Robert Armstrong (born 1950) is a

cartoonist A cartoonist is a visual artist who specializes in both drawing and writing cartoons (individual images) or comics (sequential images). Cartoonists differ from comics writers or comics illustrators/artists in that they produce both the litera ...

, illustrator, painter, and musician. He is known for his

underground comix Underground comix are small press or self-published comic books that are often socially relevant or satirical in nature. They differ from mainstream comics in depicting content forbidden to mainstream publications by the Comics Code Authority, ...

character Mickey Rat, for popularizing the term " couch potato," and for being a member of

Robert Crumb Robert Dennis Crumb (; born August 30, 1943) is an American artist who often signs his work R. Crumb. His work displays a nostalgia for American folk culture of the late 19th and early 20th centuries, and satire of contemporary American c ...

's band the Cheap Suit Serenaders.

Biography

Armstrong attended Pasadena High School, graduating in 1968, and

Pasadena City College Pasadena City College (PCC) is a Public college, public community college in Pasadena, California. It was founded in 1924 as Pasadena Junior College. History Pasadena City College was founded in 1924 as Pasadena Junior College. It originally o ...

from 1969 to 1971. He did course work at the

Chouinard Art Institute The Chouinard Art Institute was a professional art school founded in 1921 by Nelbert Chouinard, Nelbert Murphy Chouinard (1879–1969) in the Westlake, Los Angeles, Westlake neighborhood of Los Angeles, California. In 1961, Walt Disney, Walt and ...

from 1967 to 1969. Armstrong's paintings and illustrations have been exhibited in galleries since the late 1980s.

Mickey Rat and other comics work

Mickey Rat (an obvious parody of

Mickey Mouse Mickey Mouse is an American cartoon character co-created in 1928 by Walt Disney and Ub Iwerks. The longtime icon and mascot of the Walt Disney Company, Mickey is an anthropomorphic mouse who typically wears red shorts, large shoes, and white ...

) was created by Armstrong in 1971 as a character on a T-shirt. The popularity of the character led to him appearing in comics, which were initially scripted by Chester C. Crill. Mickey's first appearance was '' L.A. Comics'' #1 (published by the Los Angeles Comic Book Company in December 1971). Mickey was "sleazy, opportunistic, capable of just about any foul deed, but also shallow, one-dimensional, and incapable of growth or subtlety. He seems to have had little in the way of motivation, beyond his creators' desire to make him the opposite of the other Mickey in every possible way."Markstein, Don
"Mickey Rat,"
''Don Markstein's Toonopedia''. Accessed April 5, 2016. ''Mickey Rat'' #1 came out in 1972, also scripted by Crill and illustrated by Amstrong, and published by the Los Angeles Comic Book Company. Issue #2 was done entirely by Armstrong, and was published by

Kitchen Sink Press Kitchen Sink Press was a comic book publishing company founded by Denis Kitchen in 1970. Kitchen Sink Press was a pioneering publisher of underground comics, and was also responsible for numerous republications of classic comic strips in hardcov ...

later in 1972. ''Mickey Rat'' issues #3 and #4 were published in 1980 and 1982, respectively, by

Last Gasp (The) Last Gasp may refer to * Last Gasp (publisher) Last Gasp is a San Francisco–based book publisher with a lowbrow art and counterculture focus. Owned and operated by Ron Turner, for most of its existence Last Gasp was a publisher, dis ...

. In the mid-1970s,

R. Crumb Robert Dennis Crumb (; born August 30, 1943) is an American artist who often signs his work R. Crumb. His work displays a nostalgia for American folk culture of the late 19th and early 20th centuries, and satire of contemporary American c ...

's friend

Harvey Pekar Harvey Lawrence Pekar (; October 8, 1939 – July 12, 2010) was an American underground comic book writer, music critic, and media personality, best known for his autobiographical ''American Splendor'' comic series. In 2003, the series inspired ...

laid out a few of his autobiographical stories with crude

stick figures Stick Figure is an American reggae and dub band founded in 2005. The group has released eight full-length albums and one instrumental album (Prince Fatty Presents), all of which were written and produced by frontman and self-taught multi-instr ...

and showed them to Crumb and Armstrong. Impressed, they both offered to illustrate, and both contributed to Pekar's earliest published comics (although Armstrong never illustrated any stories in Pekar's comic book series ''American Splendor''). Over his career, Armstrong has contributed to many anthologies (many involving Mickey Rat), including '' Weirdo'', ''

Arcade Arcade most often refers to: * Arcade game, a coin-operated video, pinball, electro-mechanical, redemption, etc., game ** Arcade video game, a coin-operated video game ** Arcade cabinet, housing which holds an arcade video game's hardware ** Arcad ...

'', and ''

Comix Book ''Comix Book'' is an underground comic book series published from 1974 to 1976, originally by Marvel Comics. It was the first comic of this type to be published by a mainstream publisher. Edited by Denis Kitchen, ''Comix Book'' featured work by s ...

''. Armstrong's work was included in

Fantagraphics Fantagraphics (previously Fantagraphics Books) is an American publisher of alternative comics, classic comic strip anthologies, manga, magazines, graphic novels, and (formerly) the Erotic comics, erotic Eros Comix imprint. They have managed sev ...

