Notes from the undergrounds: Mr. Natural and Flakey Foont

[alicemacher]

From the cover of Mystic Funnies #1 (1997)

We can't talk about underground comix without mentioning its most well-known and influential creator, R. (Robert) Crumb. In 1968, his Zap Comix was the first underground title really to tap into the hippie/freak zeitgeist and achieve commercial success, paving the way for hundreds more titles by a variety of cartoonists. Although many of his colleagues and readers have rightly called him out for the unabashed misogyny, dehumanizing sexuality, and insensitively "ironic" use of racial caricature in his work, there's still much within Crumb's output worth reading. Among his wittiest stories are those starring the half-wise, half-huckster guru Mr. Natural and his long-suffering, neurotic student, Flakey Foont.

Pretty much from the start, Mr. Natural's and Flakey's decades-long association has been a love/hate one, each of them alternating between admiration and disgust for the other. Take, for example, one of their earliest stories, "Mr. Natural Visits the City," from Zap #1 (February 1968). Flakey invites Mr. Natural over to discuss his various hang-ups. Natch advises him to get away from city distractions and spend time on a farm...all while raiding Flakey's fridge uninvited.

And so it goes. Over the next twenty years, Mr. Natural gives Flakey advice of varying quality (when not trying to escape him) and helps him hit it off with his future wife Ruth Schwartz (Mr. Natural #2). Unfortunately, Flakey and Ruth, mistakenly thinking Mr. Natural's gone insane, have him committed to a psychiatric hospital, where he spends the next decade (Mr. Natural #3). Upon his release, Natch re-enters the settled but still unhappy Flakey's life, introducing him to the wild, hot-tempered Devil Girl, on whom Flakey (along with his guru) develops an unhealthy sexual fixation (Hup #1-4).

Several years later, Flakey, now middle-aged, is still in need of Mr. Natural's guidance. This brings us to the next set of scans, from Mystic Funnies #1 (1997; 6 pages out of 35).

Flakey, brooding on this question, comes upon Mr. Natural sitting on a tree branch. Naturally (pun intended), the guru insists that he climb up if they're going to talk.

Poor Flakey! Will he ever get it together and find the truth? Let's let Mr. Natural (as he nearly always does) have the last word, from Mystic Funnies #2 (1999):

I'll post more Crumb in the future, but next up will be the comix work of his greatest critic, Trina Robbins, who along with her sister colleagues brought much-needed women's voices to the field.

Comments

[icon_uk]

I had no idea that these were being published as late as the 90's