Robert Dennis Crumb was born on 30 August 1943, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania USA, of Scottish and English descent. Robert is a musician and cartoonist, best known for being one of the main contributors of the underground comix movement of the 1960s. He’s been active in the industry since then, and all of his efforts have helped put his net worth to where it is today.
How rich is Robert Crumb? As of late-2017, sources inform us of a net worth that is at $20 million, mostly earned through success in art and music. He has worked with various publications, and is a part of the Will Eisner Comic Book Hall of Fame. All of his achievements have ensured the position of his wealth.
Robert Crumb Net Worth $20 million
Growing up, Robert’s teachers would discourage him from becoming a cartoonist, but he continued developing his skills, and with his older brother Charles would self-publish three issues of their work entitled “Foo” – an imitation of the magazine “Mad”; however, their work didn’t find any popularity locally. After matriculating from high school, he moved to Cleveland Ohio, drawing novelty greeting cards for American Greetings, working there from 1962 to 1966. Eventually, he became dissatisfied with the work, and tried to sell to comic book companies, plus trying his hand at other cartoonist endeavors before returning to American Greetings.
In 1966, Crumb began producing Fritz the Cat strip as part of the magazine “Cavalier”. The character was showcased as a scam artist, bohemian, and hipster, but was abandoned for three years.
The following year, he became interested in psychedelic-inspired art, and started to do that kind of work for underground newspapers. The demand for him afterwards became increasingly strong, and soon it would lead to the creation of “Zap Comix” which would boost his net worth at a high rate. Soon he would go on to create uncensored comics, with some of his material becoming sexually explicit. He then released the second issue of “Zap” which would lead to the market of underground comix. Crumb became better known into the 1970s, producing some of his best works and characters, including such as Mr. Natural and Angelfood McSpade.
In 1980, Robert then started to work on “Weirdo” which was inspired by men’s magazines of the 1940s and 50s. The publication featured various cartoonists, and received mixed reviews, but “Weirdo” went on to run until 1993. During this time a publication entitled “Complete Crumb Comics” was released. Robert’s next major project would be “The Book of Genesis” which is an illustrated graphic novel of the biblical book of the same name. He also collaborated later in his career, working with names such as Charles Bukowski, Harvey Pekar and David Zane Mairowitz.
His net worth continued to grow.
Crumb has also worked with music, and has often depicted his love for music through his comics, heavily inspired by jazz, big band and swing music from the 1920s to 1930s. He even lead his own band called R. Crumb & His Cheap Suit Serenaders, of which he was the lead vocalist, also playing the banjo and the mandolin, and writing several of their songs. He produced album covers too, and is best known for creating the artwork for “Cheap Thrills” by Big Brother and the Holding Company. He also worked with record companies to create album covers for their bands.
For his work, Robert was given the Harvey Special Award for Humor, and the Angouleme Grand Prix.
For his personal life, it is known that Crumb married Dana Morgan in 1964 and they had a son. However, their relationship was unstable, fueled by the two using LSD, and they eventually divorced in 1978. In the same year he married cartoonist Aline Kominsky who he has frequently collaborated with. They have a daughter Sophie who has also pursued a career as a cartoonist.
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