View source for Mr. Natural (character)

{{Short description|Comics character created byRobert Crumb}}
{{Infobox comics character
<!--Wikipedia:WikiProject Comics-->
| character_name =  Mr. Natural
| image          =  Mr Natural.jpg
| imagesize      = <!-- default 250 -->
| caption        = 
| alt            = 
| creators       = [[Robert Crumb]]
| publisher      = [[Apex Novelties]], [[Print Mint]], [[San Francisco Comic Book Company]], [[Last Gasp (publisher)|Last Gasp]], [[Kitchen Sink Press]]
| debut          = ''[[Yarrowstalks]]'' #1 (May 5, 1967)
| first_series   =
| first_episode  = 
| first_comic    = ''[[Zap Comix]]'' #1 (Feb. 1968)
| voiced_by      =

| alter_ego      = 
| full_name      = Fred Natural
| species        =
| homeworld      = Earth
| alliances      = <!-- optional -->
| partners       = Flakey Foont, Shuman the Human, Devil Girl
| supports       = <!-- optional -->
| aliases        = <!-- optional -->
| powers         = magical powers, cosmic insight
| cat            = 
| subcat         = 
| hero           = 
| villain        = 
| sortkey        = Mr. Natural (comics)

}}
'''Mr. Natural''' ('''Fred Natural''') is a [[comic book]] character created and drawn by [[Counterculture of the 1960s|1960s counterculture]] and [[underground comix]] artist [[Robert Crumb]]. First appearing in ''[[Yarrowstalks]]'' (1967), the character gained a following during the emergence of [[underground comix]] in the 1960s and 1970s, and has been extensively merchandised in various products.

== Publication history ==
When he settled in [[San Francisco]] in 1967, Crumb began drawing [[LSD]]-inspired comics. The first Mr. Natural strip, "Mr. Natural: The [[Zen master|Zen Master]]", appeared in the premiere issue of the [[Philadelphia]]-based underground newspaper ''[[Yarrowstalks]]'' on 5 May 1967.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Markstein |first1=Don |website=Don Markstein's Toonopedia |access-date=2 April 2020  |url=http://www.toonopedia.com/natural.htm |title=Mr. Natural}}</ref> When editor Brian Zahn proposed to Crumb to fill the entire third issue with his comix, Crumb created Flakey Foont and several other characters.<ref>{{cite book |last=Rosenkranz |first=Patrick |title=Rebel Visions: The Underground Comix Revolution 1963-1975 |year=2008 |publisher=Fantagraphics Books |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=XyBmDAAAQBAJ&q=%22mr.+natural%22&pg=PA71 | isbn=9781560974642 |pages=71}}</ref><ref name=abc>{{cite book |last1=Duncan |first1=Randy |last2=Smith |first2=Matthew J. |title=Icons of the American Comic Book: From Captain America to Wonder Woman |year=2013 |publisher=ABC-CLIO |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=M_bRZ_et8BIC&q=%22mr+natural%22+yarrowstalks&pg=PA554 | isbn=9780313399244 |pages=554}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last=Harvey |first=Robert C. |title=The Art of the Comic Book: An Aesthetic History |year=1996 |publisher=Univ. Press of Mississippi |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=vAH24kOdCq8C&q=%22mr+natural%22+yarrowstalks&pg=PA193 | isbn=9780878057580 |pages=193}}</ref>

Mr. Natural made appearances in other underground newspapers such as the ''[[East Village Other]]'', which published the strips "Mr. Natural Meets God" and "Mr. Natural Repents" among others. He made his first official comix appearance in ''[[Zap Comix]]'' #1 (Feb. 1968). Mr. Natural also appeared in early underground comix titles like ''[[Bijou Funnies]]'', and ''[[Yellow Dog (comics)|Yellow Dog]]''. He was a regular in ''Zap'' for the balance of the 1960s until appearing in his own three-issue title, originally co-published by the [[San Francisco Comic Book Company]] and [[Apex Novelties]].<ref name=abc />

Crumb created original Mr. Natural strips for ''[[The Village Voice]]'' from February 2-November 29, 1976, which were first collected in ''Mr. Natural'' #3 (Kitchen Sink Press, 1977).

