Jack Crowe, as I have been able to tell, was a Wisconsin native. He went away to the war and came back. He did some comic strips. He did some work for the Racine presses. He did a lot of advertising work. He also had a good girl strip called Windy City Kitty. He did a variety of different strips. This is a wonderful coloring book to collect because we know who drew it. This is not usually the case. Most of the coloring books don't list the artist. This one does. Thankfully. It gave us a gift, because we should know who made this book. They were paid, sure, but they deserve to have their name known. Just because it is a coloring book. Just because it is about cowboys, does not mean that it should be lost to obscurity. We should see the work he did on something so pedestrian as a coloring book and celebrate it. A person made art. More, the art he created encouraged children to color outside the lines. Like all coloring books, a very fine artist presents their work and allows the child to participate. They can color in the spaces or they can go full anarchy Jackson Pollck on the canvas of the coloring book page. The artist makes something representational and the child (the ultimate artist in this relationship) can do whatever the hell they want. They can supplement what Jack Crowe created or say, "The hell with that, I am drawing all over your shit, and what are you going to do about it." In colorng books, it is a collaboration between artist on a deadline and a kid who got this book as a present from his. aunt. "I head you like coloring and cowboys. This was made for you." If this is true or not does not matter. All that matters is the shock of cacaphony the child brings out on the outline Crowe so clearly presented.
