Comic Genius: Robert Crumb and Art Spiegelman with Françoise Mouly at Bass Concert Hall

Outside of the Archie or superhero world, comic art lurks in some fairly dark places. Three of the most prominent members of the alternative comics movement will be at the Bass Concert Hall on Friday to discuss their art, work, and the culture they've helped to create. Robert Crumb, founder of the underground comix movement, will join Art Spiegelman in a discussion moderated by fellow artist and Spiegelman's wife, Françoise Mouly.

Not a stranger to controversy, R. Crumb originally drew greeting card art for American Greetings. After falling in with the bohemians and beats, Crumb began developing his cast of characters including Fritz the Cat, Mr. Natural, and his Keep On Truckin' comics. This year Crumb published a graphic novel version of the Book of Genesis; he spent four years working on book which does not rewrite any of the text.

Spiegelman is best known for this two volume graphic novel, Maus: A Survivor's Tale, which chronicles the artist's tenuous relationship with his father, a Holocaust survivor, and his father's struggles as a Polish Jew who ultimately was imprisoned in Auschwitz. Now a resident of downtown Manhattan, Spiegelman has documented his experiences with the terrorist attacks of September 11th in his large format book In the Shadows of No Towers. On a lighter note, Spiegelman also developed the satirical Garbage Pail Kids series of trading cards that mocked Cabbage Patch Dolls in the 80s.

Paris born Françoise Mouly founded RAW magazine, a comic and graphics focused publication that originally published the first chapter of Maus. She has been the art editor of The New Yorker since 1993. In 2000 Mouly began publishing the Little Lit anthologies of comics for children; the large hardcover books include works by prominent authors including Maurice Sendak, William Joyce, and Lemony Snicket. Mouly and Spiegelman live in Manhattan with their two children, Dashiell and Nadja.

Friday's conversation will be preceded by a lecture by artist Sam Hurt who created the comic strip Eyebeam and currently works with animation, sculpture and painting. The show will begin at 8pm and will include mature content(!). BookPeople will be at the venue selling copies of the artists' recent work.