Review: In Search of Lost Time: SWANN'S WAY

IN SEARCH OF LOST TIME: SWANN'S WAY
W.W. NORTON & COMPANY/Liveright – @wwnorton and @LiverightPub

ORIGINAL STORY: Marcel Proust (novel)
CARTOONIST: Stéphane Heuet
TRANSLATION: Arthur Goldhammer
ISBN: 978-1-63149-035-4; hardcover (July 13, 2015)
240pp, Color, $26.95 U.S., $32.00 CAN

Stéphane Heuet is a French comics artist, who is known for his work in Franco-Belgian comics, which are called bandes dessinées (or “BD”).  Two decades ago, Heuet made a big leap in his career, which was also a huge risk, and this career-changing decision was connected to Marcel Proust.

Valentin Louis Georges Eugène Marcel Proust, best known as Marcel Proust (1871-1922), was a  French novelist, critic, and essayist.  He is considered one of the greatest authors of all time, and his prominent work is À la recherche du temps perdu (In Search of Lost Time).  This monumental novel was published in seven parts between 1913 and 1927.

The novel first gained fame in English under the title, Remembrance of Things Past.  This lengthy work has a theme of involuntary memory, and it follows the narrator, a middle-aged writer, as he recalls his past, the people he knew, and the places his visited.

In the early 1990s, Stéphane Heuet, decided to adapt In Search of Lost Time into comics form.  In 1998, he published Combray (Editions Delcourt), what he hoped would be the first of about a dozen large-sized, hardcover comic books (graphic novels?), the number it would take for him to adapt In Search of Lost Time into comics.  As of this writing, Heuet has published five books in this series.  In 2003, NBM Publishing released an English edition of Combray in North America.

The original prose Swann's Way is the first of the seven books that comprises Marcel Proust's In Search of Lost Time.  Last year, in July, Liveright, an imprint of W.W. Norton and Company, published the large-size, full-color hardcover, In Search of Lost Time: Swann's Way.  This book collects Heuet's comics adaptation of Swann's Way.  Liveright's In Search of Lost Time: Swann's Way is also an English-language edition of the French comics hardcover, Du cote de chez Swann: Edition Integral (Editions Delcourt), which also collects Heuet's comics adaptation of Swann's Way.

In Search of Lost Time: Swann's Way opens with “Combray,” in which the narrator, an aspiring writer, evokes the village in which he grew up, Combray.  This opening section includes the famous “episode of the madeleine.”  While visiting his mother, the narrator has tea with her and eats a madeleine, a small pastry in the shape of a cockle shell.  The taste of the pastry causes the narrator’s memories to return to his boyhood (the “involuntary memory”).

The second part, “Swann in Love,” tells the story of the romance between the aristocratic Charles Swann and Odette de Crecy, a prostitute.  Swann's infatuation with Odette causes him much torment, especially once he comes to believe that she cannot stand his presence and is also having an affair with the Comte de Forcheville.  Although he comes to believe that Odette is beneath his station, Swann cannot stop thinking about her and wanting her.

The third part, “Place Names: The Name,” details the narrator’s idealized boyhood love for Charles and Mme (Odette) Swann's daughter, Gilberte.  This part also deals with the narrator's preference for the manner of women's fashion, make-up, and hair as it was when he was a boy in the past, as he compares it to the way things are in the present, now that he is an adult.

While researching Marcel Proust, Stephane Heuet, and this graphic novel, I found a New York Times article from 1998 about the controversy that ensued in France after the release of Heuet's first In Search of Lost Time graphic novel, Combray.  I don't know why I found myself surprised by the controversy, as the French are so open-minded...

Anyway, it took me a long time to read this (in addition to the fact that, at one point, I misplaced my reader's copy).  I am assuming that all the dialogue (word balloons) and exposition (caption boxes) that Heuet uses in his comics adaptation come directly from Proust's original text.  Proust's winding prose reads as if someone took Shakespeare and stuck every line together to form one incredibly long run-on sentence with little to no punctuation.  Yet Proust, at least in this comic book, is not abstract.  The language is meant to be evocative, and I found that certain words go together to form phrases which in turn are meant to evoke involuntary memories in my mind.  It is as if I were remembering something that not only did I not experience, but may also not even be real.

And I like that.  I think Heuet's adaptation works best if the reader can unravel the layers of the text.  Some words are mere flights of fantasy, while others are metaphorical.  Some deal with memory and are, therefore, highly descriptive.  In “Swann in Love” I found myself having to reread portions of the text to discover when the story was focusing on the matter at hand:  character, personality, relationship, conflict, and narrative.  I think the translation of Heuet's original French text into English by Arthur Goldhammer is likely the best a translation of this can be.  It is reader-friendly, but emphasizes the beauty of the prose.

It is also easy to get lost in Stephane Heuet's beautiful art.  His “clean line” (or “clear line”) style recalls the work of Tintin creator, Hergé, and it gives the story a sense of wonder and of adventure.  That makes this journey into the narrator's memory a joyful trip.  I was never bored; I was always curious about where this story was taking me.  Honestly, In Search of Lost Time: Swann's Way is not the easiest read, but it is a remarkable book, and the map of Paris and illustrated Proust family tree that comes with this version of the book helps.

A-

Reviewed by Leroy Douresseaux


The text is copyright © 2016 Leroy Douresseaux. All Rights Reserved. Contact this blog for reprint and syndication rights and fees.

I Reads You Review: JUDGE DREDD CLASSICS: The Dark Judges #1

JUDGE DREDD CLASSICS: THE DARK JUDGES #1
IDW PUBLISHING – @IDWPublishing

WRITERS: John Wagner (writing as “John Howard”); Alan Grant (writing as “T.B. Glover)
ART: Brian Bolland
LETTERS: Tom Frame
COLORS: Charlie Kirchoff
COVER: Darick Robertson with Diego Rodriguez
VARIANT COVER: Sam Shearon
28pp, Colors, $3.99 U.S. (January 2015)

Judge Dredd created by John Wagner and Carlos Ezquerra

I will take any opportunity to praise legendary British comic book artist, Brian Bolland, that is presented to me.  The most recent opportunity comes in the form of the latest Judge Dredd Classics series from IDW Publishing.  Judge Dredd Classics: The Dark Judges reprints the best stories from British comics weekly, 2000 AD, that pitted Judge Dredd against the “Dark Judges.”

For those who don't know, Judge Dredd is a British comics character.  He was created by writer John Wagner and artist Carlos Ezquerra, and first appeared in the second issue of 2000 AD (1977), the long-running, weekly science-fiction British comics anthology.  Joseph Dredd a/k/a Judge Dredd is an American law enforcement officer in a post-apocalyptic future.  In the dystopian future city of Mega-City One, Dredd is a “street judge,” and he is empowered to summarily arrest, convict, sentence, and execute criminals.

Judge Dredd Classics: The Dark Judges #1 offers four episodes (known as “progs” in 2000 AD) of the Judge Dredd comics strip that guest-starred the ultimate Dark Judge, Judge Death.  All four progs in The Dark Judges #1 are drawn by Brian Bolland.

Progs 149 to 151 comprise the story known as “Judge Death,” which introduce both Judge Death and Psi-Judge Anderson (or Judge Anderson from the Psi-Division).  This story opens with the arrival of Judge Death in Mega-City One.  An alien super-fiend from another dimension, Death believes that all life is a crime, and he is such a bad-ass that even the vaunted Judge Dredd seems unable to stop him.

Judge Dredd Classics: The Dark Judges #1 closes with Prog 224, the first chapter of the classic story, “Judge Death Lives!”  Judge Death escapes imprisonment with the help of a fool.  Meanwhile, three new characters arrive to pass the sentence of death on Mega-City One.

I think this is the first time that I have read the stories, “Judge Death,” written by John Wagner (using the name “John Howard”), and “Judge Death Lives!,” written by Wagner and Alan Grant (writing as T.B. Glover).  I bought this comic book because of Brian Bolland's art, but I must admit that I enjoyed the stories.

Bolland's work here shows why he is one of the most celebrated comic book artists of the last four decades and also why he is a beloved Judge Dredd artist.  Bolland's robust compositions, sturdy figure drawing, imaginative storytelling, and precision draftsmanship are all on display here.  For this series, Bolland's art is refreshed and revitalized by Charlie Kirchoff's coloring.

I am surprised by Judge Dredd Classics: The Dark Judges #1, because I did not think that I would want to buy anything past the first issue.  I think, however, I should try more, because I did end up enjoying reading the thing.

