La malédiction du parapluie collects 100+ casual one page autobiographical comics drawn by Lewis Trondheim and it's a very enjoyable collection. A very good mix of stuff, with nice drawing, nice humor and a nice variety of observations - a sweet way of looking at the world. I guess I could see how that soft edge could get on some people's nerves (people who only like their comics humor a little more aggressive and challenging), but I feel a real affinity for the magic Trondheim has done here. It makes for an interesting contrast with the Doucet book reviewed below - as both feature one page long autobiographical comics, but Doucet's are whiny and inward looking to the point one can't be interested in what she is writing and drawing about, while with La malédiction du parapluie Trondheim is looking out at the world and reflecting on the different things he sees in a funny way that really draws the reader in. He's the star, but not the center - the center is everything else in the world - the people who he knows, the things he looks at, his wife & kids, the places he travels, the strangers whose paths he crosses, a sky filled with birds, an umbrella he finds in the street during a rainstorm that seems to change his luck. He shows that this one page format of loosely drawn comics is indeed a valid way to tell interesting stories - especially reading all the strips together as a whole. A lot of stories there. One should also mention the nice use of watercolor to make the drawings live even more - similar a bit to Joann Sfar (though Trondheim's cartooning is much tighter and more traditional). A second collection is out already in France and I can't wait to pick it up. This first volume is available now in English from NBM (I think), under the title Little Nothings: The Curse of the Umbrella.
Thursday, March 6, 2008
La malédiction du parapluie
La malédiction du parapluie collects 100+ casual one page autobiographical comics drawn by Lewis Trondheim and it's a very enjoyable collection. A very good mix of stuff, with nice drawing, nice humor and a nice variety of observations - a sweet way of looking at the world. I guess I could see how that soft edge could get on some people's nerves (people who only like their comics humor a little more aggressive and challenging), but I feel a real affinity for the magic Trondheim has done here. It makes for an interesting contrast with the Doucet book reviewed below - as both feature one page long autobiographical comics, but Doucet's are whiny and inward looking to the point one can't be interested in what she is writing and drawing about, while with La malédiction du parapluie Trondheim is looking out at the world and reflecting on the different things he sees in a funny way that really draws the reader in. He's the star, but not the center - the center is everything else in the world - the people who he knows, the things he looks at, his wife & kids, the places he travels, the strangers whose paths he crosses, a sky filled with birds, an umbrella he finds in the street during a rainstorm that seems to change his luck. He shows that this one page format of loosely drawn comics is indeed a valid way to tell interesting stories - especially reading all the strips together as a whole. A lot of stories there. One should also mention the nice use of watercolor to make the drawings live even more - similar a bit to Joann Sfar (though Trondheim's cartooning is much tighter and more traditional). A second collection is out already in France and I can't wait to pick it up. This first volume is available now in English from NBM (I think), under the title Little Nothings: The Curse of the Umbrella.
Sunday, March 2, 2008
365 Days
I'm the kind of person that once I start reading something, even if I'm not getting much out of it, I tend to read all the way to the bitter end, hoping to find something worthwhile in there, or at least hoping to understand something new from the experience. I'd say I finish reading 99% of everything I start to read. Anyway, I was really looking forward to Julie Doucet's latest graphics novel, 365 Days, but after forcing myself to read nearly halfway through, I just can't continue, because without a doubt, this is the single most boring graphic novel I've ever tried to read.I actually don't know if it's fair to call 365 Days a graphic novel. It's basically a collection of diary / journal / blog type pages that tend to be filled with as much text as pictures. The first problem is how banal and dull most of the text is. The second problem is the drawings that could / should maybe liven up the text, are at least as uninspiring. If 365 Days were published as a blog, I would have stopped reading after the first week. Instead it has been published as a thirty dollar book - which is frankly unforgivable.
Spending that much money on this collection, I felt a certain obligation to continue reading, hoping things would pick up, but almost to the halfway point I must resign. The way Doucet describes her days is just too amazingly boring. The book is filled with uncreative whining. A typical entry involves a comment on the weather, a note about going to her studio, a paragraph worrying about receiving a grant, and maybe a detail on what she did for dinner. Essentially the same information is repeated throughout way too many of the strips - especially considering the information isn't interesting in the least. The drawing too is very much the same. Either a boring abstract design, or sort of ugly, cartoony drawings of herself or her friends. Obsessive detail fills up every nook and cranny of every page, but almost none of it has any life. The book is filled with the kind of minute, boring daily life stuff that one would imagine, even the author herself wouldn't be interested in reading a second time - the kind of stuff if even your best friend was going on and on about on the phone, you would decide, actually I think I'll never call that person again. Why the publisher would think anybody else would be interested in this stuff is beyond me. A very, very disappointing purchase.
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