Belle d'un jour #[nn]

Published by Albin Michel's L'Echo des Savanes imprint in 1990, this French-language collection showcases R. Crumb's unmistakable underground cartooning at its most socially sardonic. The cover sets the tone perfectly: a towering, glamorously dressed blonde woman in a pink ruffled miniskirt holds court amid a cluster of squat, ogling male figures — one a rotund fellow in a suit, another a shaggy dog-faced type — while a speech bubble reads "Ça craint! Y'a vraiment personne ici..." A wonderfully deadpan scene that signals exactly the kind of sharp, offbeat humor waiting inside.