Maxwell's Silver Hammer comic in R. Crumb style from 2009

Maxwell's Silver Hammer in R. Crumb Style

Five or so years ago I began working on a Christmas present for my girlfriend at the time, Claire. She was a big-time music and comic book lover. We both enjoyed the Beatles, and one of her all-time favourite comic book artists was Robert Crumb, aka R. Crumb. For the gift I decided to draw up a comic covering the lyrics of the Beatles' Maxwell's Silver Hammer, in the style of R. Crumb's work. Robert Crumb is an icon in the underground comic scene. He rose to prominence in the 60s with acid-induced masterpieces. His themes ranged from subversive, to tongue-in-cheek, to downright horrifying. They are all beautiful, though. He came under fire for his occasional anti-woman themes, amongst others. His works often feature the suppressed sexual psyche and hunger for violence. I considered the lyrics of Maxwell's Silver Hammer to be rather craven, so here is an R. Crumb interpretation of Maxwell's Silver Hammer. If you load up the song, the timing tags for each moment are featured in the captions of the pages below. And I guess it might be a bit graphic.

0:00 — 0:28

0:00 — 0:28

0:29 — 0:58

0:29 — 0:58

0:59 — 1:34

0:59 — 1:34

1:35 — 2:15

1:35 — 2:15

2:16 — 3:27

2:16 — 3:27