Claytor, Ryan – And Then One Day #5 Sketchbook

April 22, 2010

Website

And Then One Day #5 Sketchbook Now Available! $8

It looks like Ryan is still too busy to produce comics with any kind of regularity, so he’s decided to go the “easy” route: turn the book into a journal. And, again, he’s managed to top himself. He’s up front about the fact that this is all raw, all taken from sketchbooks reflecting his ideas at the time, with very little planning or figuring out how it’ll all look when it’s put together. It doesn’t show at all. This is essentially a look at his life from 9/9/05 to 12/1/05, but it’s a lot more verbose than his other books. Drawings are just to accentuate the dialogue in this issue, not the other way around. There are several pages where it’s just him talking about his new house, his new graduate school, trying to find good friends in the new area, etc. And he still somehow manages to make it the best book of the series. This felt more like an extended letter from a long lost friend than anything else, and that’s an impressive accomplishment. There’s also a foreword from a friend, a long afterward and a pretty extensive interview with Ryan about all sorts of things. If you’re frightened by that $8 price tag, all I can say is that if you’ve seen the other issues of this series you know that these books are made with pure love (and some sort of paste), and it shows after one look at this thing. It’s also right around 100 pages of pretty dense text, so you’re definitely getting your money’s worth if you’re a fan. If you’re not a fan, you should really think about checking out some of the older, cheaper, fuzzier issues first and then see what you’re missing here. $8

Comments Off on Claytor, Ryan – And Then One Day #5 Sketchbook | Reviews | Tagged: , , | Permalink
Posted by Kevin

Crumb, Robert

December 28, 2004

Misogynist? Racist? Somebody who hates the world? Or a master of social satire? Hell, I don’t know. But if anybody is curious to find out, there is certainly a pile of books out there that should help you figure it out. He’s produced some of the most talked about comics of the last 40 years and has (for better or worse) influenced an entire generation of cartoonists. I’ve read a bunch of his comics, but very few of these giant books. Luckily, most of them are at the library, so you should still get my two cents worth on these at some point. Until then, a good starting point would probably be somewhere in the middle of the Complete Crumb volumes. Why the middle? Well, this is a thorough synopsis of his career, and the first couple of volumes are kind of short on comics, focusing more on his illustration work with Hallmark and some other various things. If you’re just looking for the comics, they start to focus completely on that right around #4 or 5. As for all of the other books, until I find out what they’re all about, enter at your own risk.

The R. Crumb Coffee Table Art Book

Looks like a pretentious mess at the bookstore, but I think that’s what it’s supposed to look like. I still think the best way to go if you really like Crumb is to buy all the Complete volumes from Fantagraphics. If you just like him a little bit or are just curious, I guess something like this would be OK.

Odds and Ends

A collection of things done for greeting cards, advertisements and other random things. Probably only something you would really want to get if you’re a big time fan of his work, but what do I know?

Crumb Family Comic

If you saw the Crumb documentary, you know how messed up the rest of his family is. So please, join them all for comic fun!

Book of Mr. Natural

Remember that old bald man with a beard in a lot of his older comics? You know, the hippy. I never thought much of those stories that I saw (not that I saw more than a fraction of them), but if you liked them, here’s a collection of them for you.

R. Crumb Draws the Blues

I believe this is a collection of all the strips that Crumb did relating to people who played the blues of jazz back in the day. Seems obvious from the title, right? Anyway, I know he is a big record collector and I’m sure he knows a lot about most of those guys from the early part of the century. It’s probably fascinating reading and this is at least one of the ones that I’m going to get when I’m rich. What do you mean I’m never going to get rich running a website based on good comics?

The Complete Dirty Laundry Comics

OK, I don’t like his wife. I’m sure she’s a nice person and all that, but her comics have just never done anything for me. The parts that Crumb draws are OK, except that they’re few and far between. Stay away, Joe.

Your Vigor For Life Appalls Me: Robert Crumb Letters 1958-1977

I ordered this a couple of years ago and was told that it was cancelled, so I got my money back. This is the first time I’ve seen it since then, so I guess it does exist. Not a comic, obviously, but it has to be an essential look into the mind of a unique guy.

