'I feel a deep connection to those autobio comics from the '70s and '80s. I spent a year writing about her and the rest of the Twisted Sisters while I was in college, and that first wave of underground comix was so influential in my decision to become a cartoonist,' cartoonist Jen Sorensen wrote on Facebook. 'The loss of Aline Kominsky-Crumb hit me pretty hard yesterday. Great at being alive,' wrote cartoonist Gary Panter on his Facebook page. 'The passing of Aline Kominsky is so very sad. The loss of Aline Kominsky-Crumb is overwhelming,' cartoonist Phoebe Gloeckner posted on her Facebook page.

News of her death–and subsequent sad reactions–soon spread on social social media, with many fans and friends weighing in on the loss. The loss of two of the most influential female artists of the underground period within a span of just a few months seems particularly cruel. Noomin died of uterine cancer on September 1, 2022. Kominsky-Crumb was a key figure in the underground comix/s movement and a founding member of the all-women's title, Wimmen's Comix, before launching her own women's collection, Twisted Sisters, along with co-editor Diane Noomin. And that was the point: Aline refused to cover up or gloss over-everything was in service to her subjects, which include, but are hardly limited to: negative self-image, sexual neurosis, lust, marriage, children, travel, grandchildren, and the daily pain and pleasure of simply being in a body.' Her quavering, thin lines were as intentionally imperfect as the lives she depicted. 'Aline's legacy in comics can’t be overstated: She was the first artist to make comics relentlessly examining the private physical and emotional lives of women. Writing for Artforum, comics historian Dan Nadel summed up the importance of her work: She will be dearly missed within that family, and from the international cartooning community, but, especially by Robert, who shared almost the last 50 years of his life with her.' Photo collage assembled by Robert Crumb for Fantagraphics' The Complete Crumb Comics Vol.

It was her energy that transformed the American Crumb family into a Southern French one, with her daughter Sophie, living, marrying and having three French children there. She had huge amounts of energy which she poured into her artwork, her daughter, her grandchildren and the meals which brought everyone together. 'She was the hub of the wheel within her family and community. Because her father died from pancreatic cancer at an early age, Aline always feared it would claim her too, and her fears were ultimately justified. 'Aline previously beat her bout with colon cancer–changed her diet, stopped drinking and transformed her body with her intense yoga workouts–but quickly succumbed to pancreatic cancer in the last several months of this year. 'We're very saddened that Aline Kominsky-Crumb, cartoonist, mother and Robert's wife for almost 50 years, has passed away at 74 years old,' wrote Peter Poplaski and Rika Deryckere, artist friends of the Crumb family, in an email announcing the news. Image by Robert Crumb, courtesy of the Official Robert Crumb Website,.

Legendary underground cartoonist Aline Kominsky-Crumb, whose self-deprecating and wickedly funny autobiographical comics often focused on the lives of herself and her husband, Robert Crumb, died on November 29th at their home in France from pancreatic cancer. She was 74.

John Kelly | DecemPhoto by Lora Fountain.

Robert crumb comics online