Aline Kominsky-Crumb
Encyclopedia
Aline Kominsky-Crumb is an American underground
comics artist
best known as the wife of cartoonist R. Crumb.
She was born to a middle class Jewish family in the Five Towns
area of Long Island
. Her father was a largely unsuccessful businessman and organized crime
associate. She later claimed that the social milieu shown in the movie Goodfellas
(some of which was set in the Five Towns area) bore some resemblance to her own childhood. As a teenager, she turned towards drugs and the counterculture
, and was a hanger-on to New York countercultural musicians such as The Fugs
. Relocating to East Village
during her college years, she began studying art at The Cooper Union.
In 1968, she married her first husband, Carl Kominsky, with whom she relocated to Tucson, Arizona
. Their marriage did not last long. However, she retained the surname Kominsky after their split. During this time, she attended University of Arizona
, graduating with a BFA in 1971. She was also introduced to Spain Rodriguez
and Kim Deitch
by former Fugs drummer Ken Weaver
, who was living in Tucson at the time. Spain and Deitch introduced her to underground comics, inspiring her to begin writing underground comics herself and to relocate to San Francisco.
Soon after arriving in San Francisco, she was introduced to Robert Crumb by mutual friends, who noted an uncanny resemblance between her and the coincidentally-named Crumb character Honeybunch Kaminski. Their relationship soon became serious and they began living together not long after. She also fell in with the Wimmen's Comix
collective, and contributed to the first few issues of that series. After she and Diane Noomin
had a falling out with Trina Robbins
and other members of the collective, they started their own title, Twisted Sisters. Kominsky-Crumb has later claimed that a large part of her break with the Wimmen's Comix group was over feminist issues and particularly over her relationship with Robert Crumb, whom Robbins particularly disliked.
Aline married Robert Crumb in 1978. Their daughter Sophie Crumb was born in 1981. Since the late 1970s, she and Robert have produced a series of collaborative comics called Dirty Laundry (also known as Aline & Bob's Dirty Laundry), a comic about the Crumb family life. Each of them drew his or her own characters for the comic. Later installments of Dirty Laundry feature contributions by Sophie, who also began producing comics in her teens.
For several years during the 1980s, she was editor of Weirdo, a leading alternative comics
anthology
of the time, taking over editorship from Peter Bagge
, who had taken over from original editor Robert Crumb
.
She was featured in a number of scenes in Crumb
, the 1994 documentary about the Crumb family. Since the early 1990s, she and Robert have lived as expatriates in a small village in Languedoc-Roussillon
.
In addition to her comics work, Kominsky-Crumb is also a painter
and since moving to France, has focused more on painting and less on producing comics. In February 2007 she released a memoir entitled Need More Love: A Graphic Memoir, a collection of her comics and paintings, along with photograph
s and autobiographical writings.
Underground comix
Underground comix are small press or self-published comic books which are often socially relevant or satirical in nature. They differ from mainstream comics in depicting content forbidden to mainstream publications by the Comics Code Authority, including explicit drug use, sexuality and violence...
comics artist
Comics artist
A comics artist is an artist working within the comics medium on comic strips, comic books or graphic novels. The term may refer to any number of artists who contribute to produce a work in the comics form, from those who oversee all aspects of the work to those who contribute only a part.-Comic...
best known as the wife of cartoonist R. Crumb.
She was born to a middle class Jewish family in the Five Towns
Five Towns
The Five Towns is an informal grouping of villages and hamlets in Nassau County, New York, United States on the South Shore of western Long Island adjoining the border with Queens County in New York City. Despite the name, none of the communities is a town...
area of Long Island
Long Island
Long Island is an island located in the southeast part of the U.S. state of New York, just east of Manhattan. Stretching northeast into the Atlantic Ocean, Long Island contains four counties, two of which are boroughs of New York City , and two of which are mainly suburban...
. Her father was a largely unsuccessful businessman and organized crime
Organized crime
Organized crime or criminal organizations are transnational, national, or local groupings of highly centralized enterprises run by criminals for the purpose of engaging in illegal activity, most commonly for monetary profit. Some criminal organizations, such as terrorist organizations, are...
associate. She later claimed that the social milieu shown in the movie Goodfellas
Goodfellas
Goodfellas is a 1990 American crime film directed by Martin Scorsese. It is a film adaptation of the 1986 non-fiction book Wiseguy by Nicholas Pileggi, who co-wrote the screenplay with Scorsese...
(some of which was set in the Five Towns area) bore some resemblance to her own childhood. As a teenager, she turned towards drugs and the counterculture
Counterculture
Counterculture is a sociological term used to describe the values and norms of behavior of a cultural group, or subculture, that run counter to those of the social mainstream of the day, the cultural equivalent of political opposition. Counterculture can also be described as a group whose behavior...
, and was a hanger-on to New York countercultural musicians such as The Fugs
The Fugs
The Fugs are a band formed in New York in late 1964 by poets Ed Sanders and Tuli Kupferberg, with Ken Weaver on drums. Soon afterward, they were joined by Peter Stampfel and Steve Weber of the Holy Modal Rounders...