After a ten-year hiatus, Mr. Natural returned in the pages of Crumb's solo series, ''Hup'' (Last Gasp), and then after another gap, in ''Mystic Funnies'' #1 (Alex Wood, 1997). The character hasn't made a new appearance since 2002.

Mr. Natural's various appearances were collected in ''[[The Complete Crumb Comics]]'' vol. 4, "Mr. Sixties!" (Fantagraphics, 1989), ''The Book of Mr. Natural'' (Fantagraphics, 1995), as well as ''The Complete Crumb Comics'' vol. 11, "Mr. Natural Committed to a Mental Institution!" (Fantagraphics, 1995).

== Characterization ==
At first appearance, Mr. Natural is a mystic [[guru]] who spouts [[aphorism]]s on the evils of the modern world and the salvation to be found in mysticism and natural living. He has renounced the material world and lives off anything he can get in exchange for his nuggets of wisdom. Usually depicted as slightly overweight (although his size varies), he is bald with a long white beard, and wears a gown which makes him resemble "old man" depictions of God or a [[prophet]].

Crumb's bearded guru is too unapologetic to be called a [[con man]]. Despite his renunciation of the material world, he is an unrepentant [[wikt:sybarite|sybarite]]. His straight talk, while refreshing, can get him into trouble, as when he was kicked out of Heaven for telling God it is "a little corny" in "Mr. Natural Meets God".<ref>''R. Crumb's Head Comix'' ([[Viking Press]], November 1968).</ref> But he may be the only Crumb creation who is genuinely likable.<ref>[http://dir.salon.com/people/bc/2000/05/02/crumb/index.html Burgess, Steve, "R. Crumb", ''Salon'' (May 2, 2000)]</ref> Mr. Natural's advice is seemingly at odds with his image as a sage, and his inventions are at once brilliant and crackpot.<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=j_S6QHAov1kC&dq=R+Crumb+Mr.+Natural&pg=PA111 Varnum, Robin and Gibbons, Christina, ''The Language of Comics'' Univ. Press of Mississippi, 2001] {{ISBN|978-1-57806-414-4}} p. 111.</ref> Perhaps Mr. Natural's most famous aphorism is, "Mr. Natural sez, Use the right tool for the job"&nbsp;— spoken on seeing Flakey Foont unloading a truck full of bowling balls with a pitchfork. Asked, "What does it all mean?", he responds, "Don't mean sheeit..."<ref>{{cite comic|title=Mr. Natural|artist=Crumb, R|story=Cover|issue=2|publisher=San Francisco Comic Book Company|date=1971}}</ref>

Mr. Natural has strange, magical powers and possesses cosmic insight, but he is also moody, cynical, self-pitying, and suffers from various strange sexual obsessions. He is endlessly being accosted by would-be disciples seeking the truth (among them such long-running Crumb characters as '''Flakey Foont''' and '''Shuman the Human'''). He typically regards them with amused condescension and a certain grudging affection, although his patience often wears thin and he takes sadistic pleasure in making them feel like idiots. While he is typically very cool and in control, he sometimes ends up in humiliating predicaments like languishing for years in a mental institution.<ref>Crumb, R. "Untitled", ''The Village Voice'' (Oct. 18, 1976); later republished in ''The Complete Crumb'' volume 11: ''Mr. Natural Committed to a Mental Institution!'' (Fantagraphics, 1995).</ref>