A-

Reviewed by Leroy Douresseaux


The text is copyright © 2015 Leroy Douresseaux. All Rights Reserved. Contact this blog for syndication rights and fees.

I Reads You Review: DKW: Ditko Kirby Wood

DKW: Ditko Kirby Wood
FANTAGRAPHICS BOOKS – @fantagraphics

CARTOONIST: Sergio Ponchione
TRANSLATION: Diego Ceresa with Sergio Ponchione, Eric Reynolds, and Kristy Valenti
EDITOR: Eric Reynolds
32pp, 2-Color, $4.99 U.S. (July 2014)

Originally published in Italy, DKW: Ditko Kirby Wood is a one-shot comic book from cartoonist and comic book creator, Sergio Ponchione.  DKW is a tribute to three of the most acclaimed comic book artists of all time:  Steve Ditko, Jack Kirby and Wallace (Wally) Wood.  Fantagraphics Books recently published an English-language edition of DKW as as single-issue comic book.

Ponchione presents these three artists as a “holy trinity,” showcasing each the artist in a story that pays homage to his work, philosophy (especially in the case of Ditko), style, and creations.  One could certainly argue that Kirby and Ditko created the visual and graphical language of modern comic books, and I consider Wally Wood to be the greatest comic book artist of all time.

Ponchione dedicates one chapter to each of the three artists, with a framing sequence before and between each chapter to explain what is coming.  First, “The Mysterious Steve” (inspired by Reed Tucker's 2012 New York Post article) attempts to explain Steve Ditko's insistence that his work speaks for him and his resistance to giving interviews about himself and his work.

Next, “Planet Kirby” presents Jack Kirby and his workspace as a space ship from which he produces a never-ending stream of fantastic creations.  Finally, “Wood & Me” (based on information based on Steve Starger and J. David Spurlock's Wally's World) is an illustrated essay about Wally Wood, whose creativity, imagination, and output burned so brightly that they eventually consumed him.

I agree with what fantastic comics biographer Blake Bell says in his introduction to DKW.  Ponchione's imbues his work:  layouts, compositions, and graphic design with inspiration.  His book respects Ditko, Kirby, and Wood without imitating or, even worse, stealing their work.  Thor knows that five decades of Marvel Comics writers, artists, and editors  have remade, reinvented, re-imagined Ditko and Kirby's work to death (to say nothing of those making movies based on Marvel's comic books).

Sergio Ponchione honors Ditko, Kirby, and Wood by capturing the ideological, spiritual, philosophical, and intellectual aspects of their work.  He does not have to copy or steal.  Read this comic book, and you will realize that Ponchione understands this “Holy Trinity” beyond a superficial notion of “styles” and past what is seen on the surface, at first glance and without examination.  That shows in how his graphical storytelling captures the essence of these three masters.

Best of all, DKW: Ditko Kirby Wood is just a fun comic book to read.  Once upon a time, Ditko, Kirby, and Wood produced that kind of comic book.  I remember the first time I read Mr. A and Doctor Strange.  Wow!  I remember the first time I followed the X-Men to the Savage Land (X-Men #10 – cover dated: March 1965), and watches as Kirby's pencil pitted the Angel against a pterodactyl in an awesome aerial duel.  When I discover Wally Wood comics that I have not seen before, my respect and love for him grows.

It's early, but I think DKW: Ditko Kirby Wood should get an Eisner nod in the category of “Best U.S. Edition of International Material” next year.  It is one of the best comic books of the year, and it makes me want to seek out more comics from Sergio Ponchione.  He is clearly quite good at this comic book thing.

A+

www.fantagraphics.com

Reviewed by Leroy Douresseaux


The text is copyright © 2014 Leroy Douresseaux. All Rights Reserved. Contact this blog for syndication rights and fees.

2014 Harvey Awards Nominations - Complete Nominees List

2014 Harvey Awards Nominees Announced

Visit www.harveyawards.org for Ballots & Submission Details

The 2014 Harvey Awards Nominees have been announced with the release of the final ballot, presented by the Executive Committees of the Harvey Awards and the Baltimore Comic-Con. Named in honor of the late Harvey Kurtzman, one of the industry's most innovative talents, the Harvey Awards recognize outstanding work in comics and sequential art. They will be presented September 6, 2014 in Baltimore, MD, in conjunction with the Baltimore Comic-Con.

Nominations for the Harvey Awards are selected exclusively by creators - those who write, draw, ink, letter, color, design, edit, or are otherwise involved in a creative capacity in the comics field. They are the only industry awards both nominated and selected by the full body of comic book professionals. Thank you to all that have already participated by submitting a nomination ballot.

Final ballots are due to the Harvey Awards by Monday, August 18, 2014. Full submission instructions can be found on the final ballot.  Voting is open to anyone professionally involved in a creative capacity within the comics field.  Final ballots are available at www.harveyawards.org. Those who prefer paper ballots may e-mail harveys@baltimorecomiccon.com.

This will be the ninth year for the Harvey Awards in Baltimore, MD.  Look for more details soon as to how you can attend the Harvey Awards dinner.

This year's Baltimore Comic-Con will be held September 5-7, 2014.  The ceremony and banquet for the 2014 Harvey Awards will be held Saturday night, September 6th.

Without further delay, the 2014 Harvey Award Nominees:

BEST LETTERER

____   Deron Bennett, CYBORG 009, Archaia
____   Dave Lanphear, QUANTUM AND WOODY, Valiant Entertainment
____   Terry Moore, RACHEL RISING, Abstract Studio
____   Steve Wands, ADVENTURE TIME, kaBOOM!
____   Britt Wilson, ADVENTURE TIME WITH FIONNA AND CAKE, kaBOOM!

BEST COLORIST

____   Jordan Bellaire, PRETTY DEADLY, Image Comics
____   Marte Gracia, ALL NEW X-MEN, Marvel Comics
____   Matt Hollingsworth, HAWKEYE, Marvel Comics
____   Brian Reber, UNITY, Valiant Entertainment
____   Dave Stewart, HELLBOY: THE MIDNIGHT CIRCUS, Dark Horse Comics

BEST SYNDICATED STRIP or PANEL

____   DICK TRACY, Joe Staton and Mike Curtis, Tribune Media Services
____   FOX TROT, Bill Amend, Universal Uclick
____   GET FUZZY, Darby Conley, Universal Uclick
____   MUTTS, Patrick McDonnell, King Features Syndicate
____   THE PHANTOM, Tony DePaul and Paul Ryan, King Features Syndicate

BEST ONLINE COMICS WORK

____   BATTLEPUG, Mike Norton, battlepug.com
____   THE DREAMER, Lora Innes, thedreamercomic.com
____   GUNNERKRIGG COURT, Tom Siddell, gunnerkrigg.com
____   JL8, Yale Stewart, jl8comic.tumblr.com
____   TABLE TITANS, Scott Kurtz, Steve Hamaker, and Brian Hurtt, tabletitans.com

BEST AMERICAN EDITION of FOREIGN MATERIAL

____   ATTACK ON TITAN, Kodansha
____   THE KILLER, VOLUME 4, BOOM! Studios/Archaia
____   SHOWA: A HISTORY OF JAPAN 1926-1939, Drawn and Quarterly
____   SUNNY, Viz Signature
____   TODAY IS THE LAST DAY OF THE REST OF YOUR LIFE, Fantagraphics

BEST INKER

____   Vanesa R. Del Rey, HIT, BOOM! Studios
____   Stefano Gaudiano, THE WALKING DEAD, Image Comics
____   Danny Miki, BATMAN, DC Comics
____   Brian Stelfreeze, DAY MEN, BOOM! Studios
____   Wade Von Grawbadger, ALL NEW X-MEN, Marvel Comics

BEST NEW SERIES

____   AFTERLIFE WITH ARCHIE, Archie Comics
____   QUANTUM AND WOODY, Valiant Entertainment
____   SEX CRIMINALS, Image
____   SIX GUN GORILLA, BOOM! Studios
____   SUICIDE RISK, BOOM! Studios

MOST PROMISING NEW TALENT

____   James Asmus, QUANTUM AND WOODY, Valiant Entertainment
____   Pere Perez, ARCHER AND ARMSTRONG, HARBINGER WARS, Valiant Entertainment
____   Victor Santos, POLAR: CAME FROM THE COLD, DARK HORSE PRESENTS, Dark Horse Comics
____   Jeff Stokely, SIX GUN GORILLA, BOOM! Studios
____   Chip Zdarsky, SEX CRIMINALS, Image Comics

