A Short History of America. By Robert Crumb (b. 1943).

15-panel poster. 1997 printing on coated stock. 24” wide x 22” high, unframed.

“Arguably cartoonist Robert Crumb’s most popular and most timeless image, this poster shows the gradual metamorphosis of a single plot of land from virgin wilderness to urban decay, originally in 12 panels. It first appeared in black & white in 19 79 in the ecological magazine CoEvolution Quarterly and in Snoid Comics. It was rearranged and colored by Peter Poplaski in 1981 and quickly became Kitchen Sink Press’ best-selling poster. After the popular, but depressing, 12-panel poster went out of print, Crumb added three panels to answer the ‘What next?’ question posed in his original final 12th panel. In this 15-panel version, Crumb depicts three possible futures: a.) Lower left shows the ‘Worst case scenario: ecological disaster’; b.) Center: ‘The fun future: Techno fix on the march!’; c.) Lower right: “‘The ecotopian solution.’ ”