According to a biography written and illustrated by Crumb, "Fred Natural" had been a jazz musician and then [[faith healer]] in the 1920s,<ref name=origin>Crumb, R. " "The Origins of Mr. Natural", ''Mr. Natural'' #1 (San Francisco Comic Book Company, Aug. 1970)</ref> which would mean that he was "born" in the early years of the 20th century, and by the time of his first encounters (set in the San Francisco area) in the 1960s, was a 60-year-old man. However, in Crumb's illustration of the 1920s faith healer, Fred Natural looks approximately fifty, which would make him one hundred years old in the earliest Flakey Foont encounters. Mr. Natural's own father is featured in a 1973 ''Zap'' story, where he is represented as a rugged frontier type living in a rundown tenement-style apartment building.<ref name=Zap06>untitled ["I'm taking you to see my ol' man..."], ''Zap Comix'' #6 (Print Mint, 1973).</ref>

In the "biography", "Fred Natural" leaves America and travels for many years in Asia, which is where he picks up his unique combination of wisdom and chicanery.<ref name=origin /> For a time he worked as a [[taxicab driver]] in [[Afghanistan]].<ref name=Book>Crumb, R. ''The Book of Mr. Natural'', Fantagraphics Books (December 27, 1995) {{ISBN|978-1-56097-194-8}} p.5</ref> He returns to the U.S during the [[Beat Generation|Beat era]] of the 1960s, and is drawn to the San Francisco Bay area by nubile girls and people willing to listen and pay for his improvisational spirituality. He exhorts his disciples to eat only his own line of "Mr. Natural Brand Foods", and to listen to his broadcasts on the fictional WZAP Radio.<ref name=Book />

A theme in Mr. Natural is the inability of generations in the United States to connect, with each generation rejecting the one before it. Mr. Natural is a "grandfather", and not a "father", to the clueless Foont. In one strip, Mr. Natural's father finds Foont so decadent that he attacks him.<ref name=Zap06 />

In the 1980s and 1990s he entered into a tempestuous relationship with '''Devil Girl''', another popular Crumb character.

== Inspiration ==
[[Barry Miles]] writes that Mr. Natural is a lampoon of [[Maharishi Mahesh Yogi]].<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=kkXNECitum0C&dq=R+Crumb+Maharishi&pg=PA401 Miles, Barry, ''Paul McCartney: Many Years from Now'', Macmillan, 1998] {{ISBN|978-0-8050-5249-7}} p.401</ref> In the film ''[[Comic Book Confidential]]'', Crumb says that he was inspired to draw the character when he heard then radio DJ David Rubenstein jokingly calling himself "Mr. Natural".<ref>Mann, Ron, director. ''Comic Book Confidential'' (Cinecom Pictures, 1988).</ref>

A conscious model for Mr. Natural would be various louche and disreputable [[Great Depression]] survivors who'd gone through the [[Second World War]] in various capacities such as war correspondent, and who'd volunteered for service in the [[Spanish Civil War]], only to discover, in the [[McCarthy era]] of the 1950s, that their background made them unemployable and who developed various sorts of scams to prey upon the postwar [[Baby Boomers]]' search for enlightenment.{{citation needed|date=July 2019}}

Crumb has acknowledged that one inspiration for Mr. Natural was a character called The Little Hitchhiker from a comic strip called ''The Squirrel Cage'' by [[Gene Ahern]], which ran from 1936 to 1953. An homage is sometimes read into this.<ref>{{cite web |title=Gene Ahern {{!}} Lambiek Comiclopedia |url=https://www.lambiek.net/artists/a/ahern_g.htm |access-date=17 October 2018}}</ref> Mr. Natural also somewhat resembles an [[E. C. Segar]] character, Dr. O.G. Wotasnozzle. Mr. Natural's one-piece yellow outfit bears a resemblance to [[Richard F. Outcault]]'s early comic strip ''[[The Yellow Kid]]''.

== In popular culture ==
In 1978, a [[pornographic film]] called ''[[Up in Flames (film)|Up in Flames]]'' was made, featuring Mr. Natural and [[Gilbert Shelton]]'s [[Fabulous Furry Freak Brothers]]. The film was made without the knowledge or permission of Crumb or Shelton.

Mr. Natural appeared, unauthorized, stamped on the blotter paper of a popular form of LSD<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.erowid.org/chemicals/lsd/lsd_history1.shtml|title=Erowid LSD (Acid) Vaults: LSD Tablet and Blotter Contents, 1968–1974 (Microgram and PharmChem)|work=erowid.org}}</ref> in the 1970s.