. Relocating to East Village
East Village, Manhattan
The East Village is a neighborhood in the borough of Manhattan in New York City, lying east of Greenwich Village, south of Gramercy and Stuyvesant Town, and north of the Lower East Side...
during her college years, she began studying art at The Cooper Union.
In 1968, she married her first husband, Carl Kominsky, with whom she relocated to Tucson, Arizona
Tucson, Arizona
Tucson is a city in and the county seat of Pima County, Arizona, United States. The city is located 118 miles southeast of Phoenix and 60 miles north of the U.S.-Mexico border. The 2010 United States Census puts the city's population at 520,116 with a metropolitan area population at 1,020,200...
. Their marriage did not last long. However, she retained the surname Kominsky after their split. During this time, she attended University of Arizona
University of Arizona
The University of Arizona is a land-grant and space-grant public institution of higher education and research located in Tucson, Arizona, United States. The University of Arizona was the first university in the state of Arizona, founded in 1885...
, graduating with a BFA in 1971. She was also introduced to Spain Rodriguez
Spain Rodriguez
Manuel Rodriguez , better known as Spain or Spain Rodriguez, is an American underground cartoonist who created the character Trashman. His experiences on the road with the biker gang, the Road Vultures, provided inspiration for his work, as did his left-wing politics.-Biography:Born in Buffalo, New...
and Kim Deitch
Kim Deitch
-Sources:* at Lambiek's Comiclopedia-External links:* Ford, Jeffrey. *Heller, Steven. **...
by former Fugs drummer Ken Weaver
Ken Weaver (musician)
Ken Weaver is an American singer, songwriter and musician. Born on Galveston Island, Texas, he grew up in El Campo and went on to be a Russian translator for the Air Force. A drummer, Weaver joined Ed Sanders and Tuli Kupferberg to form the rock band The Fugs in 1964...
, who was living in Tucson at the time. Spain and Deitch introduced her to underground comics, inspiring her to begin writing underground comics herself and to relocate to San Francisco.
Soon after arriving in San Francisco, she was introduced to Robert Crumb by mutual friends, who noted an uncanny resemblance between her and the coincidentally-named Crumb character Honeybunch Kaminski. Their relationship soon became serious and they began living together not long after. She also fell in with the Wimmen's Comix
Wimmen's Comix
Wimmen's Comix, later titled Wimmin's Comix, was an influential all-female underground comics anthology published from 1972 to 1992. Though it covered a wide range of genre and subject matter, Wimmen's Comix focused more than other anthologies of the time on feminist concerns, homosexuality, sex...
collective, and contributed to the first few issues of that series. After she and Diane Noomin
Diane Noomin
Diane Noomin is an American comics artist associated with the underground comics movement, best known for her character Didi Glitz. She is the editor of the anthology series Twisted Sisters, and one of the original contributors to Wimmen's Comix. She has also done theatrical work, creating a stage...
had a falling out with Trina Robbins
Trina Robbins
Trina Robbins is an American comics artist and writer. She was an early and influential participant in the underground comix movement, and one of the few female artists in underground comix when she started. Both as a cartoonist and historian, Robbins has long been involved in creating outlets for...
and other members of the collective, they started their own title, Twisted Sisters. Kominsky-Crumb has later claimed that a large part of her break with the Wimmen's Comix group was over feminist issues and particularly over her relationship with Robert Crumb, whom Robbins particularly disliked.
Aline married Robert Crumb in 1978. Their daughter Sophie Crumb was born in 1981. Since the late 1970s, she and Robert have produced a series of collaborative comics called Dirty Laundry (also known as Aline & Bob's Dirty Laundry), a comic about the Crumb family life. Each of them drew his or her own characters for the comic. Later installments of Dirty Laundry feature contributions by Sophie, who also began producing comics in her teens.
For several years during the 1980s, she was editor of Weirdo, a leading alternative comics
Alternative comics
Alternative comics defines a range of American comics that have appeared since the 1980s, following the underground comix movement of the late 1960s and early 1970s. Alternative comics present an alternative to "mainstream" superhero comics which in the past have dominated the US comic book industry...
anthology
Comics anthology
Comics anthologies collect works in the medium of comics that are too short for standalone publication.- U.S. :- UK :British comics have a long tradition publishing comics anthologies, often weekly...
of the time, taking over editorship from Peter Bagge
Peter Bagge
Peter Bagge is an American cartoonist. He is the creator of Buddy Bradley, Hate, Neat Stuff, Martini Baton, and Sweatshop, Apocalypse Nerd and Other Lives. His stories often use black humor and exaggerated cartooning to dramatize the reduced expectations of middle-class American youth...
, who had taken over from original editor Robert Crumb
Robert Crumb
Robert Dennis Crumb —known as Robert Crumb and R. Crumb—is an American artist, illustrator, and musician recognized for the distinctive style of his drawings and his critical, satirical, subversive view of the American mainstream.Crumb was a founder of the underground comix movement and is regarded...
.
