Charles Crumb

Who was Charles Crumb?

Charles Vincent Crumb, Jr. was an American artist and the brother of the cartoonist Robert Crumb.

Charles often appears as a character in Robert Crumb's comic stories and autobiographical writings; Robert credits Charles' childhood obsession with making comics as the foundation of Robert's own devotion to his art.

As Charles entered adulthood he became progressively troubled both emotionally and psychologically, due to what he himself described as his "homosexual pedophiliac tendencies". As a teenager he had already developed a particular obsession for Bobby Driscoll, child star of the film Treasure Island, and much of his artwork focused on themes and characters from the film and novel. According to his own testimony, Charles Crumb never succumbed to his urges and remained determined not to. Throughout the years, he remained constantly terrified that his sexual tendencies could be discovered by his mother, or by anyone.

During his adult life, he rarely ventured outside of his family home where he lived with his mother.