' 1991 collection ''Best Comics of the Decade,'' Vol. 1. More recently, Armstrong's artwork has appeared regularly in

Mineshaft (magazine) ''Mineshaft'' is an independent international art magazine launched in 1999 by Everett Rand and Gioia Palmieri in Guilford, Vermont. Initially focusing on poetry and literature, the magazine began to publish comics after Robert Crumb became a co ...

, from 2005 to 2023.

Musician

Armstrong has been a member of R. Crumb & His Cheap Suit Serenaders since the 1970s, performing vocals, musical saw, and guitar. As of 2006, Crumb is no longer much involved with the group; Armstrong continues to perform with the band.Lynch, Megan
"The Cheap Suit Serenaders,"
AllMusic.com. Accessed November 17, 2019. Armstrong's

musical saw A musical saw, also called a singing saw, is a hand saw used as a musical instrument. Capable of continuous glissando (portamento), the sound creates an ethereal tone, very similar to the theremin. The musical saw is classified as a plaque frict ...

solo is featured in the opening and closing theme music for

Miloš Forman Jan Tomáš "Miloš" Forman (; ; 18 February 1932 – 13 April 2018) was a Czech Americans, Czech-American film film director, director, screenwriter, actor, and professor who rose to fame in his native Czechoslovakia before emigrating to the Uni ...

's '' One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest''. Commenting on the score, reviewer Steven McDonald has said, "The edgy nature of the film extends into the score, giving it a profoundly disturbing feel at times — even when it appears to be relatively normal. The music has a tendency to always be a little off-kilter, and from time to time it tilts completely over into a strange little world of its own ..." Armstrong and fellow Cheap Suit Serenader Al Dodge scored the 1975 animated short ''

Quasi at the Quackadero ''Quasi at the Quackadero'' is a 1975 American independent animated short by Sally Cruikshank. This cartoon follows two anthropomorphic ducks and a pet robot at an amusement park where phenomena such as time travel, telepathy, and reincarnation ...

'', by

Sally Cruikshank Sarah "Sally" Cruikshank (born 1949) is an American cartoonist, animator and artist, whose work includes animation for the Children's Television Workshop program ''Sesame Street'', and whose short '' Quasi at the Quackadero'' (1975) was inducted i ...

. They used

slide flute A slide whistle (variously known as a swanee or swannee whistle, lotus flute, piston flute, or jazz flute) is a wind instrument consisting of a fipple like a recorder's and a tube with a piston in it. Thus it has an air reed like some woodwin ...

xylophone The xylophone (; ) is a musical instrument in the percussion family that consists of wooden bars struck by mallets. Each bar is an idiophone tuned to a pitch of a musical scale, whether pentatonic or heptatonic in the case of many African ...

ukulele The ukulele ( ; ); also called a uke (informally), is a member of the lute (ancient guitar) family of instruments. The ukulele is of Portuguese origin and was popularized in Hawaii. The tone and volume of the instrument vary with size and con ...

duck call A duck call may be either the sound-imitation process used in waterfowl hunting, by which a hunter lures waterfowl, or the actual tool which the person uses to do so. Early duck call tools were basic woodwind instruments, while later innovations a ...

s, boat whistles, and

bagpipes Bagpipes are a woodwind instrument using enclosed reeds fed from a constant reservoir of air in the form of a bag. The Great Highland bagpipes are well known, but people have played bagpipes for centuries throughout large parts of Europe, N ...

to create what Cruikshank called the "strange, gallopy feeling" of 1920s/1930s dance-band music, of which she is a devotee.Counts, Kyle. "The Short Life of Sally Cruikshank", ''Starlog Presents Comics Scene'' #7, January 1982, p. 45. Armstrong also recorded music for another Cruikshank film, ''Make Me Psychic'' (1976).

"Couch potato"

The term " couch potato" was coined by a friend of Armstrong in the 1970s. Armstrong featured a group of couch potatoes in a series of comics featuring sedentary characters; and with Jack Mingo and Al Dodge created a satirical organization that purported to watch television as a form of meditation. With three books and endless promotion through the 1980s, the Couch Potatoes appeared in hundreds of newspapers, magazines and broadcasts, spreading its "turn on, tune in, veg out" message, garnering 7,000 members, and popularizing the term.

Bibliography

Comic book titles

* ''Mickey Rat'' (4 issues, various publishers, 1972–1982)

Books

* ''Pitching In'' (Jalmar Press, 1980) * ''The Official Couch Potato Handbook'' (Capra Press, 1983) * ''The Couch Potato Guide to Life'' (Avon Books, 1984) * ''The Couch Potato Cookbook'' (Warner Books, 1988) * ''A Frog’s Tale'' (Words and Muse Productions, 1990) * ''Exploring Farmer Cooperatives'' (Agricultural Council of California, 1997) * ''Tending Your Money Garden'' (Rossonya Books, 1998)

References

Notes

Sources

* "Robert Armstrong: MIckey Rat with a Paintbrush," ''Juxtapose'' Vol. 2, No. 1 (Winter 1995). * "Couch Potatoes and Cheap Suits Interview with Robert Armstrong," ''Sacramento News and Review'' (September 28, 2000).

External links

*
R. Crumb and his Cheap Suit Serenaders
(Overview of activities)

at Lambiek's Comiclopedia {{DEFAULTSORT:Armstrong, Robert 1950 births American comic strip cartoonists American comics artists American parodists American humorists Artists from Pasadena, California Artists from the San Francisco Bay Area Living people American poster artists Psychedelic artists Underground cartoonists Pasadena High School (California) alumni Pasadena City College alumni Disney parodies