The Lily Stories by Debbie Drechsler (No. 81)

The Lily Stories (1992 to 2002)

by Debbie Drechsler 

REVIEW BY CHARLES HATFIELD:

(from The 100 Best Comics of the Century! in The Comics Journal #210, 1999)

There's a scene in Nowhere #4 which sums up Debbie Drechsler's gift for nuance. The scene happens in high school, as Lily, the new girl in town, joins several girls in the Art Club who are decorating the gym for a dance. Among the girls is Lily's estranged friend, Claire (at a cool distance), and Angela, who invites Lily to work with her. Also in the gym are some boys playing basketball, among them Dunham, a flirt with whom Lily has had a couple of tentative sexual encounters. Lily is acutely aware of Dunham's presence (Drechsler doesn't have to say so, she shows it), but Angela, intent on working, advises Lily to "just ignore 'em."

Emotionally and graphically, this scene is richly textured, full of feelings which remain tacit but nonetheless powerful. We know how important this activity is for Lily, socially, and how the nearness of Dunham hems her in; we also know of the tension between Claire and Lily, and how working with Angela gives Lily an out. Drechsler choreographs these relationships precisely, stressing the spaces between characters and catching the subtle give-and-take of words and silence.

The marvel of Drechsler is that this kind of attention can be found everywhere in her work, coupled with extraordinary artistic courage. The Lily Stories cover a startling range, from the harrowing disclosures of sexual abuse which haunt Drechsler's one book, Daddy's Girl (1995), to the cold melancholy of The Dead of Winter (Drawn & Quarterly Vol 2 #5, 1996), in which Lily has an abortion but cannot own up to her sense of loss. Drechsler's current series, Nowhere carefully charts the terrain of adolescence, showing us things about high school that we either never noticed or willed ourselves to forget. Armed with a great ear for dialogue, and a mesmerising style which balances contour and texture, Drechsler is already a master.

RICHARD SALA:

(from Xeroxed #4, 2004))

Daddy’s Girl as the book was eventually called - is a masterpiece of horror. And it’s all the more horrifying because it is true, and because the actions depicted, the innocence-killing, soul-destroying actions, are happening right now, everyday, all around the world. Now, the story itself is certainly nothing new. In fact, during the 1990s in the US there was so much attention to the awful facts of child abuse that it almost reached a level of hysteria.

However, what makes Debbie’s story so original and so chilling are two things: First, the structure is completely different from the way stories of child abuse are usually told. In those stories, the abuse is usually the “shocking” climax, or the “reveal” (as Hollywood types are fond of calling it these days), the buried secret, the motivation for a character’s actions or whatever. In Debbie’s story, the initial scene of abuse happens near the beginning and is depicted in an almost matter-of-fact manner. It’s an unexpected and horrifying scene, but then we follow the little protagonist through the rest of the night and into the next day. There is no sermonizing, no hysteria, no false self-righteousness. It is simply this little girl’s life - and that is dark, dark, dark.

The second factor is Debbie’s art for the story: The drawings of the characters with their big, hopeful (yet somehow doomed) eyes, and the topsy-turvy space they inhabit - floors rising to hit the reader in the eye, rooms which seem alive, not so much expressionistic as sea sick. Her drawings depict the feeling of innocence stolen, of a pure vision corrupted, of a sweetness that turns to nausea. They are heart-breaking.

BOOKS BY DEBBIE DRECHSLER:
Daddy's Girl, Fantagraphics Books, 1996
The Summer of Love, D&Q, 2002

FURTHER READING:

Debbie Drechsler at From Dusk Til Drawn

Goodman Beaver by Harvey Kurtzman & Will Elder (No. 64)

Goodman Beaver (1962)

by Harvey Kurtzman & Will Elder

REVIEW BY RON EVRY:

(from The 100 Best Comics of the Century! in The Comics Journal #210, 1999)

The common judgement of the team of Kurtzman and Elder among comics fans is that their best work was the satire they created for the early issues of MAD. However, this perception glosses over five tales that stand out as the best satire ever conceived for the comic medium: The Goodman Beaver Stories.

