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Sophie Crumb's Belly Button Comix #1

By Leroy Douresseaux
February 5, 2004 - 13:49

Of course, a child who follows a successful parent into the same line of work faces a daunting challenge. Never mind the personal dilemmas; just imagine dealing with a mass media determined to remind the child of how great the parent is. When your father is R. Crumb, one of the greatest cartoonists, comic book artists, and sequential artists to ever put pen to paper, what do you do?

If you’re Crumb’s daughter, you just do your own damn thing. Sophie Crumb’s debut comic, BELLY BUTTON COMIX #1 (originally published in The Netherlands), is a curious mixture of personal stories and bizarre fantastical fictions. Though a bit uneven, it’s quite fun to read. Where her father’s work is often funny because it’s bizarre, subversive, and the product of a seemingly alien mind, Sophie’s work is humorous because she’s apparently a keen observer of people and interpersonal relationships, and she captures the often-accidental humor that comes from that.

Belly Button, which is similar in tone to work by Jason and Peter Bagge, is the call of a young talent who has a lot to say about life, love, and friendships, and we’re lucky she’s going to say it in comics. [DRECK, DULL, READABLE, VERY GOOD, EXCELLENT]

Leroy Douresseaux is a comic book writer and critic based in Louisiana.

Last Updated: August 31, 2023 - 08:12