R. Crumb's underground comics were instrumental in shaping the counterculture of the 1960s and beyond, Dan Nadel shows in an exemplary new biography. When you purchase an independently reviewed book through our site, we earn an affiliate commission. CRUMB: A Cartoonist's Life, by Dan Nadel R. Crumb, the underground cartoonist, bumped into things when he was young. Before his eyes were tested in first grade, and he was fitted for Coke-bottle glasses, he could perceive neither depth nor distance.