“I can express something
[with animals] that is different
from what I put into my work
about humans... I can put more
nonsense, more satire and fantasy
into the animals...” — R. Crumb
Created by an adolescent R. Crumb in the late
1950s, Fritz the Cat rose to fame — along
with his creator — during the underground
comix revolution of the 1960s, and remains
Crumb’s most well-known character and an
internationally recognized icon of 1960s culture.
Fritz is a feline, freewheeling chiseler who
allowed Crumb to express some of his most acidic
commentary on American culture. Tragicomedy, farce
and satire all rolled into one, The Life and
Death of Fritz the Cat chronicles the very best of Fritz's
adventures from his early days as an idealistic
college student to his ultimate fate as a jaded,
burned-out superstar, including Crumb’s infamous
send-off of the character in the wake of Ralph
Bakshi’s animated feature film, an experience and
project that completely dissatisfied Crumb.
Finally collected in a single volume, these
Fritz stories are a funny, insightful, authentic
record of a tumultuous period in American life,
with humor and compassion by the most well-respected
cartoonist of all time.