The Life and Times of R. Crumb: Comments From Contemporaries

My initial impression when I saw this at the bookstore was that it was probably way too biased to be fair, as it was edited by a friend of his. I still don’t know if that snap judgment was true or not, but if anybody out there has read this and can tell me, let me know.

My Troubles With Women

If you have some kind of problem with Fantagraphics or just don’t want to buy all 15 (and counting) volumes of his collected work, this would probably be the one to get. A lot of his neuroses come from his dealings with and feelings for women, and that’s what this book is dedicated to. I’d buy it if I wasn’t planning to eventually get all the volumes.

R. Crumb’s America

Well, the only review of this on Amazon says that it’s a jumbled mess, but what do they know? If you’re curious about his view of the country (and keep in mind that he left in disgust for good in the mid 90’s), then you should probably consider getting this. It’s apparently a collection of a whole bunch of his stories about America, from the 60’s through the 90’s, so it might be interesting to see how his views change.

Big Yum Yum Book: The Story of Oggie and the Beanstalk

This is a book that he did as a teenager with one of his brothers, I think. It’s (so they say) a remarkably innocent book, considering what his later work consisted of. Might be interesting if you’re a completist or something, otherwise it’s probably not essential reading.

The Life and Death of Fritz the Cat

This is a character that he killed off basically because he hated the movie that was made about the cat. Most of the stories are just dressed-up hippie stuff, so unless that’s your thing, don’t bother. I’d much rather read some of his autobiography or stuff from the 80’s on up than any of this.

Complete Crumb Volume 2: More Years of Bitter Struggle

Complete Crumb Volume 3: Starring Fritz the Cat

This is the only one of these volumes that I actually own, and it’s not very good. Too many greeting cards and things that, as a fan mostly of his comics, I really could care less about. I’m not going to comment on the other ones until I get them from the library (or find a box of money), so take what you can from the title or click the link to see what Amazon has to say about them if you’re curious.

Complete Crumb Volume 4: Mr. Sixties

Complete Crumb Volume 5: Happy Hippy Comix

Complete Crumb Volume 6: On the Crest of a Wave

Complete Crumb Volume 7: Hot ‘N’ Heavy

Complete Crumb Volume 8: Death of Fritz the Cat

Complete Crumb Volume 9: R. Crumb Versus the Sisterhood

Complete Crumb Volume 10: Crumb Advocates Violent Overthrow

Complete Crumb Volume 11: Mr. Natural Confined to a Mental Institution

Complete Crumb Volume 12: We’re Livin’ in the Lap of Luxury

Complete Crumb Volume 13: Season of the Snoid

Complete Crumb Volume 14: The Early 80’s and Weirdo Magazine

Complete Crumb Volume 15

R. Crumb Sketchbook Volume 3

I’ve never been a fan of sketchbooks. Probably because I can’t draw my way out of a paper bag, but there you have it. For those of you who have to have everything that this man has done, here you go. Each of these volumes represents basically a year of him sitting around drawing, and if that’s what floats your boat then I’m sure you could find the rest of them at the Fantagraphics homepage. Same goes for the Complete Crumb volumes I don’t have here too, probably.

R. Crumb Sketchbook Volume 6

R. Crumb Sketchbook Volume 7

R. Crumb Sketchbook Volume 8

Comments Off on Crumb, Robert | Reviews | Tagged: , , , , , , | Permalink
Posted by Kevin

Hernandez, Los Bros

December 26, 2004

A wonderfully huge link collection at Zompist (never heard of it, but that’s a whole bunch of links)

Love and Rockets Volume 1: Music for Mechanics

Kind of a mish-mash of early stuff. Essential reading once you’ve gone through the series, but if you haven’t read any of this the perfect place to get started is:

Love and Rockets Volume 2: Chelo’s Burden

Heartbreak Soup remains one of my favorite stories of all time.

Love and Rockets Volume 3: Las Mujeres Perdidas

These will all get reviewed sooner or later, but until then, here’s what “funny as a barrel of monkeys” means, from A Hog on Ice and Other Curious Expressions: One monkey arouses a great deal of amusement. Two more then double the interest and amusement. If one were to release a barrelful of monkeys, we must suppose that their antics would become hilariously comical. The expression is common among children.

Love and Rockets Volume 4: Tears From Heaven

This volume features the “Stigmata” story as well as all the goodness you’ve come to know and love.

Love and Rockets Volume 5: House of Raging Women

Best title of any volume of anything ever.