SPECIAL AWARD FOR HUMOR IN COMICS

____   James Asmus, QUANTUM AND WOODY, Valiant Entertainment
____   Ryan North, ADVENTURE TIME, KaBOOM!
____   Dan Parent, KEVIN KELLER, Archie Comics
____   Fred Van Lente, ARCHER AND ARMSTRONG, Valiant Entertainment
____   Jim Zub, SKULLKICKERS, Image Comics

BEST ORIGINAL GRAPHIC PUBLICATION  FOR YOUNGER READERS

____   ADVENTURE TIME, KaBOOM!
____   BATTLING BOY, First Second
____   G-MAN: COMING HOME, Image Comics
____   MONSTER ON THE HILL, Top Shelf Productions
____   ONLY LIVING BOY, Bottled Lightning

BEST GRAPHIC ALBUM PREVIOUSLY PUBLISHED

____   HARBINGER VOLUME 1: OMEGA RISING, Valiant Entertainment
____   THE KILLER OMNIBUS VOLUME 1, Archaia
____   MOUSE GUARD VOL. 3: THE BLACK AXE, BOOM! Studios/Archaia
____   POLARITY, BOOM! Studios
____   RAINBOW IN THE DARK: THE COMPLETE SAGA, Comfort Love and Adam Withers

BEST ANTHOLOGY

____   DARK HORSE PRESENTS, Dark Horse Comics
____   MOUSE GUARD: LEGENDS OF THE GUARD VOLUME 2, BOOM! Studios/Archaia
____   OUTLAW TERRITORY 3, Image Comics
____   SPERA, VOLUME 3, BOOM! Studios/Archaia
____   THRILLING ADVENTURE HOUR, BOOM! Studios/Archaia

BEST DOMESTIC REPRINT PROJECT

____   BARNABY VOLUME 1, Fantagraphics
____   BEST OF COMIX BOOK: WHEN MARVEL COMICS WENT UNDERGROUND, Kitchen Sink Books/Dark Horse
____   FRAGGLE ROCK CLASSICS VOLUME 2, BOOM! Studios/Archaia
____   VALIANT MASTERS: NINJAK VOLUME 1 - BLACK WATER, Valiant Entertainment
____   VALIANT MASTERS: SHADOWMAN VOLUME 1 - SPIRITS WITHIN, Valiant Entertainment

BEST COVER ARTIST

____   Goni Montes, CLIVE BARKER'S NEXT TESTAMENT,
____   Andrew Robinson, QUANTUM AND WOODY, Valiant Entertainment
____   Chris Samnee, DAREDEVIL, Marvel Comics
____   Fiona Staples, SAGA, Image Comics
____   Brian Stelfreeze, DAY MEN, BOOM! Studios

BEST BIOGRAPHICAL, HISTORICAL, or JOURNALISTIC PRESENTATION

____   AL CAPP: A LIFE TO THE CONTRARY, Denis Kitchen, Bloomsbury
____   AMERICAN COMIC BOOK CHRONICLES: THE 1950S, TwoMorrows Publishing
____   ART OF RUBE GOLDBERG, Jennifer George, Abrams ComicArts
____   CO-MIX: A RETROSPECTIVE OF COMICS, GRAPHICS, AND SCRAPS, Art Spiegelman, Drawn and Quarterly
____   THE FIFTH BEATLE: THE BRIAN EPSTEIN STORY, by Vivek J. Tiwary, Andrew C. Robinson, and Kyle Baker,
          Dark Horse
____   MARCH: BOOK ONE, John Lewis, Andrew Aydin, and Nate Powell, Top Shelf Productions

SPECIAL AWARD for EXCELLENCE IN PRESENTATION

____   BEST OF COMIX BOOK: WHEN MARVEL COMICS WENT UNDERGROUND, John Lind,
          Kitchen Sink Books/Dark Horse Comics
____   CYBORG 009, Stephen Christy, Archaia
____   HARBINGER WARS, Josh Johns and Warren Simons, Valiant Entertainment
____   THRILLING ADVENTURE HOUR, Joe LeFavi, BOOM! Studios/Archaia
____   UNITY, Alejandro Arbona, Josh Johns, and Warren Simons, Valiant Entertainment

BEST GRAPHIC ALBUM ORIGINAL

____   BATTLING BOY, First Second
____   CYBORG 009, Archaia
____   THE FIFTH BEATLE: THE BRIAN EPSTEIN STORY, Dark Horse Comics
____   MARCH: BOOK ONE, Top Shelf Productions
____   THE REASON FOR DRAGONS, BOOM! Studios/Archaia

BEST CONTINUING OR LIMITED SERIES

____   ARCHER AND ARMSTRONG, Valiant Entertainment
____   DAREDEVIL, Marvel Comics
____   HAWKEYE, Marvel Comics
____   HIT, BOOM! Studios
____   MOUSE GUARD: LEGENDS OF THE GUARD VOL. 2, Archaia
____   SAGA, Image Comics

BEST WRITER

____   James Asmus, QUANTUM AND WOODY, Valiant Entertainment
____   Matt Fraction, HAWKEYE, Marvel Comics
____   Matt Kindt, MIND MGMT, Dark Horse Comics
____   Brian K. Vaughan, SAGA, Image Comics
____   Mark Waid, DAREDEVIL, Marvel Comics

BEST ARTIST

____   David Aja, HAWKEYE, Marvel Comics
____   Dan Parent, KEVIN KELLER, Archie Comics
____   Nate Powell, MARCH: BOOK ONE, Top Shelf Productions
____   Chris Samnee, DAREDEVIL, Marvel Comics
____   Fiona Staples, SAGA, Image Comics
____   Jeff Stokely, SIX GUN GORILLA, BOOM! Studios

BEST CARTOONIST

____   Matt Kindt, MIND MGMT, Dark Horse Comics
____   Comfort Love and Adam Withers, RAINBOW IN THE DARK, uniquescomic.com
____   Terry Moore, RACHEL RISING, Abstract Studios
____   Dan Parent, KEVIN KELLER, Archie Comics
____   David Petersen, MOUSE GUARD: THE BLACK AXE, BOOM! Studios/Archaia
____   Paul Pope, BATTLING BOY, First Second

BEST SINGLE ISSUE OR STORY

____   ADVENTURE TIME ANNUAL #1, kaBOOM!
____   DEMETER, self-published, Becky Cloonan
____   "A Kiss ISN'T Just A Kiss!", KEVIN KELLER #10, Archie Comics
____   "Now and Then", DARK HORSE PRESENTS #30, Dark Horse Comics
____   "Pizza is My Business', HAWKEYE #11, Marvel Comics
____   SUICIDE RISK #5, BOOM! Studios
____   UNITY #1, Valiant Entertainment


Congratulations to all of the nominees!  The Havey Committe ask that if you know a nominee, please pass on the good news using email,  Facebook, and Twitter.

Please submit any corrections to harveys@baltimorecomiccon.com.  The Harvey Committee tries its best to list nominees correctly, and want to know if there is an error.

The Harvey Committee and the Baltimore Comic-Con will make every effort to contact all nominees. If you are a nominee and you do not hear from them by July 25, please contact us at harveys@baltimorecomiccon.com. They would love to discuss your involvement in the ceremony and the Baltimore Comic-Con.

For additional information about Harvey Kurtzman and the Harvey Awards, visit www.harveyawards.org or http://www.facebook.com/theharveyawards.

The Baltimore Comic-Con is celebrating its 15th year of bringing the comic book industry to the Baltimore and Washington D.C. area. With a guest list unequaled in the industry, the Baltimore Comic-Con will be held September 5-7, 2014. For more information, please visit the website, Twitter, or Facebook pages.

Book Review: SLEEP TIGHT, ANNA BANANA

SLEEP TIGHT, ANNA BANANA
FIRST SECOND BOOKS – @01FirstSecond

WRITER: Dominique Roques
TRANSLATION: Mark Siegel
ART: Alexis Dormal
LETTERS: Marion Vitus
ISBN: 978-1-62672-019-0; hardcover (June 17, 2014) 10.5” x 7.75”
24pp, Color, $15.99 US, $18.50 CAN

Ages: 3 to 7-years-old

First Second Books is bringing Anna Banana to America.  This little star of European children’s books is the creation of Dominique Roques and Alexis Dormal, a mother-son author-illustrator team that creates children’s picture books.  Their bio says that when Dominique discovered that one of her two sons, Alexis, had become a picture book illustrator, she began writing stories for him to illustrate.