These stories that appeared original in Help! Magazine offered views of modern society that work even better now than they did in 1962. While four of them dealt with subjects that were lampooned earlier in MAD (or could have been), each one tackled deeper issues that reflected the dilemma of modern man.

Goodman Meets S*perm*n explored the fact that a real superhero would give up on humanity after realising that "people are no damgood!" Goodman Goes Playboy features a look at Archie and his gang grown and striving to live the life of modern, hedonistic, swingers, and eagerly willing to sell their souls to get that life. Goodman Meets T*rz*n puts a stamp of harsh modern reality on romantic perceptions of jungle intrigue and adventure, and Goodman, Underwater grapples with the idea of actually altering dull realities to become full of intrigue and adventure. Goodman Gets A Gun is an odd story where Goodman himself tries to live out his fantasies as opposed to just observing others.

All of these stories were pointed as hell, clever and would be hysterically funny even if they were all text. But Elder's artwork is utterly masterful, done by a draftsman at the height of his prowess. Each and every panel contains incredible detail - not just in the inking technique - but in the thousands of little "throwaway" gags he delightfully squirrelled into them. Each can keep a reader occupied for hours. I've been rereading them for 37 years and haven't gotten tired of them yet.

FURTHER READING:

Harvey Kurtzman at Fantagraphics Books

TCJ Article: Harvey Kurtzman - The Man Who Created Man & Revolutionised Humour in America

The Atlantic: The Man Who Changed Humour in America Forever

Little Lulu by John Stanley (No. 59)

Little Lulu (1945-1959)

by John Stanley

REVIEW BY GARY GROTH:

(from The 100 Best Comics of the Century! in The Comics Journal #210, 1999)

John Stanley's Little Lulu may be the best children's comic ever published. (By children, I mean, ages four through eight approximately, for whom no one apparently is capable of writing comics today.) The cast of characters - the kids Lulu, Tubby, Iggy, Willy, Annie, Gloria, Alvin, the adults McNabbem, the Moppets, the fantasy characters Witch Hazel and Little Itch, and I would include even, or especially, the ubiquitous, almost onomatopoeic exclamations YOW! and PHOOEY! - are as rich an ensemble as Schulz's better known Peanuts gang. And like Peanuts, the format of Lulu is both formally rigid but versatile enough to accommodate an infinite number of imaginative variations on a theme. 

The children are not, however, metaphors for adults or adult behaviour. Instead, Stanley's kids, much like Hal Roach's Our Gang cast, are considerably more autonomous than their real life counterparts could ever hope to be, while brilliantly maintaining their fidelity to the impulses, cruelties and nutty logic that governs childhood.

Visually, Stanley's work is a masterpiece of compositional precision and formal clarity, rivalling, in its own way, that of Shelly Mayer or Alex Toth. Stanley managed, in stories no fewer than four pages and no more than eight, to achieve a flawless graphic flow, choosing exactly the right composition and scene for each successive panel. Stanley's style is the US equivalent of Herge's clean line - the drawing is just as impeccable, but less fussed over and more histrionic, particularly the facial expressions, which are usually delineated by appropriately shaped and exaggerated black holes.

Thematically, I'm pleased to report that there was no sanctimonious, William Bennett-style goodie-two-shoes moralising, the sine qua non of children's entertainment these days. Quite the opposite, if anything: Tubby is usually cheerfully unrepentant or downright clueless when one of his idiotic schemes backfires and blows up in his face. Lulu often triumphs in the end by demonstrating even greater deviousness than her opponent, and when she tells Alvin one of her fables designed to impart a moral lesson, Alvin usually gets it exactly wrong (Alvin, Spare That [Family] Tree, September 1959, for example). Nor is the series exactly non-violent: in one story Lulu punches out Tubby and Willy, in another, she is almost cooked and eaten, and in yet a third she systematically stalks and shoots the boys with perfume from a water-pistol. None of this is offensive or exploitative. The complicated plots (reminiscent of the staples of Hollywood's screwball comedies with their mistaken identities, fake assumptions, and likably oblivious characters) combined with irony make these stories far more sophisticated than they actually look, which is practically the definition of good children's stories.

