Random Thoughts

2016-17 by Mark Beyer (144x210mm)

Huh. Why do I have two copies of this? Oops.

This is published by Le Dernier Cri, and I’m assuming this is … sketchbook stuff from Beyer? The covers are screen-printed and the interiors are offset, I think.

This artwork is a lot rougher than Beyer’s usually meticulous style, at least.

Notice a theme? Yeah, there’s a lot of people dying here.

They still have copies for sale! Run and buy. It’s a nice little book.

Indeed:

Which brings us to the latest Beyer item to make its way into my hands, the Le Dernier Cri-published Mark Beyer : Sketchbook 2016-17, which eschews pretty much anything by way of titles or branding and just plunges you right in at the deep end, offering page after stupefying page of works the artist drew ostensibly for his own edification, but which were probably destined to be let loose into the wild at some point or other, that point being, as it turns out, not terribly long after it was created. Hey, when your stuff’s in demand, it’s in demand — and Beyer’s stuff will always be in demand.

This blog post is part of the Punk Comix series.

Raw #3: The Graphix Magazine That Lost Its Faith In Nihilism edited by Françoise Mouly and Art Spiegelman (268x360mm)

Huh. “Half-Raw (issue 3.5), a tabloid issue”? I don’t think that ever happened…

Anyway, the first issue of Raw was stunning, and the second was a let-down (relatively speaking). One problem it had was just pacing — it was almost nothing but one and two page stories, and that feels unbalanced. The other problem was that it had some pieces that felt studentey (because they were pieces from the students at the School of Visual Arts).

So we start off this issue with a visually striking one-pager by Ever Meulen and Eddy Flippo, and I was going “uh-oh”, but then we get a brilliant (and wistful) five page Jimbo thing from Gary Panter.

And this issue is indeed very satisfying. We’ve got this somewhat unnerving (but funny) page by Cathy Millet, and then a twenty (!) page story by Jose Muñoz and Carlos Sampayo. (And it’s printed on a different, more grey paper.)

Since it’s on a different paper stock (and isn’t in the middle of the magazine), we get a “continued on” message after ten pages.

Using 20 pages of a 50 page magazine on a single feature is a risk, but the artwork is so sharp and fabulous. And the story seems really intriguing… until the final couple pages where it turns out to be an O. Henry kind of story. So that’s a let-down, but it’s still a satisfying trunk to hang the rest of the issue’s contents off of.

It’s not just comics, either — Mouly herself writes one of the text pieces.

I’m surprised to see a page of Rod Kierkegaard here — he would pop up in Heavy Metal a lot later, I think? But it’s a fun page.

And the reason that the grey paper stock wasn’t put in the middle becomes clear: Mariscal needed the centre to pages for this insane double spread.

The only insert this time around is Maus. So they’re cutting slightly back on the printing extravaganza stuff, I guess, except for the different paper stocks.

And we’re getting into Spiegelman’s parent’s pre-war history.

The first few external ads show up, like this ad by The Idle Hour.

This issue is so rich — every page a new delight. Patricia Caire and Charles Burns on these two pages.

So — after a wobbly second issue, the third issue is absolutely fabulous. There’s not a single dud here, and it’s such a delight to read this. There’s no “theme” here, but everything seems to fit together into a cohesive reading experience.

By the third issue, they were printing 10K copies. It’s a smash hit.

This blog post is part of the Punk Comix series.

X by Sue Coe with Judith Moore and Art Spiegelman (158x236mm)

Sue Coe had previously illustrated How to Commit Suicide in South Africa, but this is also written by her.

From the title you may have guessed that this book is about Malcolm X… but most of Coe’s pages don’t touch directly upon him.

But we get a historical overview and contextualisation of Malcolm X’s life by Judith Moore — about a quarter of the pages in this book. It’s an interesting overview. Not much of this was news to me, but it’s a good read.

The final Coe pages do refer to X more directly.

I enjoy Coe’s artwork enormously.

And the ending certainly packs an emotional wallop.

The book was reprinted in 1992 — I’m not sure who the publisher was.

This blog post is part of the Punk Comix series.