Together they have published several picture books starring Anna Banana.  Last year, I discovered that First Second Books was going to publish one of them, Ana Ana – Douce nuit, in the spring of 2014 as Sleep Tight, Anna Banana.  The title attracted me because I have a niece named Anna, so last year, I asked First Second for a copy for review.  They remembered, and I received a copy just recently.

Sleep Tight, Anna Banana introduces Anna Banana, a lively little girl who can be a fearsome tyrant to her stuffed animal toys.  These anthropomorphic stuffed animal pals are Zigzag (a rabbit), Fuzzball (some kind of Muppet-like monster), Pingpong (a penguin), Foxface (a fox), Whaley (a whale), and Grizzler (a bear).  One night, Anna is enjoying a good book, so she is not ready to settle down and go to sleep.  However, Anna’s stuffed animal friends are tired and just want to go to sleep.  Now, they have to turn the tables on Anna, but can they win?

I have been eagerly anticipating Sleep Tight, Anna Banana’s release, and having just read it, I am not disappointed.  This is a children’s picture book.  While the story is told by an unseen narrator, Anna’s dialogue is spoken in word balloons.  In a way, Sleep Tight, Anna Banana blurs the line between the children’s picture book and the comic book or graphic novel.

This format allows the narrator to tell a lively story, but Anna’s dialogue is what really punctuates the action and conflict in the story.  Mark Siegel’s translation of Dominique Roques’ exposition and dialogue seems to match Alexis Dormal’s illustrated and graphical storytelling.  This allows readers to get the best of both the picture book and comic book formats.

First Second plans on publishing a second Anna Banana book in 2015, and this first book is an excellent way to introduce what is an inspired concept for a children’s book.  Sleep Tight, Anna Banana is one of my favorite reads of the year, and my only complaint is that I wish it were longer.  Adults looking for a good picture book for readers 3 to 7-years-old will want to choose Sleep Tight, Anna Banana.

A

www.dargaud.com
www.firstsecondbooks.com

Reviewed by Leroy Douresseaux

The text is copyright © 2014 Leroy Douresseaux. All Rights Reserved. Contact this blog for syndication rights and fees.

2014 Eisner Award Nominees - Complete List

The 2014 Will Eisner Comic Industry Awards will be given out in a gala ceremony on Friday, July 25, 2014 during Comic-Con International: San Diego.  Nominations were announced Tuesday, April 15, 2014.

Will Eisner Comic Industry Award Nominees 2014:

Best Short Story
• “Go Owls,” by Adrian Tomine, in Optic Nerve #13 (Drawn & Quarterly)
• “Mars to Stay,” by Brett Lewis and Cliff Chiang, in Witching Hour (DC)
• “Seaside Home,” by Josh Simmons, in Habit #1 (Oily)
• “Untitled,” by Gilbert Hernandez, in Love and Rockets: New Stories #6 (Fantagraphics)
• “When Your House Is Burning Down, You Should Brush Your Teeth,” by Matthew Inman, theoatmeal.com/comics/house

Best Single Issue (or One-Shot)
• Demeter, by Becky Cloonan (self-published)
• Hawkeye #11: “Pizza Is My Business,” by Matt Fraction and David Aja (Marvel)
• Love and Rockets: New Stories #6, by Gilbert Hernandez and Jaime Hernandez (Fantagraphics)
• Viewotron #2, by Sam Sharpe (self-published)
• Watson and Holmes #6, by Brandon Easton, and N. Steven Harris (New Paradigm Studios)

Best Continuing Series
• East of West, by Jonathan Hickman and Nick Dragotta (Image)
• Hawkeye, by Matt Fraction and David Aja (Marvel)
• Nowhere Men, by Eric Stephenson and Nate Bellegarde (Image)
• Saga, by Brian K. Vaughan and Fiona Staples (Image)
• Sex Criminals, by Matt Fraction and Chip Zdarsky (Image)

Best Limited Series
• The Black Beetle: No Way Out, by Francesco Francavilla (Dark Horse)
• Colder, by Paul Tobin and Juan Ferreyra (Dark Horse)
• 47 Ronin, by Mike Richardson and Stan Sakai (Dark Horse)
• Trillium, by Jeff Lemire (Vertigo/DC)
• The Wake, by Scott Snyder and Sean Murphy (Vertigo/DC)

Best New Series
• High Crimes, by Christopher Sebela and Ibrahim Moustafa (Monkeybrain)
• Lazarus, by Greg Rucka and Michael Lark (Image)
• Rat Queens, by Kurtis J. Wiebe and Roc Upchurch (Image/Shadowline)
• Sex Criminals, by Matt Fraction and Chip Zdarsky (Image)
• Watson and Holmes, by Karl Bollers, Rick Leonardi, Paul Mendoza et al. (New Paradigm Studios)

Best Publication for Early Readers (up to age 7)
• Benjamin Bear in Bright Ideas, by Philippe Coudray (TOON Books)
• The Big Wet Balloon, by Liniers (TOON Books)
• Itsy Bitsy Hellboy, by Art Baltazar and Franco (Dark Horse)
• Odd Duck, by Cecil Castellucci and Sara Varon  (First Second)
• Otto’s Backwards Day, by Frank Cammuso (with Jay Lynch) (TOON Books)

Best Publication for Kids (ages 8-12)
• The Adventures of Superhero Girl, by Faith Erin Hicks (Dark Horse)
• Hilda and the Bird Parade, by Luke Pearson (Nobrow)
• Jane, the Fox, and Me, by Fanny Britt and Isabelle Arsenault (Groundwood)
• The Lost Boy, by Greg Ruth (Graphix/Scholastic)
• Mouse Guard: Legends of the Guard, vol. 2, edited by David Petersen, Paul Morrissey, and Rebecca Taylor (Archaia/BOOM!)
• Star Wars: Jedi Academy, by Jeffrey Brown (Scholastic)

Best Publication for Teens (ages 13-17)
• Battling Boy, by Paul Pope (First Second)
• Bluffton: My Summers with Buster, by Matt Phelan (Candlewick)
• Boxers and Saints, by Gene Luen Yang (First Second)
• Dogs of War, by Sheila Keenan and Nathan Fox (Graphix/Scholastic)
• March (Book One), by John Lewis, Andrew Aydin, and Nate Powell (Top Shelf)
• Templar, by Jordan Mechner, LeUyen Pham, and Alex Puviland (First Second)

Best Humor Publication
• The Adventures of Superhero Girl, by Faith Erin Hicks (Dark Horse)
• The Complete Don Quixote, by Miguel de Cervantes and Rob Davis (SelfMadeHero)
• The (True!) History of Art, by Sylvain Coissard and Alexis Lemoine (SelfMadeHero)
• Vader’s Little Princess, by Jeffrey Brown (Chronicle)
• You’re All Just Jealous of My Jetpack, by Tom Gauld (Drawn & Quarterly)

Best Anthology
• Dark Horse Presents, edited by Mike Richardson (Dark Horse)
• Nobrow #8: Hysteria, edited by Sam Arthur and Alex Spiro (Nobrow)
• Outlaw Territory, edited by Michael Woods (Image)
• Smoke Signal, edited by Gabe Fowler (Desert Island)
• Thrilling Adventure Hour, by Ben Acker, Ben Blacker et al. (Archaia/BOOM!)

