Comic strip for Punk #23 (Fall 2024).
Robert Romagnoli is an American graphic artist, illustrator and writer, who in the late 1970s worked for the New York punk magazine Punk, and later also for The Village Voice. In 1976, he drew a parody of Robert Crumb's 'Mr. Natural' titled 'Mr. Neutral'. Much to his surprise, Crumb disliked this spoof so vehemently that he instantly decided to discontinue 'Mr. Natural' there and then. In later years, Romagnoli has been working in New York City as a multi-skilled graphic artist and designer, whose projects have included guide maps, scientific illustrations and designs for outdoor banners.
Early life and career
Robert Romagnoli was born in New York City into a family of Italian descent. Between 1973-1974, he studied at the School of Visual Arts in New York City, taking cartooning classes from Harvey Kurtzman. There, he became friends with John Holmstrom, who in 1975 founded Punk magazine with publisher Ged Dunn and the punk journalist Eddie "Legs" McNeil. From the start, both Holmstrom and Romagnoli were the house cartoonists (even though Romagnoli wasn't really into punk music).
In January 1976, the first issue of Punk Magazine came out, edited, printed and distributed from the team's New York City office, known as "The Punk Dump". The publication aimed at the new punk subculture that was developing in New York City. True to the punk aesthetic, each issue was made with a DIY approach. Each week, Romagnoli and Holmstrom made a photo comic, 'Mutant Monster Beach Party', cobbled together from publicity pictures of bands like Blondie and The Ramones.
In his Substack newsletter of 12 September 2024, John Holmstrom acknowledged Romagnoli's importance for the title: "For some weird reason, Robert always had his finger on the pulse of punk rock and its relationship to mainstream culture, and as a result his contributions were always everyone's favorite thing in the issue. For instance, his 'Do-It-Yourself Sixties Protest Song' in PUNK #1 was one of the things that put the magazine on the map."
Romagnoli continued to create cartoons, comics and poems until Punk published its final issue in May/June 1979. Even though this issue was numbered as issue #17, there were no issues #9 and #13. A Punk special came out in 1981. Since 2001, John Holmstrom has been irregularly releasing new issues of Punk, which have included new work by Robert Romagnoli. In 2013, a "Best of" of all issues was compiled into the book 'Punk: The Best of Punk Magazine' (It Books, 2013) by John Holmstrom.
Romagnoli's 'Do-It-Yourself Sixties Protest Song' from Punk #1 (1976).
Mr. Natural parody
Robert Romagnoli's best-remembered contribution to Punk however put him at odds with the godfather of underground comix, Robert Crumb. Between 2 February and 18 October 1976, Crumb made an exclusive weekly 'Mr. Natural' comic for the alternative New York newsweekly the Village Voice. In the story, the guru Mr. Natural falls into a deep pit and decides to pass the time meditating, and, despite being interrupted by the Devil, still reaches the higher plain of understanding he craved for. Mr. Natural climbs out of the pit and decides to start a commune. The old Wiseman visits his former client Flakey Foont, who apparently has left his hippie past behind him. He and his wife now have a normal, everyday life and are no longer interested in gaining cosmic wisdom. In fact, they think Natural went crazy and have him institutionalized. But Foont soon feels guilty afterwards.
At the time, Crumb's presence in The Village Voice surprised many old-time fans. For the first time his comics could be read in a widely distributed magazine on a regular basis. Crumb took this opportunity because he was in desperate need of income. By the mid-1970s most of the underground comix magazines had died down, and he was harassed by the I.R.S. over his popular 'Keep on Truckin' logo. The Village Voice offered him 200 dollars a week per episode, which was a lucrative and stable source of income.
'Mr. Neutral', Robert Romagnoli's infamous 'Mr. Natural' parody (Punk #5, August 1976).
However, most fans at the time weren't aware of Crumb's dire situation. Some were disappointed with his Mr. Natural story in The Village Voice, which felt as if he had "sold out". Contrary to previous 'Mr. Natural' stories in underground magazines, this Village Voice serial had no controversial elements. There were no political commentary or sleazy sex scenes. Robert Romagnoli was one of the Crumb fans who felt the 'Mr. Natural' story in The Village Voice lacked focus and above all bite. In issue #5 of Punk (August 1976) he drew a parody of Crumb's signature comic titled 'Mr. Neutral' by "R. Crumbun". In this spoof, Mr. Natural describes himself as a "tired-out overdrawn cartoon hasbeen" who was "doomed to this wretched weekly existence (...) just to suffer in this swamp and think out loud!". When Flakey Foont's wife Ruth asks him out for sex, Natural takes her offer, because "maybe one day I'll hit it big in the movies... like the fuckin' cat did", referencing Ralph Bakshi's film adaptation of 'Fritz the Cat', which Crumb notoriously hated.
