Etoain Shrdlu

Few characters carry a name as delightfully absurd as Etoain Shrdlu — a typographer's in-joke brought to life by the one and only R. Crumb in the pages of Weirdo #1 in 1981, right at the heart of the underground comix scene's Bronze Age flowering. Published through Last Gasp, this oddball creation shares ink with a remarkable crowd, including Crumb himself, Aline Kominsky-Crumb, and Prof. T. E. Zwigoff, placing Etoain squarely in the irreverent, gloriously idiosyncratic world that made Weirdo a landmark of alternative comics. With appearances stretching across sixteen years and a spot in The R. Crumb Coffee Table Art Book, this is a character whose modest catalog footprint belies the cultish, knowing company they keep — a genuine artifact of one of comics' most gloriously unruly corners.