QUILLERMO DEL TORO:
(via Twitter, 6 January 2022)
The D&Q editions are superb. I own the entire John Stanley Little Lulu and these new volumes are still a must. So beautiful. Little Lulu: The Little Girl Who Could Talk to Trees – Drawn & Quarterly.

FURTHER READING:

John Stanley at D&Q

John Stanley at Fantagraphics Books

TCJ Review: Little Lulu - Working Girl

TCJ Interview: Bill Schelly - Comics Scholar & John Stanley Biographer

Alley Oop by V.T. Hamlin (No. 60)

Alley Oop (1933-1971)

by Vincent Trout Hamlin 

REVIEW BY R.C. HARVEY:

(from The 100 Best Comics of the Century! in The Comics Journal #210, 1999)

V.T. Hamlin's Alley Oop (officially launched August 7, 1933) is unique among the century's cartooning enterprises: initially about a caveman and his pet dinosaur, the comic strip was transformed into a science fantasy romp through history and myth. Hamlin coupled dramatic storytelling to a cartoony style (albeit delicately cross-hatched in the manner of an 18th century etching) and told high-spirited adventure tales that bristled with action and suspense, not to mention comedy and genuine human interest. 

The fun began in earnest on April 6, 1939, when the caveman and his girlfriend. Oopla, are suddenly transported from their prehistoric haunts to the 20th century - specifically, to the science laboratory of Dr. Wonmug. Wonmug has perfected a Time Machine, and Alley and Oopla become forthwith his time travellers. Designing his daily strips as single works of art, not as aggregations of so many panels per day, Kamlin delighted in tinkering with legend and literature as he sent his troupe to ancient Troy, King Arthur's Camelot, Cleopatra's Egypt, Ceasar's Rome, the American West of Billy the Kid, and the decks of Captain Kidd's ship. 

When Oop and Ulysses escape the Cyclop's cave, for instance, it is Oop not Ulysses who blinds the one-eyed giant, and he does it by giving him a black-eye instead of driving a stake into the orb. Thus, mythology is left intact, but is deliciously modified to give Hamlin's hero the central role. 

Visually a cliche strongman with a barrel chest and bullet head, Oop is an obstreperous, truculent, club-wielding comedian caveman until the advent of the Time Machine, and then he becomes less comedic and more commanding, his skill as both warrior and tactician determining the outcome of most escapades. Unflappable in a crisis, Oop becomes a cool pragmatist, his temper honed to a fine belligerence: he is as peevish and cranky as ever but much less excitable than in his earliest days. But there is still comedy a-plenty in his adventures: when his favourite horse gives out during hot pursuit of a villain, Oop dismounts but continues the chase, now carrying the horse.

FURTHER READING:

TCJ Article: A Stretch in the Bone Age - The Life & Cartooning Genius of V.T. Hamlin

TCJ Article: The Precisely Rendered BLAM - Alley Oop in 1939

V.T. Hamlin at The Library of American Comics

V.T. Hamlin at The University of Missouri 

Barney Google by Billy DeBeck (No. 98)

Barney Google (1919-1942)

by Billy DeBeck

REVIEW BY R.C. HARVEY:

(from The 100 Best Comics of the Century! in The Comics Journal #210, 1999)

Launched in June 17, 1919, Barney Google was one of the first strips to tell stories that continued from day-to-day. Initially, the strip was merely another ne'er-do-well husband and over-bearing wife domestic comedy, but on July 17, 1922, creator Billy DeBeck (1890-1942) changed all that: Barney acquired a race course named Spark Plug, and the sad-faced nag, most of whose anatomy is hidden underneath a moth-eaten, shroud-like, horse blanket, became the Snoopy of the roaring '20s. 