A [[Martin Rowson]] cartoon in the July 24, 2008, edition of ''[[The Guardian]]'' featured the recently arrested [[Radovan Karadžić]] in the guise of Mr. Natural.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/cartoon/2008/jul/24/mr.unnatural|title=The night Karadzic rocked the Madhouse|first=Martin|last=Rowson|date=23 July 2008|via=The Guardian}}</ref>

Mr. Natural makes a cameo in [[The Walt Disney Company|Disney]] film ''[[Chip 'n Dale: Rescue Rangers (film)|Chip 'n Dale: Rescue Rangers]]'', as one of the toons operating on Main Street's hidden black market. His only line, "Far out!", is voiced by the film's director [[Akiva Schaffer]].<ref>Johnston, Rich. [https://bleedingcool.com/comics/robert-crumbs-mr-natural-the-strangest-cameo-in-chip-n-dale/ "Robert Crumb's Mr Natural, The Strangest Cameo In Chip 'n Dale"], ''Bleeding Cool'' (May 30, 2022).</ref>

== List of appearances (selected) ==

=== Solo titles ===
* ''Mr. Natural'' #1 (San Francisco Comic Book Company/Apex Novelties, Aug. 1970) — "Mr. Natural's 719th Meditation", "Om Sweet Om" (with Shuman the Human), "The Origins of Mr. Natural", "The Mr. Natural Drawing Contest", "On the Bum Again"
* ''Mr. Natural'' #2 (San Francisco Comic Book Company, Oct. 1971) — "A Gurl in Hotpants" (with Flakey Foont), "Sittin' Around the Kitchen Table" (with Flakey Foont), "The Girlfriend" (with Flakey Foont), "Have you seen 'um lately?", "I am the greatest! Make way! Make Way!" (with [[the Snoid]]), "On the Bum Again, part two"
* ''Mr. Natural'' #3 (Kitchen Sink Press, 1977) — essentially 43 one-page stories (originally published in the ''[[Village Voice]]'')
* ''Mystic Funnies'' #1 (Alex Wood, 1997) — (all stories co-star Flakey Foont) "Who Are You?", "Look and See!", "Ah Yes, So It Goes", "Big Man", "Omen in the Gloamin'", "The Saints"