Earlier in 1976, Punk had published a few exclusive drawings by Robert Crumb. So it wasn't all that surprising that the underground comix legend would read Romagnoli's 'Mr. Neutral' parody. But he felt so offended that on 4 August 1976 he wrote an angry reader's letter to Punk, published in the February 1977 issue (#7). Crumb explained that he felt "washed up" and hated everything about present-day America, society and media. Although he liked Punk magazine, he still couldn't hold back his frustration about that "wop-dego-goombah-guinea-grease-ball" whose take-off of 'Mr. Natural' was "very clever... even though the jerk couldn't come close to imitating my drawing style (ha ha)". Crumb reminded the editors of Punk that "maybe (...) you'll be able to continue putting out a 'tough li'l spunky' magazine for awhile until you get tired of not making money and have to look for work... eventually, everybody has to look for work, kid... you can't be a teen-ager forever... but it's fun while it lasts, huh?". Though he still had the honesty to admit: "Yes I'm bitter...". Crumb also announced that he would quit his 'Mr. Natural' in the Village Voice comic instantly and mentioned twice that the 'Mr. Neutral' comic by Romagnoli was "the convincer".
At first, Crumb's letter seemed an empty threat, because 'Mr. Natural' continued long after that date. But, of course, all serialized comics are made several months beforehand, so it took a while before The Village Voice received no new material. On 25 October 1976, 'Mr. Natural' suddenly vanished from The Village Voice after a previously uninterrupted run of 39 weeks. One of the paper's house cartoonists, Gil Eisner, therefore drew a special gag cartoon depicting Crumb. He suggested that the artist had refused to continue his comic strip, despite being begged and promised a higher payment. Most readers didn't believe this story. They strongly suspected that The Village Voice had fired or censored him. Case in point was that the story had been interrupted after a scene where Foont was visited by two reporters of The Village Voice. Crumb depicted these journalists as disinterested stoners.
A month passed and more letters from concerned readers came in. On 22 November a letter by Romagnoli was published. He explained that he might have had something to do with the whole situation. He told the readers about his parody comic and said he was surprised that Crumb had actually read it. Romagnoli certainly didn't feel bad about the whole experience. In his reader's letter he said that Crumb is “seemingly sensitive to overt parody”. He advised readers to "pick up some underground reprints" if they "really want to revel in the '60s" and "leave the '70s to Stan Mack and Jules Feiffer (who also have been satirized steaming speedball in Punk, but alas still continue to draw)." Romagnoli was in for another surprise, as The Village Voice instantly hired him to become their new house cartoonist, but quit after a while because of too much editorial meddling.
On 29 November 1976, Crumb finally broke the mystery by drawing a final comic for The Village Voice. On this gag page, he explained that he had quit 'Mr. Natural' on his own terms. He didn't mention Romagnoli, but said that he found it too difficult to keep up with his weekly deadlines. Most of the story had been improvised as he went along, anyway. The 'Mr. Natural' story was later published by Kitchen Sink Press as 'Mr. Natural issue 3'. Crumb quit drawing new 'Mr. Natural' stories for almost a full decade. Crumb's guru wouldn't return until February 1986, this time in Crumb's self-published magazine Hup.
Technical diagrams for the book 'Oceans - How It Works' (Cavendish Publishing).
Graphic designer and other creative works
Later in life, Robert Romagnoli was active as a painter, sculptor, graphic artist and digital design artist, based in Manhattan's Little Italy neighborhood. Experienced in establishing and maintaining identity, brand development and management, marketing strategies, advertising design and copywriting, his varied projects have included guide maps, logo design, science illustrations, 3D terrain models, and recreations of historic wallpaper, among other things. During his professional life, he has established long-term associations with printers, manufacturers, installers and clients, for instance the banner manufacturer Kraus & Sons. Together with artist Red Grooms he made the massive sculpture 'Ruckus Manhattan', which has been on display at the Marlborough Gallery and Grand Central Station in Manhattan, New York City. Other notable projects have been the large outdoor banners for the Metropolitan Museum of Art and animations for the Spectacolor sign at Times Square.
Robert Romagnoli has also performed live comedy with his one-man puppet show 'Hooray for Hollywood'. In addition, he has led tours of museums and historic landmarks under the auspices of OpenHouseNewYork, and hosted the newyorkcity-eats.com food blog.
Illustration and layout for a convention program/magazine of the Periodical & Book Association of America.
Recognition
For his design work, The New York State gave Romagnoli the "Outstanding Commitment Award from the Preservation League of New York State". He was given the "Historical Services Award for Excellence" by the Lower Hudson Conference of Historical Museums. Romagnoli also received The Historic River Towns of Westchester Tourism Achievement Award, while the Friends of the Old Croton Aqueduct honored him with the "Enthusiasm, Creativity and Professionalism Award".
Robert Romagnoli in the 1970s.