (6th century), Italian Christian monk * Placid J. Podipara (20th century), Indian Catholic priest See also * Plac ...

Willem Willem () is a Dutch and West FrisianRienk de Haan, ''Fryske Foarnammen'', Leeuwarden, 2002 (Friese Pers Boekerij), , p. 158. masculine given name. The name is Germanic, and can be seen as the Dutch equivalent of the name William in English, ...

, and

Aleksandar Zograf Saša Rakezić (born 1963 in Pančevo, Serbia), better known by his pen name Aleksandar Zograf, is a Serbian cartoonist. His works focus mostly on life in the former Yugoslavia, such as ''Life Under Sanctions'', ''Psychonaut'', ''Dream Watche ...

Publication schedule and page count

* Issues #1–6 (1981–1982): Quarterly * Issues #7–10 (1982–1984): Bi-annual * Issues #11–19 (1984–1987): Quarterly * Issues #20–24 (1987–1989): Bi-annual * Issues #25–27 (1989–1990): Quarterly * Issues #28 (1993): Annual (after a three-year hiatus) Issues #1–14 were 44 pp. each, issues #15–26 were 52 pp. each, issue #27 was 60 pp., and issue #28 was 68 pp.

Controversies

''Weirdo'' was at the center of a legal case in 1986: the manager of a comics retailer in the Chicago area, Friendly Frank's, was arrested on charges of distributing obscenity. The comic books deemed obscene were ''Weirdo'', ''

Omaha the Cat Dancer Omaha ( ) is the largest city in the U.S. state of Nebraska and the county seat of Douglas County. Omaha is in the Midwestern United States on the Missouri River, about north of the mouth of the Platte River. The nation's 39th-largest city ...

'', ''The Bodyssey'', and ''Bizarre Sex''. The case led to the formation of the

Comic Book Legal Defense Fund The Comic Book Legal Defense Fund (CBLDF) is an American non-profit organization formed in 1986 to protect the First Amendment rights of comics creators, publishers, and retailers covering legal expenses. Charles Brownstein served as the organiza ...

. In 1993, R. Crumb's contributions to ''Weirdo'' #28 — two tongue-in-cheek stories called "When the Niggers Take Over America!" and "When the Goddamn Jews Take Over America!" — got the issue banned as

hate literature Hate speech is defined by the ''Cambridge Dictionary'' as "public speech that expresses hate or encourages violence towards a person or group based on something such as race, religion, sex, or sexual orientation". Hate speech is "usually thoug ...

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...

.Newswatch: "Canada Customs Seizures: Weirdo #28 Banned as Hate Literature, and More!", ''The Comics Journal'' #166 (Feb. 1994), p. 48.

Notable contributors

* Doug Allen * Robert Armstrong *

Daniel Clowes Daniel Gillespie Clowes (; born April 14, 1961) is an American cartoonist, graphic novelist, illustrator, and screenwriter. Most of Clowes's work first appeared in '' Eightball'', a solo anthology comic book series. An ''Eightball'' issue typi ...

* David Collier *

Sophie Crumb Sophia Violet "Sophie" Crumb (born September 27, 1981) is an American-French comics artist. She is the daughter of underground comix artists Robert Crumb and Aline Kominsky-Crumb. Crumb was born in Woodland, California, and lived in the nearby f ...

* Lloyd Dangle *

Julie Doucet Julie Doucet (born December 31, 1965)
is a Canadian

* Debbie Drechsler *

Josh Alan Friedman Josh Alan Friedman is an American musician, writer, editor and journalist, who has worked in New York and Dallas. He is known for his 1986 collection ''Tales of Times Square'' and his comics collaborations with his brother, artist Drew Friedman ...

* Drew Friedman *

* Justin Green *

Bill Griffith William Henry Jackson Griffith (born January 20, 1944) is an American cartoonist who signs his work Bill Griffith and Griffy. He is best known for his surreal daily comic strip '' Zippy''. The catchphrase "Are we having fun yet?" is credited to ...

Rory Hayes Rory Hayes (August 8, 1949 – August 29, 1983) was an American underground cartoonist in the late 1960s and early 1970s. His comics were drawn in an expressionistic, primitivist style and usually dealt with grim subject matter such as par ...

Gilbert Hernandez Gilberto Hernández (born February 1, 1957), usually credited as Gilbert Hernandez and also by the nickname Beto (), is an American cartoonist. He is best known for his ''Palomar''/''Heartbreak Soup'' stories in '' Love and Rockets'', an alterna ...

* Kaz * J. D. King *

John Kricfalusi Michael John Kricfalusi ( ; born September 9, 1955), known professionally as John K., is a Canadian illustrator, blogger, voice actor and former animator. He is the creator of the animated television series ''The Ren & Stimpy Show'', which was ...

(as Billy Bunting) *

Joe Matt Joe Matt (born September 3, 1963) is an American cartoonist, best known for his autobiographical work, '' Peepshow''. Early life Matt was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He started drawing comics in 1987. Career In his autobiographical c ...

* Jean-Christophe Menu *

Mark Newgarden Mark Newgarden (born August 1, 1959, in Brooklyn, New York) is an American underground cartoonist. His work has appeared widely, and his influential shape-shifting weekly feature ''Newgarden'', which appeared in alternative weekly newspapers lik ...

Gary Panter Gary Panter (born December 1, 1950) is an American cartoonist, illustrator, painter, designer and part-time musician. Panter's work is representative of the post- underground, new wave comics movement that began with the end of '' Arcade: The Com ...

* Sasa Rakezic * Harry S. Robins *

(occasionally credited as Algernon Backwash) *

Ed "Big Daddy" Roth Ed "Big Daddy" Roth (March 4, 1932 – April 4, 2001) was an American artist, cartoonist, illustrator, pinstriper and custom car designer and builder who created the hot rod icon Rat Fink and other characters. Roth was a key figure in S ...

Joe Sacco Joe Sacco (; born October 2, 1960) is a Maltese-American cartoonist and journalist. He is best known for his comics journalism, in particular in the books '' Palestine'' (1996) and '' Footnotes in Gaza'' (2009), on Israeli–Palestinian rela ...

* Dori Seda *

Stanislav Szukalski Stanislav and variants may refer to: People * Stanislav (given name), a Slavic given name with many spelling variations (Stanislaus, Stanislas, Stanisław, etc.) Places * Stanislav, a coastal village in Kherson, Ukraine * Stanislaus County, C ...

Frank Stack Frank Huntington Stack (born October 31, 1937 in Houston, Texas) is an American underground cartoonist and fine artist. Working under the name Foolbert Sturgeon to avoid persecution for his work while living in the Bible Belt, Stack published wh ...

(as Foolbert Sturgeon) *

* J. R. Williams * Robert Williams * S. Clay Wilson *

References

Notes

Sources consulted

* '' Comic Book Artist'' vol. 2, #7 * * * * *

External links

Last Gasp Catalog: ''Weirdo''
{{DEFAULTSORT:Weirdo (Magazine) 1981 comics debuts 1993 comics endings Comics anthologies Comics by Robert Crumb Comics magazines published in the United States Magazines established in 1981 Magazines disestablished in 1993 Underground comix