Hey! I’ve gotta read some comics. And for music today: 1979.
| Talking Heads: Fear Of Music |  |
12:39: Night Drive by Richard Sala (Fantagraphics)
This is a book I’ve wanted to read for years, but it’s been out of print, and:
And that’s kinda a lot of money, isn’t it? ISN”T IT?!
But finally Fantagraphics had reprinted it — and this is an expanded edition, I think, because the original one was apparently 28 pages long:
I must say that I find it really strange that works like this — from a popular artist like Sala — remains unobtainable for decades on end…
Oh, is that what he looked like? I imagined… with a hat, or something.
There’s an abundance of text pieces, and it seems like Sala wasn’t proud of this period. Which might explain why it was never reprinted before. But man… it’s just awesome.
The artwork is so shockingly good that it almost gets in the way of actually reading these pages, but on the other hand, the stories are so vague that it kind of all compounds into an even more gripping reading experience.
If I had this book when I was a teenager, it would have been my favourite comic book. It’s amazing.
13:06: Neutre by Yuichi Yokoyama (Éditions matière)
I bought this from 50 Watts Books…
Hey, nice.
It’s a collection of paintings and drawings.
Some seem to hint at a narrative, but if there is one, it’s pretty vague.
But we do get a couple of more comicsey pieces — and silent ones! Which is unusual for Yokoyama — his books are usually very, very loud.
It’s a very nice book.
| David Bowie: Lodger |  |
13:14: Š! #55 (Kuš)
I got this from here.
This is not a typical issue of this great anthology — it’s for a Comics Sans Frontières conference, and I guess about a third of the pages are text pages. (Which I didn’t read! Sorry!)
There’s a few good comics in here…
… but most of them are just kinda painfully mainstream. (There’s guest editors.)
And a few do the usual embarrassing special pleading for why comics are awesome that you see in these things.
With computer lettering! *gasp* *choke*
Yes, I do indeed know that about gravitational fields. I’ve been to high school, even though it’s been a while.
| Japan: Quiet Life |  |
13:31: Spent by Alison Bechdel (Mariner Books)
This starts off in a pretty confusing way. At first it seems like a straight-up autobio…
But then it seems more like a satire based on reactions to Bechdel’s Fun Home. I had to google whether it actually had been adapted into a TV series:
Nope, but there’s a movie in production.
| The Cure: Three Imaginary Boys (1) |  |
Instead the book turns out to be a continuation of Dykes To Watch Out For, with Bechdel herself standing in for the Mo character (who was a standin for Bechdel in the first place). Confusing? Yes!
But I really enjoyed this book. It’s laugh-out-loud funny in parts, and while the parts that make fun of Hollywood aren’t the most original bits in the world, they’re amusing enough.
It’s funny and it’s touching, and it’s fun getting to spend more time with these characters that I’ve been reading since the mid 80s. And Bechdel’s artwork and storytelling chops are better than ever.
| Joni Mitchell: Mingus |  |
15:42: Ex Cop edited by Leo Quievreux (Le dernier cri)
This is a huge screenprinted book I picked up in Paris last week.
And there’s smaller pages between the larger pages.
Pretty neat, eh?
| Joy Division: Unknown Pleasures |  |
15:55: D’Artagnan’s Horse by Tomohiro Tsugawa (Glacier Bay Books)
This is a collection of dream-based comics…
… but they aren’t very convincing as dreams go. Except in that it’s seldom entertaining to be told other people’s dreams.
I bailed after reading half the book.
16:10: Couverture Carnet
I don’t know who this little book is by…
Can it be Bruno Richard?
I mean, it looks absolutely awesome.
Fantastic.
| Marianne Faithfull: Broken English |  |
16:14: Preparing to Bite by Keiler Roberts (Drawn & Quarterly)
This book was apparently done over a long time period.
As usual with Roberts, it’s one-page vignettes or situations — but I think she used to drop in some longer things before? Here it’s just that.
It’s good stuff. I like it. I hope there won’t be that many years before the next book.
16:52: Les aventures de la fin de l’épisode by Lewis Trondheim & Frank Le Gall (L’association)
This is a fun little booklet…
It’s amusing throughout, and the gag on the final page (no spoilers here!) made me lol out loud.
17:02: Mickey Mouse and the Amazing Lost Ocean by Filippi/Camboni (Fantagraphics)
Er… I don’t know why, but immediately when looking at these pages, I find them pretty offputting. It’s just something about the panel placement or something?
This is a steampunk Mickey Mouse story, and why not? But I just found this intensely uninteresting, and I ditched it after a dozen pages.
| Joe Jackson: I’m The Man |  |
17:10: Checked Out by Katie Fricas (Drawn & Quarterly)
This immediately looks very attractive to me. The free-flowing line…
… but also the feeling for colour. The pages are very inviting.
But I think the storytelling is a bit choppy? It sometimes flows very well, but then it sort of stumbles before picking up again. It’s a bit frustrating to read.
| Supertramp: Breakfast in America |  |
But I mean, I like it. It’s funny and interesting.
| Neil Young & Crazy Horse: Rust Never Sleeps |  |
18:08: Soften the Blow by Bread Tarleton (Fieldmouse Press)
The artwork looks very tablet-ey…
The storytelling is really interesting — there’s a lot of original stuff going on on the pages.
But the book feels oddly weightless (despite being really heavy). It’s like the protagonist doesn’t really do anything other than have psychodrama? Like, no interests or anything?
18:46: The End
OK, I think I’m calling it a day, even thought it’s early. I should get some stuff done…