Love and Rockets Volume 6: Duck Feet

All Gilbert, so it’s all about Palomar. If you put a gun to my head I would have to pick Gilbert over Jaime, but not by much.

Love and Rockets Volume 7: Death of Speedy

That being said, this one is all Jaime and might be the best single volume in the bunch.

Love and Rockets Volume 8: Blood of Palomar

If you’ve read any of the volumes yet, you know who Tontazin is. Gilbert once said that he loved her more than any of his other characters, and this volume shows her search for meaning in the world. OK, maybe this one is the best of the bunch.

Love and Rockets Volume 9: Flies on the Ceiling

Both of the Bros are present again in this volume and this deals with a lot of the “supporting” characters, further fleshing out the whole world of both authors.

Love and Rockets Volume 10: X

More Gilbert, this time set in L.A.

Love and Rockets Volume 11: Wigwam Bam

The breakup of Maggie and Hopey?

Love and Rockets Volume 12: Poison River

How did Luba become who she is today, and why isn’t she safe wherever she goes?

Love and Rockets Volume 13: Chester Square

All Jaime and this one is mostly about Maggie and how she’s dealing with everything that’s happened to her.

Love and Rockets Volume 14: Luba Conquers the World

All Gilbert. The last full volume dealing with Palomar.

Love and Rockets Volume 15: Hernandez Satyricon

Random things that were left over from the series that didn’t fit into any of the other books. Like Volume 1, not really necessary until you’ve gotten to love the rest of the series.

Love and Rockets Sketchbook Volume 1

Love and Rockets Sketchbook Volume 2

Birdland – Gilbert Hernandez

������� This one is from Eros and boy is it ever adults only.� One of the very few graphic novels that Eros put out that actually had a plot and a landmark for pornographic comics.� Well, it would have been a landmark if anybody ever tried to put a plot in one the damned things again…��

Luba In America

Collects the first part of the Luba series, one of the best series coming out in the last few years. Is it true that people don’t really buy the spin-off series and that’s why they had to start back up again with Love and Rockets? Don’t get me wrong, I’m glad they did, but they shouldn’t have been forced to just because of a name. Their projects since then have been just as good (if not better) than the rest of their stuff.

Fear of Comics – Gilbert Hernandez

Kind of a random assortment of stuff Gilbert has done since L & R wrapped up.

Girl Crazy – Gilbert Hernandez

Dark Horse published this book of his work, which for some unfathomable reason I still haven’t seen.

Whoa, Nellie! – Jaime Hernandez

All wrestling and you can just tell that he grew up on the stuff.

Locas in Love – Jaime Hernandez

All done after L & R was finished and all well worth reading.

Love and Rockets #8

OK, I’ll be honest: I’ve been avoiding reviewing individual issues of Love and Rockets. I know, it’s not like I’ve done that great of a job with the graphic novels either, but the individual issues have always seemed like (to me, anyway) brief chapter installments with not much going for them individually. Not sure exactly where that opinion came from, because I decided to examine this one from a “critic’s” perspective, and there’s all sorts of things in each issue that tend to get overlooked when the reprints come around. There’s a short tale about an aging woman who’s extremely dissatisfied with her life… except it’s really about the attempted murder of a stuntman. There’s also a short about a young woman who’s afraid of the world because she keeps seeing a laughing dog; that’s a loaded two pages. Then of course you have the main stories: Maggie by Jamie and Fritz by Gilbert. Those aren’t the titles of the stories, but for anybody who’s read these guys for the past 10-20 years (and if you’re reading this page, not to mention this site at all, that probably includes you), that’s all you need to know about the stories. Sure, Fritz has great big boobs, and it would be easy to leave it at that. But there’s so much more to what Gilbert does than that. He makes a real human being behind those boobs, same as he did with Luba years ago. I don’t think anybody in comics has a handle on real people the way Gilbert does, except for maybe Jamie. All I have to say about his story: poor Maggie. These issues beg to be read in chunks, sure, but as the Hernandez Bros. are the best people in comics at keeping a schedule, even if you read them when they come out you probably still have a good idea in your head of what happened in the last issue. This series remains required reading for anybody who likes comics.

Comments Off on Hernandez, Los Bros | Reviews | Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Permalink
Posted by Kevin