Barney entered the horse in a race, and DeBeck quickly discovered the potency of a continuing story for captivating readers: for most of the decade, drawing with a loose but confident line and intricately wispy shading. DeBeck kept his audience on tender-hooks by entering Spark Plug in a succession of hilarious albeit suspenseful contests, he outcomes of which were never certain (some of them, surprisingly, Spark Plug won). 

The characters were relentlessly merchandised, and Billy Rose even wrote a song about the horse and his master, Barney Google With The Goo-Goo Googly Eyes, which even the characters in the strip sang. 

DeBeck's cartooning genius was such that he seemed capable of renewing his creation again and again, each time with a more inventively comedic novelty than before, and in 1934, he sent Barney off into the hills of North Carolina, where he encountered bristly, pint-sized hillbilly named Snuffy Smith, who was so popular with readers that DeBeck stayed in the hills for the rest of the '30s, introducing into popular usage dozens of colourful expressions ("tetched in the hair", "bodacious"). 

By Word War II, the strip was called Barney Google and Snuffy Smith. Snuffy joined the army, and Barney enlisted in the Navy and almost disappeared from the strip forever. DeBeck's assistant Fred Lasswell inherited the strip, and it's still running.

FURTHER READING:
Billy DeBeck at The Library of American Comics

TCJ Article: Barney Google & Snuffy Smith - Billy DeBeck, Fred Lasswell & John Rose

Li'l Abner by Al Capp (No. 77)

Li'l Abner (1934-1977)

by Al Capp 

REVIEW BY R.C. HARVEY:

(from The 100 Best Comics of the Century! in The Comics Journal #210, 1999)

Al Capp extended the boundaries of permissible satire in syndicated comic strips by applying the principles of burlesque to the adventure genre, which, when Li'l Abner started in August 13, 1934, was the rage. Capp's comedic effort was not so much to end his daily strips with punchlines as it was to finish with outlandish cliffhangers. Li'l Abner Yokum, a red-blooded country boy with the physique of a body-builder and the mind of an infant, is Capp's Candide, fated to wander often into a threatening outside world beyond his hillbilly home, where he encounters civilisation - politicians and plutocrats, scientist and swindlers, mountebanks, bunglers, and love-starved maidens. By this conceit, Capp contrasts Li'l Abner's country simplicity against society's sophistication - or, more precisely, his innocence against its decadence, his purity against its corruption.

Capp ridiculed humanity's follies and baser instincts - greed, bigotry, egotism, selfishness, vaulting ambition - which the satirist saw manifest in many otherwise socially acceptable guises. And he undertook to strip away the retentions that masked those follies revealing society (all civilisation perhaps) as mostly artificial, often shallow and self-serving, usually avaricious, and ultimately, inhumane. Li'l Abner is the perfect foil in this enterprise: naive and unpretentious (and, not to gloss the matter, just plain stupid), Li'l Abner believes in all the idealistic preachments of his fellowman - and is therefore the ideal victim for their practices (which invariably fall far short of their noble utterances). He is both champion and fall guy. A protean talent, Capp invented a host of memorable Dickensian characters and introduced a number of cultural epiphenomena, all grist for his satiric mill.

FURTHER READING:

Al Capp at The Library of American Comics

TCJ Review: Al Capp - A Life to The Contrary

TCJ Article: How Lil' Abner Kayo'd Joe Palooka & Both Their Creators Came to Grief
Print Mag: Lil' Aber's Al Capp - A Monstrous Creature, A Masterful Cartoonist

Caricature by Dan Clowes (No. 82)

Caricature (1995)

by Dan Clowes

REVIEW BY BART BEATY:

(from The 100 Best Comics of the Century! in The Comics Journal #210, 1999)

At just 16 pages, Dan Clowes' Caricature is comparable to Nabokov's masterpiece Lolita for its comedic genius, psychological horror, and perfection of narrative language in a story of an older man deposed by a young girl. Published before the completion of Ghost World, Caricature officially marks Clowes' departure from a period of hilarious editorial comics and MAD-style mayhem of Eightballs past, and move into the complexity, naturalism, and depth seem in such works Gynaecology, Immoral, Invisible, and the ongoing David Boring. Though published concurrently with the fifth instalment of Ghost World, Caricature is the first complete work of the current Clowes era and defines the nature of his comics to date.