Best Digital/Webcomic
• As the Crow Flies, by Melanie Gillman, www.melaniegillman.com
• Failing Sky, by Dax Tran-Caffee, failingsky.com
• High Crimes, by Christopher Sebela and Ibrahim Moustafa (Monkeybrain), www.monkeybraincomics.com/titles/high-crimes/
• The Last Mechanical Monster, by Brian Fies, lastmechanicalmonster.blogspot.com
• The Oatmeal by Matthew Inman, theoatmeal.com

Best Reality-Based Work
• A Bag of Marbles, by Joseph Joffo, Kris, and Vincent Bailly (Graphic Universe/Lerner)
• The Fifth Beatle: The Brian Epstein Story, by Vivek J. Tiwary, Andrew C. Robinson, and Kyle Baker (M Press/Dark Horse)
• Hip Hop Family Tree, vol. 1, by Ed Piskor (Fantagraphics)
• March (Book One), by John Lewis, Andrew Aydin, and Nate Powell (Top Shelf)
• Today Is the Last Day of the Rest of Your Life, by Ulli Lust (Fantagraphics)
• Woman Rebel: The Margaret Sanger Story, by Peter Bagge (Drawn & Quarterly)

Best Graphic Album—New
• Bluffton: My Summers with Buster, by Matt Phelan (Candlewick)
• The Encyclopedia of Early Earth, by Isabel Greenberg (Little, Brown)
• Good Dog, by Graham Chaffee (Fantagraphics)
• Homesick by Jason Walz (Tinto Press)
• The Property, by Rutu Modan (Drawn & Quarterly)
• War Brothers, by Sharon McKay and Daniel LaFrance (Annick Press)

Best Adaptation from Another Medium
• The Castle, by Franz Kafka, adapted by David Zane Mairowitz and Jaromír 99 (SelfMadeHero)
• The Complete Don Quixote, by Miguel de Cervantes, adapted by by Rob Davis (SelfMadeHero)
• Django Unchained, adapted by Quentin Tarantino, Reginald Hudlin, R. M. Guéra et al. (DC/Vertigo)
• Richard Stark’s Parker: Slayground, by Donald Westlake, adapted by Darwyn Cooke (IDW)
• The Strange Tale of Panorama Island, by Edogawa Rampo, adapted by Suehiro Maruo  (Last Gasp)

Best Graphic Album—Reprint
• The Creep, by John Arcudi and Jonathan Case (Dark Horse)
• Hand-Drying in America and Other Stories, by Ben Katchor (Pantheon)
• Heck, by Zander Cannon (Top Shelf)
• Julio’s Day, by Gilbert Hernandez  (Fantagraphics)
• RASL, by Jeff Smith (Cartoon Books)
• Solo: The Deluxe Edition, edited by Mark Chiarello (DC)

Best Archival Collection/Project—Strips
• Barnaby, vol. 1, by Crockett Johnson, edited by Philip Nel and Eric Reynolds (Fantagraphics)
• Percy Crosby’s Skippy Daily Comics, vol. 2: 1928–1930, edited by Jared Gardner and Dean Mullaney (LOAC/IDW)
• Prince Valiant vols. 6-7, by Hal Foster, edited by Kim Thompson (Fantagraphics)
• Society Is Nix: Gleeful Anarchy at the Dawn of the American Comic Strip, edited by Peter Maresca (Sunday Press)
• Tarzan: The Complete Russ Manning Newspaper Strips, vol. 1, edited by Dean Mullaney (LOAC/IDW)
• VIP: The Mad World of Virgil Partch, edited by Jonathan Barli (Fantagraphics)

Best Archival Collection/Project—Comic Books
• Best of EC Artist’s Edition, edited by Scott Dunbier (IDW)
• Canteen Kate, by Matt Baker (Canton Street Press)
• In the Days of the Mob, by Jack Kirby (DC)
• MAD Artist’s Edition, edited by Scott Dunbier (IDW)
• Will Eisner’s The Spirit Artist’s Edition, edited by Scott Dunbier (IDW)

Best U.S. Edition of International Material
• Adventures of a Japanese Businessman, by Jose Domingo (Nobrow)
• Goddam This War! by Jacques Tardi and Jean-Pierre Verney (Fantagraphics)
• Incidents in the Night, Book One, by David B. (Uncivilized Books)
• Today Is the Last Day of the Rest of Your Life, by Ulli Lust (Fantagraphics)
• When David Lost His Voice, by Judith Vanistendael (SelfMadeHero)

Best U.S. Edition of International Material—Asia
• The Heart of Thomas, by Moto Hagio (Fantagraphics)
• The Mysterious Underground Men, by Osamu Tezuka (PictureBox)
• Showa: A History of Japan, 1926–1939, by Shigeru Mizuki (Drawn & Quarterly)
• Summit of the Gods, vol. 4, by Yemmakura Baku and Jiro Taniguchi (Fanfare/Ponent Mon)
• Utsubora: The Story of a Novelist, by Asumiko Nakamura (Vertical)

Best Writer
• Kelly Sue DeConnick, Pretty Deadly (Image); Captain Marvel (Marvel)
• Matt Fraction, Sex Criminals (Image); Hawkeye, Fantastic Four, FF (Marvel)
• Jonathan Hickman, East of West, The Manhattan Projects (Image); Avengers, Infinity (Marvel)
• Scott Snyder, Batman (DC); American Vampire, The Wake (DC/Vertigo)
• Eric Stephenson, Nowhere Men (Image)
• Brian K. Vaughan, Saga (Image)

Best Writer/Artist
• Isabel Greenberg, The Encyclopedia of Early Earth (Little, Brown)
• Jaime Hernandez, Love and Rockets New Stories #6 (Fantagraphics)
• Terry Moore, Rachel Rising (Abstract Studio)
• Luke Pearson, Hilda and the Bird Parade (Nobrow)
• Matt Phelan, Bluffton: My Summers with Buster (Candlewick)
• Judith Vanistendael, When David Lost His Voice (SelfMadeHero)

Best Penciller/Inker or Penciller/Inker Team
• Nate Bellegarde, Nowhere Men (Image)
• Nick Dragotta, East of West (Image)
• Sean Murphy, The Wake (DC/Vertigo)
• Nate Powell, March (Book One) (Top Shelf)
• Emma Ríos, Pretty Deadly (Image)
• Thomas Yeates, Law of the Desert Born: A Graphic Novel (Bantam)

Best Painter/Multimedia Artist (interior art)
• Andrew C. Robinson, The Fifth Beatle (Dark Horse)
• Sonia Sanchéz, Here I Am (Capstone)
• Fiona Staples, Saga (Image)
• Ive Svorcina, Thor (Marvel)
• Marguerite Van Cook, 7 Miles a Second (Fantagraphics)
• Judith Vanistendael, When David Lost His Voice (SelfMadeHero)

Best Cover Artist
• David Aja, Hawkeye (Marvel)
• Mike Del Mundo, X-Men Legacy (Marvel)
• Sean Murphy/Jordie Belaire, The Wake (DC/Vertigo)
• Emma Ríos, Pretty Deadly (Image)
• Chris Samnee, Daredevil (Marvel)
• Fiona Staples, Saga (Image)

Best Coloring
• Jordie Bellaire, The Manhattan Projects, Nowhere Men, Pretty Deadly, Zero (Image); The Massive (Dark Horse); Tom Strong (DC); X-Files Season 10  (IDW); Captain Marvel, Journey into Mystery (Marvel); Numbercruncher (Titan); Quantum and Woody (Valiant)
• Steve Hamaker, Mylo Xyloto (Bongo), Strangers in Paradise 20th Anniversary Issue 1 (Abstract Studio), RASL (Cartoon Books)
• Matt Hollingsworth, Hawkeye, Daredevil: End of Days (Marvel); The Wake (DC/Vertigo)
• Frank Martin, East of West (Image)
• Dave Stewart, Abe Sapien, Baltimore: The Infernal Train, BPRD: Hell on Earth, Conan the Barbarian, Hellboy: Hell on Earth, The Massive, The Shaolin Cowboy, Sledgehammer 44 (Dark Horse)

Best Lettering
• Darwyn Cooke, Richard Stark’s Parker: Slayground (IDW)
• Carla Speed McNeil, Bad Houses; “Finder” in Dark Horse Presents (Dark Horse)
• Terry Moore, Rachel Rising (Abstract Studio)
• Ed Piskor, Hip Hop Family Tree (Fantagraphics)
• Britt Wilson, Adventure Time with Fiona and Cake (kaBOOM!)

