Waiting for Food: Restaurant Placemat Drawings

Rating:
Summary: great
Review: absolutly great for every sketch artist

Rating:
Summary: Nice doodles, but book too expensive for so little filling
Review: This book has about 80 pages of drawings that R. Crumb did at restaurants in France, while sitting around waiting for food. This is interesting to see the great talent that R. has even while being so casual, not really meant for publication; but there is very little insight or social commentary attached to these random works. There is no comic book story telling involved, and very seldom any word balloons, so don't expect the socially conscious and critical Crumb.

Familiar Crumb characters like Devil Girl, Snoid, Aline, and Crumb's daughter all make some cameo appearances, so those are pluses, but most of this book looks to be just Crumb sketching people in the restaurant?

Like any good French restaurant in the USA, you pay alot and get very little, but it is tasty. Unfortunately, American fans are used to getting alot more from a Crumb book compilation at this price. I think that this book is way too expensive for being so Crumb lite, no meaning or revealing of any kind of truths or statements. For a $30 hardcover, I really wanted some beefy Crumb material to digest! This is like a really big, sweet dessert, but nowhere near the main course of quality that I usually enjoy in a Crumb book.