Ja! Festival 2013

The 4th festival was held around underground humour, and who is the king of underground comics? Robert Crumb, of course. Peacefully settled in the south of France, he had a reputation for not attending any event, and we were told it would be useless to offer him the award. But against all odds, he accepted and came to Bilbao accompanied by his wife, the charming cartoonist Aline Kominsky, who passed away in 2023. Aline steered Robert, often self-absorbed, and made him stand up straight for the photos; Crumb is the epitome of ungainly. The couple seemed very close. At the award ceremony, Crumb was interviewed in the audience by Santiago Segura, fascinated to be standing beside his comic God.