Best Comics-Related Periodical/Journalism
• Comic Book Resources, produced by Jonah Weiland, www.comicbookresources.com
• The Comics Journal #302, edited by Gary Groth and Kristy Valenti (Fantagraphics)
• Comics and Cola, by Zainab Akhtar, www.comicsandcola.com
• Multiversity Comics, edited by Matthew Meylikhov, www.multiversitycomics.com
• tcj.com, edited by Dan Nadel and Timothy Hodler (Fantagrapahics), www.tcj.com

Best Comics-Related Book
• Al Capp: A Life to the Contrary, by Michael Schumacher and Denis Kitchen (Bloomsbury)
• The Art of Rube Goldberg, selected by Jennifer George (Abrams ComicArts)
• Co-Mix: A Retrospective of Comics, Graphics, and Scraps, by Art Spiegelman (Drawn & Quarterly)
• Genius, Illustrated: The Life and Art of Alex Toth,  by Dean Mullaney and Bruce Canwell (LOAC/IDW)
• The Love and Rockets Companion, edited by Marc Sobel and Kristy Valenti (Fantagraphics)

Best Scholarly/Academic Work
• Anti-Foreign Imagery in American Pulps and Comic Books, 1920–1960, by Nathan Vernon Madison (McFarland)
• Black Comics: Politics of Race and Representation, edited by Sheena C. Howard and Ronald L. Jackson II (Bloomsbury)
• Drawing from Life: Memory and Subjectivity in Comic Art, edited by Jane Tolmie (University Press of Mississippi)
• International Journal of Comic Art, edited by John A. Lent
• The Superhero Reader, edited by Charles Hatfield, Jeet Heer, and Ken Worcester (University Press of Mississippi)

Best Publication Design
• The Art of Rube Goldberg, designed by Chad W. Beckerman (Abrams ComicArts)
• Beta Testing the Apocalypse, designed by Tom Kaczynski (Fantagraphics)
• Genius, Illustrated: The Life and Art of Alex Toth, designed by Dean Mullaney (LOAC/IDW)
• The Great War: July 1, 1916: The First Day of the Battle of the Somme: A Panorama, by Joe Sacco, designed by Chin-Yee Lai (Norton)
• Little Tommy Lost, Book 1, designed by Cole Closser (Koyama)

Review: NUMBERCRUNCHER #1

NUMBERCRUNCHER #1 (OF 4)
TITAN COMICS – @ComicsTitan

WRITER: Si Spurrier
ART: P.J. Holden
COLORS: Jordie Bellaire
LETTERS: Simon Bowland
28pp, Color, $3.99 U.S., £3.99 U.K. (August 2013)

Numbercruncher is a new four-issue comic book miniseries from writer Si Spurrier (X-Men: Legacy) and artist P.J. Holden (The 86ers).  Venerable United Kingdom publishing concern, Titan Publishing Group, Ltd., now has a comic book division, called Titan Comics.  Numbercruncher is one of several titles Titan Comics is launching this summer.

Numbercruncher #1 introduces Bastard Zane, Operative #494.  In what amounts to a strange afterlife of numbers, data, and accounting, Zane is a bailiff for the Karmic Accountancy, where he pushes paper and occasionally deals with souls that break the rules of the afterlife.  The big boss of the afterlife is the Divine Calculator, an elderly white man who maintains the “soulpool,” in which “souls are counted, processed, and – sometimes – questioned.”

Richard Thyne is a brilliant young mathematician who dies young and enters the afterlife.  However, Richard wants more time with Jessica Reed, the woman he loves.  He makes a deal with the Divine Calculator and Bastard Zane to be reincarnated in his lover’s lifetime, but there is a twist/complication.

Honestly, regarding it concepts, I am not especially interested in Numbercruncher.  What does make the book worth reading is Spurrier and Holden’s execution of the progression of the narrative.  Numbercruncher has a wicked sense of humor, and the creators are mean-spirited and/or cruel towards their characters.  However, they do it with humor and with the best of intentions – for their readers, if not necessarily for their characters.  That is what interests me – the humor and the interaction between the characters – and not necessarily this series’ concept of an afterlife.

This early in the series, I’ll say that Numbercruncher looks to show its funny streak.  Just how imaginative it is will be seen over the course of the series.

B+

www.titan-comics.com
www.facebook.com/comicstitan

Fantagraphics' Co-Publisher Kim Thompson Dies at Age 56

Photograph of Kim Thompson with two Eisner Award trophies. Photo by Lynn Emmert

Fantagraphics co-publisher Kim Thompson died at 6:30 this morning, June 19. "He was my partner and close friend for 36 years," said Gary Groth.

Thompson was born in Denmark in 1956. He grew up in Europe, a lifelong comics fan, reading both European and American comics in Denmark, France, and Germany. He was an active fan in his teen years, writing to comics — his letters appeared in Marvel's letter columns circa early 1970s — and contributing to fanzines from his various European perches. At the age of 21, he set foot, for the first time, on American soil, in late 1977. One "fanzine" he had not contributed to was The Comics Journal, which Groth and Michael Catron began publishing in July of 1976. That was soon to change.

"Within a few weeks of his arrival," said Groth, "he came over to our 'office,' which was the spare bedroom of my apartment, and was introduced by a mutual friend — it was a fan visit. We were operating out of College Park, Maryland and Kim's parents had moved to Fairfax, Virginia, both Washington DC suburbs. Kim loved the energy around the Journal and the whole idea of a magazine devoted to writing about comics, and asked if he could help. We needed all the help we could get, of course, so we gladly accepted his offer. He started to come over every day and was soon camping out on the floor. The three of us were living and breathing The Comics Journal 24 hours a day."

Thompson became an owner when Catron took a job at DC Comics in 1978. As he became more familiar with the editorial process, Thompson became more and more integral to the magazine, assembling and writing news and conducting interviews with professionals. Thompson's career in comics began here.

In 1981, Fantagraphics began publishing comics (such as Jack Jackson's Los Tejanos, Don Rosa's Comics and Stories, and, in 1982, Love and Rockets). Thompson was always evangelical about bandes dessinées and wanted to bring the best of European comics to America; in 1981, Thompson selected and translated the first of many European graphic novels for American publication — Herman Huppen's The Survivors: Talons of Blood (followed by a 2nd volume in 1983). Thompson's involvement in The Comics Journal diminished in 1982 when he took over the editorship of Amazing Heroes, a bi-weekly magazine devoted to more mainstream comics (with occasional forays into alternative and even foreign comics). Thompson helmed Amazing Heroes through 204 issues until 1992.

Among Thompson's signature achievements in comics were Critters, a funny-animal anthology that ran from 50 issues between 1985 to 1990 and is perhaps best known for introducing the world to Stan Sakai's Usagi Yojimbo; and Zero Zero, an alternative comics anthology that also ran for 50 issues over five years — between 1995 and 2000 — and featured work by, among others, Kim Deitch, Dave Cooper, Al Columbia, Spain Rodriguez, Joe Sacco, David Mazzuchelli, and Joyce Farmer. His most recent enthusiasm was spearheading a line of European graphic novel translations, including two major series of volumes by two of the most significant living European artists — Jacques Tardi (It Was the War of the Trenches, Like a Sniper Lining up His Shot, The Astonishing Exploits of Lucien Brindavoine) and Jason (Hey, Wait..., I Killed Adolf Hitler, Low Moon, The Left Bank Gang) — and such respected work as Ulli Lust's Today Is the Last Day of the Rest of Your Life, Lorenzo Mattotti's The Crackle of the Frost, Gabriella Giandelli's Interiorae, and what may be his crowning achievement as an editor/translator, Guy Peelaert's The Adventures of Jodelle.

Throughout his career at Fantagraphics, Thompson was active in every aspect of the company, selecting books, working closely with authors, guiding books through the editorial and production process. "Kim leaves an enormous legacy behind him," said Groth, "not just all the European graphic novels that would never have been published here if not or his devotion, knowledge, and skills, but for all the American cartoonists he edited, ranging from Stan Sakai to Joe Sacco to Chris Ware, and his too infrequent critical writing about the medium. His love and devotion to comics was unmatched. I can't truly convey how crushing this is for all of us who've known and loved and worked with him over he years."

Thompson was diagnosed with lung cancer in late February. He is survived by his wife, Lynn Emmert, his mother and father, Aase and John, and his brother Mark.

I want to offer my prayers and condolences to Kim Thompson's family, friends, and colleagues.  Rest in peace, Kim. - Leroy Douresseaux

Review: Steven Heller's COMICS SKETCHBOOKS

COMICS SKETCHBOOKS: The Private Worlds of Today’s Most Creative Talents
THAMES & HUDSON, INC. – @thamesandhudson

AUTHOR: Steven Heller
DESIGNER: Ashley Olsson
ISBN: 978-0-500-28994-5; paperback
352pp, Color and Black and White; $44.95 U.S., $47.50 CAN

Steven Heller is co-chair of the MFA/Designer as Author + Entrepreneur program at New York’s School of Visual Arts. He is the author, editor, and co-editor of over one hundred books on design and popular culture. His works include Handwritten: Expressive Lettering in the Digital Age (with Mirko Ilic) and New Modernist Type (with Gail Anderson).