The "Humbert" of the story is Mal Rosen, the eponymous traveling caricaturist and lonely, middle-aged man who encounters young girl of indeterminate age, Theda (probably an anagram for Death, considering Clowes' penchant for wordplay), whose estranged parents are famous art world celebrities of the Jeff Koons/Damien Hirst variety. This pretentious environment marred Theda with a rebellious, post-ironic malaise that coverts lowbrow, outsider culture for its real world contact to the underclass and its humble devotion to craft. Mal seems painfully aware of a subtle degradation implicit in Theda's critical appropriation of his art, as seen in what is probably the quintessential moment in their relationship: Mal shows Theda a goofy, banal portrait of himself a fellow cartoonist had rendered of him, only to incur Theda's disdain. "He's not as good as you. He seems almost 'too' aware of what he's doing," she says, while Mal eyes her with suspicion and dismay.

It's hard to tell who's more pathetic. Mal is older and presumably more mature, yet he is deliberately at the mercy of an irresponsible, possibly insane young woman betrayed by her own overt intelligence and zeal. Dissing her mother's claim that only women can make art because of a primal 'birthing' connection, Theda argues that, "making art is more like shitting," a statement that resonates with significance when, after she disappears, Mal is left alone in his motel room staring at her day-old shit in the stopped-up toilet.

Both a powerful statement on the current role of Art (both High and Low) in society, and a haunting story of the futility of love for these two fully developed characters, Caricature realises all the themes of Clowes' comics: visceral, complex narratives that are simultaneously naturalistic and self-aware; the preoccupation with anagrams and Freudian subtext; the fetishsed pop aesthetic versus the ironic kitsch of Post-Modernism; and the sophisticated ego artfully degraded by existential dread. Caricature if the first great apotheosis of Eightball, and establishes Clowes as the American successor to, not Crumb, but Nabokov.

FURTHER READING:

Dan Clowes at Fantagraphics Books

Dan Clowes at D&Q

Dan Clowes Conversations
TCJ Interview: Dan Clowes (2020)

Dennis The Menace by Hank Ketcham (No. 93)

Dennis The Menace (1951-1994)

by Hank Ketcham

REVIEW BY GARY GROTH:

(from The 100 Best Comics of the Century! in The Comics Journal #210, 1999)

Hank Ketcham was born and raised in Seattle, Washington, and developed an interest in drawing and cartooning at an early age: on his 10th birthday, his dad made a studio for young Hank by installing "a slanted drawing board, a shelf, an overhead light and a kitchen chair." Ketcham studied Tack Knight's Cartoon Tips and signed up to the mail order drawing course W.L. Evans School of Cartooning, and was on his way. (The artists who he most admired, he wrote later, were, among others, Walt Kelly, Percy Crosby, Milton Caniff, Cliff Sterret, William Steig, Ronald Searle, Jules Feiffer, George McManus and Winsor McCay.)

Ketcham's professional cartooning career parallels that of his peer Charles Schulz: Ketcham enlisted in the Navy during WWII, after which he sold cartoons to a variety of popular magazines. He then created Dennis The Menace, which was first syndicated in 1951 (a year after Peanuts began).

Dennis began as a fairly conventional gag panel but in a short time both the humour and drawing attained a remarkable level of sophistication. (Surely the early widespread popularity of the winsome five-year-old rapscallion and his exasperated but infinity patient nuclear family had much to do with its timing at the height of the post-War baby boom.)

At their best, the Dennis gags were so visually inspired that they couldn't have existed in any other medium. The ideas behind even the best gags would not have been as pleasing if it weren't for the expressiveness of Ketcham's line, and his attention to facial nuance and body gesture, which provided exactly the degree of subtle and understated contrast to Dennis' notorious breaches of decorum.

