Editing Robert Crumb (section)

===Early work (1962–1966)===

Crumb's father gave him $40 when he left home after high school.{{sfn|Goldstein|2013|p=517}}  His first job, in 1962, was drawing novelty greeting cards for [[American Greetings]]{{sfn|Duncan|Smith|2013|p=159}} in [[Cleveland, Ohio]]. He stayed with the company for four years, producing hundreds of cards for the company's Hi-Brow line; his superiors had him draw in a cuter style that was to leave a footprint on his work throughout his career.{{sfn|Maremaa|2004|p=30}}  

In Cleveland, he met a group of young [[Bohemianism|bohemians]] such as [[Buzzy Linhart]], Liz Johnston, and [[Harvey Pekar]]. Dissatisfied with greeting card work, he tried to sell cartoons to comic book companies, who showed little interest in his work.  In 1965, cartoonist [[Harvey Kurtzman]] printed some of Crumb's work in the humor magazine he edited, ''[[Help! (magazine)|Help!]]'' Crumb moved to New York, intending to work with Kurtzman, but ''Help!'' ceased publication shortly after.  Crumb briefly illustrated bubblegum cards for [[Topps]] before returning to Cleveland and American Greetings.{{sfn|Duncan|Smith|2013|p=159}}

Crumb married Dana Morgan in 1964.  Nearly destitute, the couple traveled in Europe, during which Crumb continued to produce work for Kurtzman and American Greetings, and Dana stole food.{{sfn|Burgess|2000}}  The relationship was unstable as Crumb frequently went his own way, and he was not close to his son, Jesse (born in 1968).{{sfn|Goldstein|2013|p=518}}

[[File:Fritz the Cat front cover.jpg|thumb|Front cover of ''Fritz the Cat'']]
In 1965 and 1966 Crumb had a number of [[Fritz the Cat]] strips published in the men's magazine ''[[Cavalier (magazine)|Cavalier]]''. Fritz had appeared in Crumb's work as early as the late 1950s; he was to become a hipster, scam artist, and bohemian until Crumb abandoned the character in 1969.{{sfn|Maremaa|2004|p=30}}

Crumb was becoming increasingly uncomfortable with his job and marriage when in June 1965 he began taking [[Lysergic acid diethylamide|LSD]], a [[psychedelic drug]] that was then still legal.  He had both good and [[bad trip]]s.  One bad trip left him in a muddled state for half a year, during which for a time he left Dana; the state ended when the two took a strong dose of the drug together in April 1966. Crumb created a number of his best-known characters during his years of LSD use, including [[Mr. Natural (comics)|Mr. Natural]], [[Angelfood McSpade]], and the [[Snoid]].{{sfn|Holm|2005|pp=46-47}} His work in the underground comics scene coincided with the rise of [[Timothy Leary]]'s acid tests and psychedelics generally which led to deals with psychedelic artists such as the Grateful Dead.<ref name="nytimes_offense">{{cite news |last1=Miller |first1=M. H. |last2=Montamat |first2=Thibault |title=R. Crumb Means Some Offense; Even from his refuge in France, the comics artist still makes America's pulse race |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2022/09/15/t-magazine/r-crumb.html |url-access=subscription |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221027161133/https://www.nytimes.com/2022/09/15/t-magazine/r-crumb.html |archive-date=2022-10-27 |work=[[The New York Times]] |date=15 September 2022 |access-date=January 23, 2024}}{{cbignore}}</ref>