His latest book is Comics Sketchbooks: The Private Worlds of Today’s Most Creative Talents. A massive book (365 pages, 8.65 x 11.5), Comics Sketchbooks contains sketches, doodles, drawings, roughs, thumbnails, and even comics from some of the world’s most cutting edge and innovative artists and also some emerging talents. Over 80 artists open up their private sketchbooks and notebooks, from which Heller culled the hundreds drawings and samples that fill this fat (and phat) book. Even some artists who do not keep sketchbooks provided roughs and studies for this book.

Readers get a chance to see the thinking and planning and the experimentation, practice, and play behind the work and style of such artists as Charles Burns, Lilli Carré, Drew Friedman, David Mazzucchelli, Gary Panter, and Carol Tyler, to name a few. Readers can see into the sketchbooks of such legends as R. Crumb, Bill Griffith, Victor Moscoso, Bill Plympton, and Arnold Roth. Not every artist in this collection is specifically a comics artists, but according to Heller (in his introduction), all of them make comics as either their primary occupation or as part of their larger body of work.

Admirers, fans, and students of alternative comics and cartoonists will like Comics Sketchbooks. Still, some, like myself, may find this book missing things they wanted, which is a bit ungrateful. Why do I want more?

Obviously, Heller could not get every drawing that he wanted included in this book, for various reasons. One of the reasons is that some artists are self-conscious about opening their sketchbooks. Another reason is that some artists only actively sketch to prepare for upcoming projects, and may, in fact, discard such preliminary drawings and preparatory material once projects are completed.

So, the two pages of David Mazzucchelli just don’t seem like enough, although the sample of his typographical skills almost makes up for that. There are four pages of R. Crumb, but since Crumb has been publishing his sketchbooks and sketchbook material for four decades, the illustrations here won’t seem like anything new.

My minor quibbles aside, there is some spectacular material in Comics Sketchbooks from some major talents, known and little known. The six pages of sketches by Carol Tyler are a doorway into the wonderland that is the talent of this unheralded artist. The offerings from political cartoonist, Ann Telnaes, include several superb sketches of President Barack Obama caricatures. There is no way to prepare for the six pages of Joseph Lambert, which are crammed with drawings. I couldn’t help but return to his section several times.

It would be impractical for me to try to describe all the drawings in this book, all of it good, some of it even stunning, and even a few pieces that are (dare I say it) great. I will tempt some of you by saying that there are a few sketches in here that were proposals for covers for the magazine, The New Yorker, including one by the always fabulous Drew Friedman. This is a good book. Comics Sketchbooks: The Private Worlds of Today’s Most Creative Talents should be on comics fans’ wish lists. Steven Heller deserves some awards recognition, and certainly, at least, an Eisner nomination next year.

A

Reviewed by Leroy Douresseaux

www.thamesandhudsonusa.com

The artist and cartoonists included in Comics Sketchbooks: The Private Worlds of Today’s Most Creative Talents:

Sotos Anagnos, Chris Battle, Lou Beach, Kaye Blegvad, Peter Blegvad, Russ Braun, Steve Brodner, Charles Burns, Chris Capuozzo, Lilli Carré, Seymour Chwast, Colonel Moutarde, R. Crumb, John Cuneo, Vanessa Davis, Kim Deitch, Julie Delporte, Eric Drooker, Drew Friedman, Manuel Gomez Burns, Bill Griffith, Robert Grossman, Benoit Guillaume, Cyril Guru, David Heatley, Rian Hughes, Kevin Huizenga, Nathan Jurevicius, Ben Katchor, Denis Kitchen, Jakob Klemencic, Thomas Knowler, Matej Kocjan, Nora Krug, Olivier Kugler, Peter Kuper, Joseph Lambert, Brendan Leach, Etienne Lecroart, Matthias Lehmann, Martin Lemelman, David Libens, Sebastien Lumineau, Patrick McHale, Matt Madden, Javier Mariscal, David Mazzucchelli, Rutu Modan, Saxton Moore, Victor Moscoso, Joanna Neborsky, Josh Neufeld, Mark Newgarden, Vladan Nikolic, Gary Panter, Bill Plympton, Max De Radigues, Laren Redniss, Arnold Roth, Marcel Ruijters, Johnny Ryan, David Sandlin, Seth, Peter De Seve, Robert Sikoryak, Posy Simmonds, Mark Alan Stamaty, Jim Steranko, James Sturm, Joost Swarte, Takeshi Tadatsu, Ann Telnaes, Simon Tofield, Jeremy Traum, Carol Tyler, Andres Vera Martinez, Lauren Weinstein, Tracy White, Signe Wilkinson, Run Wrake, Derek Yaniger, and Danijel Zezelj

Leroy Douresseaux Reviews: Lucille graphic novel

LUCILLE (OGN)
TOP SHELF PRODUCTIONS

CARTOONIST: Ludovic Debeurme
TRANSLATOR: Edward Gauvin
LETTER: Christopher Ross
ISBN: 978-1-60309-073-5; paperback
544pp, B&W, $29.95 U.S.

Rated: Mature (18+)

Born in 1971, Ludovic Debeurme is a French comic book artist. After studying at the Sorbonne (University of Paris), he was published in the anthology, Comix 2000, and later went on to become an acclaimed graphic novelist. Debeurme’s breakthrough work was Lucille, a graphic novel published by Futuropolis in 2006 and honored at the Angoulême International Comics Festival. Top Shelf Productions gave Lucille its English-language debut in 2011.

The novel is set in rural France and centers on two teenagers from families that are dysfunctional to one degree or another. Lucille Flavinsky is a 16-year-old and suffers from anorexia. Abandoned by her father, Lucille battles her mother’s attempts to get her medical help.

Arthur is a teenaged boy whose father, Vladamir, is a fisherman and an alcoholic. Arthur strongly resists inheriting his father’s profession and his father’s family’s traditions. After two chance encounters, Lucille and Arthur become a couple, star-crossed lovers soon on the run to Italy. However, they cannot run away from their families’ complex legacies, nor can they outrace their own personal complexities.

Lucille has a broad reach and scope, playing like both modern fiction and like some potboiler genre piece. Its creator, Ludovic Debeurme, excavates the nuances and intimate details of the lead characters and also reveals essential moments in the lives of many of its supporting characters. That is why Lucille is definitely not a comic book and is certainly a graphic novel. Lucille is complex, and the narrative flows naturally, always frustrating our expectations, but rewarding our patience – so much so that I must wonder if the narrative did not also frustrate its creator.

Several years ago, I was briefly acquainted with a young woman who was suffering from anorexia. She thought she was fat (though she was not) and unattractive (again, not true, at least from my perspective). She had that pale, young waif look that some young women are lucky or opportunistic enough to turn into a career as a model and/or starlet. I found her more pitiful than I felt pity for her. I have to admit to not exactly being sympathetic to women suffering from anorexia, but I’m working on that. This is the reason why my feelings about Lucille fluctuated so much. She annoyed me as much as she intrigued me.

Like the larger narrative, however, Lucille the character is fascinating and mysterious. She is subtle and yet powerful, like Debeurme’s simple line work and evocative compositions. Lucille is tender and stubborn, both the book and its title character. This is a mesmerizing work, and I started out not wanting to read it. I felt obligated because Top Shelf sent me a review copy, but now I can’t act as if this stunning book has not touched me. I am still thinking about it, and because this is the first chapter of a longer story, I want to read on.

A-

http://www.topshelfcomix.com/

Leroy Douresseaux on THE PURPLE SMURFS

THE SMURFS GRAPHIC NOVEL #1: THE PURPLE SMURFS
PAPERCUTZ/NBM

CREATOR: Peyo
WRITERS: Peyo, Ivan Delporte
ARTISTS: Peyo, Peyo Studio
TRANSLATION: Joe Johnson
LETTERS: Janice Chiang
ISBN: 978-1-59707-207-6
56pp, Color, $10.99 U.S., $12.50 CAN

The recently released summer film, The Smurfs, from Columbia Pictures and Sony Pictures Animation, has made those blue elves, the Smurfs, hot again. People who know the Smurfs likely know them from the animated Saturday morning television series, The Smurfs, produced by Hanna-Barbera Productions and aired on NBC from 1981 to 1989. Since its cancellation, the series has appeared on various cable networks and currently airs on Boomerang.