She was featured in a number of scenes in Crumb
Crumb (film)
Crumb is a 1994 documentary film about the noted underground comic artist Robert Crumb and his family. Directed by Terry Zwigoff and produced by Lynn O'Donnell and David Lynch, it won widespread acclaim, including both the Grand Jury Prize and best cinematography prize at the Sundance Film Festival...
, the 1994 documentary about the Crumb family. Since the early 1990s, she and Robert have lived as expatriates in a small village in Languedoc-Roussillon
Languedoc-Roussillon
Languedoc-Roussillon is one of the 27 regions of France. It comprises five departments, and borders the other French regions of Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur, Rhône-Alpes, Auvergne, Midi-Pyrénées on the one side, and Spain, Andorra and the Mediterranean sea on the other side.-Geography:The region is...
.
In addition to her comics work, Kominsky-Crumb is also a painter
Painting
Painting is the practice of applying paint, pigment, color or other medium to a surface . The application of the medium is commonly applied to the base with a brush but other objects can be used. In art, the term painting describes both the act and the result of the action. However, painting is...
and since moving to France, has focused more on painting and less on producing comics. In February 2007 she released a memoir entitled Need More Love: A Graphic Memoir, a collection of her comics and paintings, along with photograph
Photograph
A photograph is an image created by light falling on a light-sensitive surface, usually photographic film or an electronic imager such as a CCD or a CMOS chip. Most photographs are created using a camera, which uses a lens to focus the scene's visible wavelengths of light into a reproduction of...
s and autobiographical writings.
Comics contributed to
- Wimmen's ComixWimmen's ComixWimmen's Comix, later titled Wimmin's Comix, was an influential all-female underground comics anthology published from 1972 to 1992. Though it covered a wide range of genre and subject matter, Wimmen's Comix focused more than other anthologies of the time on feminist concerns, homosexuality, sex...
#1, 2, #4 (1972–1974) - El Perfecto (1973) — contributor & editor
- Manhunt (1973–1974)
- Dirty Laundry (1974–1977, 1993)
- ArcadeArcade (magazine)Arcade: The Comics Revue was a magazine-sized comics anthology created and edited by Art Spiegelman and Bill Griffith to showcase the work of underground artists. Published by the Print Mint, it ran for seven issues between 1975 to 1976...
(1975–1976) - Twisted SistersTwisted SistersTwisted Sisters may refer to:* Unnamed Hariri Pontarini Architects project in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada* An underground comic series by Aline Kominsky-Crumb and Diane Noomin...
(1976, 1994, 1995) - Lemme Outta Here (1978)
- Weirdo (1986–1993) — contributor & editor
External links
- "'He always laughs at my jokes and is my best fan'", The GuardianThe GuardianThe Guardian, formerly known as The Manchester Guardian , is a British national daily newspaper in the Berliner format...
, March 25, 2005. – Aline Kominsky-Crumb answers Guardian readers' questions. - Mary Fleener reviews Aline Kominsky Crumb's NEED MORE LOVE from Mineshaft magazineMineshaft MagazineMineshaft is an independent international art magazine launched in 1999 by Everett Rand and Gioia Palmieri in Guilford, Vermont. Initially focusing on poetry and literature, the magazine began to publish comics after Robert Crumb became a contributor in 2000...
, issue #20 (September, 2007) - "The R. Crumb Handbook", interview with Aline Kominsky-Crumb, The Leonard Lopate Show, April 13, 2005.
- "Aline Crumb" interview by Daniel Robert Epstein, SuicideGirlsSuicideGirlsSuicideGirls is a website that features softcore pornography and text profiles of goth, punk and indie-styled young women who are known as the "Suicide Girls"...
, November 29, 2006. - "Loudmouth: Aline Kominsky-Crumb tells all", interview by Sara Ivry, NextbookNextbookNextbook is a nonprofit, Jewish organization founded in 2003 to promote Jewish literature, culture, and ideas. The organization sponsors public lectures, commissions books on Jewish topics, and publishes an online magazine, Tablet Magazine....
, February 5, 2007. (page links to MP3MP3MPEG-1 or MPEG-2 Audio Layer III, more commonly referred to as MP3, is a patented digital audio encoding format using a form of lossy data compression...
audio file) - "The Crumbs' Underground Comics", interview with Aline and Robert Crumb by Terry GrossTerry GrossTerry Gross is the host and co-executive producer of Fresh Air, an interview format radio show produced by WHYY-FM in Philadelphia and distributed throughout the United States by National Public Radio....
, Fresh AirFresh AirFresh Air is an American radio talk show broadcast on National Public Radio stations across the United States. The show is produced by WHYY-FM in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Its longtime host is Terry Gross. , the show was syndicated to 450 stations and claimed 4.5 million listeners. The show...
, February 13, 2007. (page links to streaming RealPlayerRealPlayerRealPlayer is a cross-platform media player by RealNetworks that plays a number of multimedia formats including MP3, MPEG-4, QuickTime, Windows Media, and multiple versions of proprietary RealAudio and RealVideo formats.-History:...
audio) - Video Short Aline and her cousin Ilana Arazie in Florid, March 30, 2010
- Let My Botox Go Blog Aline's latest Florida adventure, February 20, 2011