=== Other appearances ===
* ''Yarrowstalks'' #1 (David Auten and Brian Zahn, May 5, 1967)
* "Hey Boparee Bop", ''Yarrowstalks'' #2 (July 1967) — with the Snoid, Gar, Jesus Christ (unnamed), and Angelfood McSpade
* "Mr. Natural Encounters Flakey Foont", ''Yarrowstalks'' #3 (Aug. 1967) — with Flakey Foont
* "The Old Pooperoo Pauses to Ponder", ''[[East Village Other]]'' vol. 3, #2 (December 1–15, 1967) — with Flakey Foont, the Snoid, and [[Angelfood McSpade]]
* "Mr. Natural 'Visits The City'", ''[[Zap Comix]]'' #1 (Apex Novelties, Feb. 1968) — with Flakey Foont
* "Mr. Natural's School of Wisdom", ''[[Yellow Dog (comics)|Yellow Dog]]'' #1 (Print Mint, May 1968)
* "Hm!! Some of these students of mine haven't been making their monthly payments of late!", ''Zap Comix'' #2 (Apex Novelties, July 1968)
* untitled ["Can the Mind Know it?"], ''East Village Other'' vol. 3, #47 (Oct. 25, 1968) — with the Snoid
* "Mr. Natural in Death Valley", ''Zap Comix'' #0 (Apex Novelties, late 1968) — with Flakey Foont
* "Street Corner Daze", ''Zap Comix'' #3 (Apex Novelties, Fall 1968)
* "Hey Boparee Bop", ''R. Crumb's Head Comix'' (Viking Press, Nov. 1968) — with Angelfood McSpade
* ''Yellow Dog'' #8 (1969)
** ""Mr. Natural! Mr. Natural! I want you to come and look at my sore bunion" — with Flakey Foont
** "Mr. Natural Falls in Love"
* "Mr. Natural Takes a Vacation", ''Zap Comix'' #4 (Print Mint, 1969) — with Flakey Foont
* "@**!!!! I gotta remember to cancel my subscription to that rag..." (later retitled "Let Mr. Natural do your thinking for you!!"), ''Zap Comix'' #5 (Print Mint, 1970) — with Flakey Foont 
* "Smogville Blues", ''[[Slow Death Funnies]]'' #1 (Last Gasp, Apr. 1970) — with Flakey Foont
* "Mr. Natural —The Zen Master", ''[[Bijou Funnies]]'' #4 (Print Mint, May 1970)
* "Angelfood McSpade", ''[[Playboy]]'' vol. 17, #7 (July 1970) — with Angelfood McSpade and [[Hugh Hefner]]
* ''Uneeda Comix'' (Print Mint, Aug. 1970)
** "Mr. Natural Goes to a Meeting of the Minds"  — with Flakey Foont and Shuman the Human
** "It's a Workaday World" — with Flakey Foont
* "Mr. Natural Stops Talking", ''Your Hytone Comics'' (Apex Novelties, Feb. 1971)
* "I'm taking you to see my ol' man...", ''Zap Comix'' #6 (Print Mint, 1973) — with Flakey Foont
<!-- SPOOF BY VINCENT DAVIS, not R. Crumb * "Travels with Myron", ''Myron Moose Funnies'' (Myron Moose Comic Book Works, 1973) — with Myron Moose -->
* "Mr. Natural Meets 'The Kid'", ''Zap Comix'' #7 (Print Mint, 1974)
* "Once I Led the Life of a Millionaire", ''Carload o' Comics'' (Bélier Press, Dec. 1976) — with the Snoid
*  ''Hup'' #1 (Last Gasp, 1987)
** "Uh Oh! He's Back! Who's Back? You'll Find Out!" — with Flakey Foont
** "Here He Comes Again!" — with Flakey Foont and Devil Girl
* "The Meeting", ''Hup'' #2 (July 1987) — with Flakey Foont and Devil Girl
* "He's A Natural Man!", ''Hup'' #3 (Last Gasp, Nov. 1989) — with Flakey Foont and Devil Girl
* ''Hup'' #4 (Last Gasp, 1992)
** "Distractions, Distractions!!" — with Flakey Foont and Devil Girl
** "A Bitchin' Bod!" — with Flakey Foont
* "Mr. Natural Wants to Talk to You!" ''Mystic Funnies'' #2 (Last Gasp, Apr. 1999)
* "Don't Fuck With Him", ''Mystic Funnies'' #3 (Fantagraphics, Mar. 2002)

== References ==
{{Reflist}}

== External links ==
* {{comicbookdb|type=character|id= 24016 |title=Mr. Natural}}
* [http://www.toonopedia.com/natural.htm Toonopedia article on Mr. Natural]
* [http://www.deniskitchen.com/Merchant2/merchant.mvc?Screen=CTGY&Category_Code=PC_MN Gallery of Mr. Natural humorous postcards]
* [http://www.comic-art.com/bios-1/crumb001.htm Comic art and graphics gallery] on Robert Crumb

{{Underground comix characters}}
{{Robert Crumb}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Mr.Natural}}
[[Category:1967 comics debuts]]
[[Category:Comics characters introduced in 1967|Natural, Mr.]]
[[Category:Comics by Robert Crumb]]
[[Category:American comics characters|Natural, Mr.]]
[[Category:Fictional hermits|Natural, Mr.]]
[[Category:Fictional spiritual mediums|Natural, Mr.]]
[[Category:Male characters in comics]]
[[Category:Underground comix]]
[[Category:Satirical comics]]
[[Category:Comics set in the 1960s]]
[[Category:Comics set in the 1970s]]