However, the Smurfs began life in comics, created by the late Belgian comics artist, Peyo (the pen name of Pierre Culliford). The Smurfs debuted in 1958 in Peyo’s Johan and Peewit comics series, in the storyline, The Flute with Six Holes (now entitled, The Smurfs and the Magic Flute). The Smurfs were immediately popular and started appearing in their own comics series in 1959.

Eventually, those Smurf comics were reprinted in graphic albums (novels), and the first was Les Schtroumpfs noirs (The Black Smurfs). Although the Smurfs graphic albums were eventually published in English in the United States, they had long been out of print. In 2010, Papercutz, the all-ages graphic novel wing of NBM, brought the Smurfs back to American comics.

The first release is The Smurfs Graphic Novel No. 1: The Purple Smurfs. This is an English edition of The Black Smurfs, but with the black Smurfs re-colored purple. The Purple Smurfs contains three stories: “The Purple Smurfs,” “The Flying Smurf,” and “The Smurf and His Neighbors.” There is also a preview of The Smurfs Graphic Novel No. 2: The Smurfs and the Magic Flute, as well as an after word by Papercutz Editor-in-Chief, Jim Salicrup.

I’ve wanted to read the original Smurf comics for over two decades, and even after that long wait, I am not at all disappointed. These are delightful children’s comics, but there is an oddness and an eccentricity about The Smurfs comics that will make them enjoyable for older readers.

The Smurfs are at once tribal and social, but are also fiercely independent. Most of the time, they refer to one another as Smurf (as in “Hey, Smurf” or “Find that Smurf”), but they also clearly recognize each other’s individualism and unique personalities.

The Smurfs are little problems solvers, but they often make their own problems. The lengths to which the Smurf who wants to fly is willing to go to fly yields comedy gold. The title story (“The Purple Smurfs”) is surprisingly a thriller dressed as slapstick comedy. “The Smurf and His Neighbors,” an ode to the yearning to escape the noise of civilization for the quite and solitude of the wild, is like a little morality tale. I can’t pick a favorite of these three stories; each is fantastic in its own right.

This little hardcover, the size of a standard comic book, is the kind of comic book to pass on to new, young readers. The stories within, however, will inform readers why the Smurfs have such staying power. Longtime comics readers who are looking for a reminder of why comics are fun to read will want The Purple Smurf.

A

http://www.smurf.com/
http://www.papercutz.com/

--------------------

Comics and Magazines from Diamond Distributors for June 22 2011

COMICS


MAR111312 AFTERSCHOOL CHARISMA TP VOL 03 $12.99

OCT100758 ANYWHERE TP (MR) $19.95

MAR111313 ARATA THE LEGEND TP VOL 06 $9.99

APR110784 ARCHIE #622 $2.99

APR110788 ARCHIE BABIES OGN $9.95

MAR111376 AWFUL RESILIENT ART OF ALEX PARDEE HC $29.95

APR110792 B & V FRIENDS DOUBLE DIGEST #215 $3.99

APR110856 BART SIMPSON COMICS #60 $2.99

MAR111229 BENDATTI VENDETTA TP $22.99

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Fantagraphics Books to Publish Two Guy Peellaert Graphic Novels

FANTAGRAPHICS ACQUIRES RIGHTS TO TWO LEGENDARY BELGIAN CLASSICS: PEELLAERT’S THE ADVENTURES OF JODELLE AND PRAVDA

Fantagraphics Books has signed a deal to release two groundbreaking graphic novels from cult Belgian artist Guy Peellaert (1934-2008): The Adventures of Jodelle (1966) and Pravda (1967). The remastered editions will be produced in collaboration with the late artist’s estate, which will contribute previously unseen material for extensive archival supplements.

Both albums were originally released in France by Eric Losfeld, the controversial publisher who passionately defied censorship in the lead-up to the cultural revolution of 1968; along with Jean-Claude Forest’s Barbarella, Peellaert’s Jodelle and Pravda were among the earliest of European adult-oriented graphic novels.

The Adventures of Jodelle, whose voluptuous title heroine was modeled after French teen idol Sylvie Vartan, is a satirical spy story set in a Space Age Roman-Empire fantasy world. Its then-revolutionary clashing of high and low culture references, borrowing as much from Renaissance painting as from a fetishized American consumer culture, marked the advent of the Pop movement within the nascent “9th art” of comic books, not yet dignified as “graphic novels” but already a source of great influence in avant-garde artistic circles. Visually, Jodelle was a major aesthetic shock. According to New York magazine, its “lusciously designed, flat color patterns and dizzy forced perspective reminiscent of Matisse and Japanese prints set a new record in comic-strip sophistication.”

Released a year later and first serialized in the French counter-culture bible Hara-Kiri, Pravda follows the surreal travels of an all-female motorcycle gang across a mythical American landscape, led by a mesmerizing cold-blooded heroine whose hyper-sexualized elastic anatomy was this time inspired by quintessential Gallic chanteuse Françoise Hardy. Pravda’s eye-popping graphics pushed the psychedelic edge of Jodelle to dazzling new heights, further liberating the story from narrative conventions to focus the reader’s attention on the stunning composition and glaring acid colors of the strips, with each frame functioning as a stand-alone cinematic picture.

Pravda, with its themes of female empowerment and beauty emerging from chaos, became an instant sensation on the European underground scene, inspiring various tributes and appropriations from the worlds of film, literature, fashion, music, live arts, advertising or graphic design. Over the years, it has acquired a rarefied status as a unique and timeless piece of Pop Art defying categorization or trends, and has found itself exhibited in such unlikely “high culture” institutions as the Musée d’Orsay or the Centre Pompidou. An early admirer of Peellaert’s radical vision—along with luminaries as diverse as Jean-Luc Godard (who optioned the film rights to Pravda) and Mick Jagger—Frederico Fellini praised Jodelle and Pravda as “the literature of intelligence, imagination and romanticism.”

The Adventures of Jodelle was published in the United States in 1967 by Grove Press, whose legendary editor-in-chief Richard Seaver (the man credited with introducing Samuel Beckett, William Burroughs and Henry Miller to America) also provided the translation; Pravda has never been released in English, despite its lead character transcending the long out-of-print book where she originated to become a peculiar iconic figure, the maverick muse of a few “au courant” art and design aficionados from Paris to Tokyo.

Refusing to cash in on the phenomenal success of Jodelle and Pravda (he viewed the former as a one-time graphic “experiment” of which the latter marked the accomplishment) the reclusive Peellaert abruptly left cartoons behind after only two albums at the dawn of the 1970s to pursue an obsessive kind of image-making which painstakingly combined photography, airbrush painting and collage in the pre-computer age. His best-known achievement in America remains the seminal 1973 book Rock Dreams, a collection of portraits which resulted from this distinctive technique and was hailed as “the Sistine Chapel of the Seventies” by Andy Warhol’s Interview magazine, eventually selling over a million copies worldwide, influencing a generation of photographers and earning its place in the pantheon of rock culture. Other well-known creations include the iconic artwork for David Bowie’s Diamond Dogs album cover (1974) as well as The Rolling Stones’ It’s Only Rock ‘N’ Roll the same year. Peellaert also created the indelible original poster for Martin Scorcese’s Taxi Driver (1978), the first of many commissions from renowned auteurs including Wim Wenders, Robert Altman, Stephen Frears, Alain Resnais and Robert Bresson.

As the original negatives and color separations for Jodelle and Pravda are long lost (interestingly, Peellaert never reclaimed the original ink-on-paper pages from Losfeld) Fantagraphics will be re-coloring both books digitally. “The original Books were colored via hand-cut separations from Peellaert’s detailed color indications,” said Fantagraphics co-publisher Kim Thompson, who will be editing and translating the new editions. “Since the Losfeld editions were printed quite well and Peellaert’s linework is thick and simple, we’re going to be able to generate crisp black-and-white versions of the line art to start from which should duplicate the original ‘look’ exactly. Although actually our edition of Pravda should be better than the original, which had some pretty erratic color registration.”

The Adventures of Jodelle is scheduled for release in May 2012, and Pravda in November 2012, both in deluxe oversized hardcover editions. Each will feature an extensive original essay discussing the works and their historical context, accompanied by numerous archival illustrations and photographs.

“I am terrifically excited to bring these two landmark books to American audiences especially Pravda, which has never been published in English,” said Thompson. “They are some of the most graphically jaw-dropping comics ever put to paper. They remain both quintessentially 1960s in attitude and look, and utterly timeless.”