I need a break from computering, so a Daze day it is. Let’s go.
| The Waitresses: Wasn’t Tomorrow Wonderful? |  |
14:20: Quaderni ucraini: Le radici del conflitto by Igort (Pax)
This book is from 2010, but has gotten a Norwegian edition now.
Igort has interviewed a few older people from Ukraine, and illustrates their stories. The stories are mostly from the 30s and the following decades, and they are masterfully told in Igort’s distinctive and understated style. It’s a really moving book.
*sniff*
| Suicide Romeo: Pictures |  |
15:36: Clubhouse #14 (Colorama)
The Clubhouse books are based around the concept of inviting a bunch of artists to Berlin to create an anthology while at a residency. Arranged by Colorama, who’s a riso printer. So there’s some cohesion to the books just based on that.
But this was done remotely (due to Recent Events), and it feels really random.
And some of the pieces have artwork that don’t suit riso printing at all.
So I had a hard time getting into this — there were some good pieces in here, but it was just hard to give it the required attention.
| Alan Vega: Alan Vega |  |
16:08: Leonard by Michael R. Muller
This starts off a bit rough, but once I got into the rhythm of things, it actually got strangely gripping (for a book of obscure jokes and hi-jinx).
It’s really interesting (and I laughed out loud a couple times), and I can easily see this artist going somewhere.
| The Meters: Gettin’ Funkier All The Time (2): A Message From The Meters [Struttin’ & Singles Bonus Tracks] |  |
16:41: Blank Frames by Nicole Rodrigues (Reptile House)
This has a very distinct point of view — it feels very assured.
It’s interesting.
| The Meters: Gettin’ Funkier All The Time (2): A Message From The Meters [Struttin’ & Singles Bonus Tracks] |  |
16:55: Down Under by Daniel Østvold
This is extremely silly, in the best possible way.
It’s one absurd thing after another, and it’s most amusing.
| The Meters: Gettin’ Funkier All The Time (2): A Message From The Meters [Struttin’ & Singles Bonus Tracks] |  |
17:08: Wet Shape in the Dark by Jon Chandler (Breakdown Press)
This is a collection of shorter pieces that are mostly about people being threatened with violence of one kind of another.
I expected these to somehow build to something greater, since they’re so focused on the same kind of theme… and indeed, the final piece is a callback to a couple of the other pieces, but it just doesn’t quite work for me? That is, I think stumbling onto almost any one of these pieces in an anthology would have made an impression (because they are pretty unnerving), but collected like this, I just got impatient with it all.
| Jeanne Lee: Conspiracy |  |
17:38: Extended Play by Jake Terrell (2d cloud)
Oops! I’m pretty sure I’ve already got this one here… somewhere… why is it that I only realise that when I’ve got the actual book in my hand, and not when I’m shopping on the interwebs? Well, might as well re-read this now…
Oh, man, I miss 2d cloud. Every book impeccably produced and every book drop an event.
And this is a really good book. It’s a collection of shorter pieces, where most take a different approach to storytelling (which I guess explains the “play” in the title). It’s all pretty successful and interesting? And very pretty.
17:58: Mortensens mondæne meritter: Tulipannotatet by Lars Jakobsen (Forlaget Fabel)
This is a newer Danish time travel series, and if I remember correctly, the storytelling is rather chaotic? But entertaining. I think this is the newest album…
This is actually a whole lot more straightforward than the previous albums. It’s still rather abrupt and choppy, though, but not as much as before.
But now it’s so straightforward that there’s almost nothing left — it seems so brief that it’s over before it’s begun. And while the artwork is pretty attractive, it’s hard to tell people apart. Or, rather, see that they’re the same character in different costumes.
| 4 Hero: Parallel Universe |  |
18:25: This Was Our Pact by Ryan Andrews (Gyldendal)
I try to avoid translations if I can read the original language, but I found this really cheaply on sale, so…
The colours are wonderful here, but the figures and line work is kinda generic in a 90s Top Shelf kinda way?
I think Andrews is going for whimsy, but it reads as allegory in the first half, which means that it has an unpleasant whiff of “spiritual” going on.
But the book has a really surprising flow — it absolutely didn’t go where I expected it to, and in a way my expectations here sabotaged my enjoyment of the book. It’s actually a pretty good book, and all the annoying beats I thought the book was going to hit never happened.
I can totally see myself being absolutely enthralled by this book when I was, like, 12 — it has that kind of magic going; a real sense of wonder, and nothing to undermine that feeling.
19:37: Nwai & Palace no. 1 by Antoine Cossé (Breakdown Press)
These books collect some mysterious short pieces.
Cossé’s artwork is really attractive, and quite varied.
These are intriguing, classic little vignettes, and the books are satisfying reads.
19:50: Tel-Tales #1 and Red Bird #6 by Dan Zettwoch
I love these little books Zettwoch does… always some printing or assembling flourish (in addition to the amusing (auto)bio stories).
Tel-Tales #1 is a very small book, but it folds out in the middle.
And the cover is made from a aperture/punch card (rescued from the same building the story takes place in) that’s been screenprinted on top of. It’s super dooper cool.
The other booklet is larger, and is less extravagant format wise. But it’s also a good little anecdote; more wistful than the first one (which basically retells a prank of sorts).
| John Zorn: The Bagatelles (2): Erik Friedlander and Michael Nicolas |  |
20:04: Windowpane #4 by Joe Kessler (Breakdown Press)
Oh, this piece was reprinted in that larger Kessler book I read last Comics Daze day… but I’ll re-read it anyway.
Is this screenprinted? It looks and feels screenprinted, but man, that’s a lot of work…
Anyway, this piece works even better here in its own book — the book feels so perfect; it’s like a mysterious object, because there’s no contextualisation to what we’re reading. It’s more immediate and gripping?
Great stuff.
20:14: R.I.P. Mou 1&2 by Valis Ortiz
Love the glitter on the covers!
This is a collection of sketchbook entries…
… and a couple of comics. Since this is a family oriented blog, there’s extremely few pages I can snap here — there’s a lot of fucking going on in these pages.
Pretty good.
| Oval: Ovidono |  |
20:47: Jeremiah 39: Rancune by Hermann (Faraos Cigarer)
It’s pretty impressive, Hermann started this series in 1979, and has almost single-handedly done all these albums (with the exception of the colouring of some of the earliest albums). And Hermann was born in 1938!
But on the other hand, the last couple of Jeremiah albums have, how to put this politely, sucked. So…
This is better than the previous album. The artwork is more like back in the olden days — solid figure work, somehow precise and loose lines at the same time, and a unique colour sense.
But as usual, he adds a dozen characters we haven’t seen before, and only sketches in some character like these two, who are the “gross fat guy who’s fat and gross” and “his sister, who yells a lot”, but that’s something, at least. It’s a lot to keep track of.
I thought this one kinda worked, though? It’s not as good as Jeremiah Back In The Days, but it’s fine.
Apparently the French kinda agree with me:
It’s hard to judge as this album bothered me a bit at the beginning with its somewhat “deconstructed” scenario.
I reassure, things pick up afterwards and we finally understand what is happening. As usual, characters apart and colorful, a return (two even) and dialogues always as well written.
Probably not the best of the Jeremiahs, but we’re still average.
| Vanishing Twin: Ookii Gekkou |  |
21:30: The Inspector by Liam Cobb (Breakdown Press)
Riso printed, I guess?
Anyway, this takes all the usual pot shots at “fine dining”, but it takes it so far beyond the pale that even this tired old trope is funny again.
*slow clap*
| Vanishing Twin: Ookii Gekkou |  |
21:45: Whistle by Louka Butzbach (Breakdown Press)
This is a pretty unique book — it’s got a fairy tale kind of vibe, but the story it tells isn’t what you’d expect.
The artwork and the pacing are perfect for this odd story. It’s a strange, compelling read.
| Dean Blunt: Black Metal 2 |  |
21:59: The One Who Weeps by Cynthia Alfonso (Cold Cube Press)
This is great — it’s a narrative book, but on the edges of abstraction.
It really works. Very interesting.
22:18: Jettens morgen by Sunna Kitti (ČállIIdLágádus)
Oh, this is the first sámi comic book or something? Well, first album sized thing, perhaps… I think I read something about that….
Huh, I had expected more Japanese-inspired artwork, but perhaps that trend is subsiding? There was a period a couple years ago where all comics aimed at teenagers had to look kinda Japanese. But this looks more American? Er… do I see some Paul Pope there? Jeff Smith? Is there even some Fiona Staples, perhaps?
This is apparently based on some old epic or something… it’s about a guy that goes to the land of giants and fights some monsters or something.
And I say “or something” because the translation is horrible! Hor ri ble. Half of the time I have no idea what they’re even talking about. Was this translated to English first and then to Norwegian? The text is frequently non-idiomatic, and often uses outdated phrases and then mixes in anachronisms.
I have no idea whether it was originally as incoherent as this originally, but this was a chore to get through, because every other page is “what does that even mean?”, “who is he referring to now?”, and just “whaa… huh?”
And the lettering is atrocious.
| Various: Pop Psychédélique |  |
23:08: Popocomi 1 (Popotame Books & Gallery)
If I understand the introduction right, this is a collection of comics by artists that don’t usually do comics, which explains why this is published by a gallery.
I wouldn’t have guessed, though — all these pieces have a good flow and read well. I would have expected comics done by illustrators and artists to be more art forward?
And then… yowza.
Anyway, this is a good anthology.
23:24: The End
And now I’m all worn out from all this comicsing, so I think it’s time to go to bed.