PATRICK McDONNELL:

Each meticulously designed panel was a masterpiece of composition.

FURTHER READING:

The Guardian: Obituary by Paul Gravett (2001)

Go Visit A Comics Exhibition in October!

UNITED KINGDOM:

Quentin Blake and John Yeoman: 50 Years of Children’s Books
A celebration of over 40 books created by Quentin Blake with writer John Yeoman. More details...
Where: Derby Museum & Art Gallery, Derby
When: Now until 3 October 2021

Ralph Steadman: Hidden Treasures
The first ever public display of three never-before-seen artworks by British satirist, artist, cartoonist, illustrator and writer Ralph Steadman. More details...
Where: The Cartoon Museum, London
When: Now until 10 October 2021

Black Panther & The Power of Stories
Three iconic costumes from Marvel Black Panther film - T’Challa, Shuri and Okoye - sit alongside Marvel comics, historic museum objects and local stories. More details...
Where: Christchurch Mansion, Ipswich
When: Now until 24 October 2021

V For Vendetta: Behind The Mask
This major new exhibition invites you to step inside the story and characters of one of the world’s most iconic graphic novels: V for Vendetta. Featuring original artwork by David Lloyd. More details...
Where: The Cartoon Museum, London
When: Now until 31 October 2021

Drawing Life
A new display showcasing the very best of the Cartoon Museum collection of cartoon art, curated by Guardian cartoonist and Cartoon Museum Trustee, Steve Bell. More details...
Where: The Cartoon Museum, London
When: Now until 31 December 2021

The Political Comics & Cartoons of Martin Rowson
Featuring Rowson’s most powerful political cartoons, caricatures and comics from the past forty years. More details...
Where: Kendel, Cumbria
When: 15 October to 5 November 2021

Beano: The Art of Breaking The Rules
Come face-to-face with the Beano gang through original comic artwork and amazing artefacts, plundered from the Beano’s archive. More details...
Where: Somerset House, London
When: 21 October 2021 to 6 March 2022

NORTH AMERICA:

George Bess: Tale of Unrealism
Featuring the stunning artwork of French artist, George Bess, best known for his collaborations with Alejandro Jodorowsky. More details...
Where: Phillippe Labaune Gallery, New York
When: 9 September to 5 October 2021

Drawn to Combat: Bill Mauldin & The Art of War
A retrospective of the provocative work by two-time Pulitzer Prize winning cartoonist Bill Mauldin about a nation’s time of war, civil rights, and social justice. More details...
Where: Pritzker Military Museum, Chicago
When: Now until Spring 2022

Chicago: Where Comics Came to Life  - 1880 To 1960
Curated by Chris Ware, and Chicago Cultural Historian, Tim Samuelson, this exhibition is a historical companion to the concurrently appearing survey of contemporary Chicago comics at the MCA. More details...
Where: Chicago Cultural Center, Chicago
When: Now until 3 October 2021

Chicago Comics: 1960s To Now
Telling the story of the art form in the influential city through the work of Chicago’s many cartoonists: known, under-recognized and up-and-coming. Featuring Chris Ware, Lynda Barry, Chester Gould and more! More details...
Where: Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago
When: Now until 3 October 2021

Society of Illustraors: Comic Art Exhibition & Sale
Over 180 pieces of original comic book art from EC, Marvel & DC, from 1935 up to the modern era. More details...
Where: Society of Illustrators, New York
When: Now until 23 October, 2021

Marvel Universe of Superheroes
Celebrating Marvel history with more than 300 artefacts - original comic book pages, sculptures, interactive displays and costumes and props from the Marvel blockbuster films. More details...
Where: Museum of Science & Industry, Chicago
When: Now until 24 October 2021

Walt Kelly: Into The Swamp
Celebrating Walt Kelly and his social commentary through the joyous, poignant, and occasionally profound insights and beauty of the alternative universe that is Pogo. More details...
Where: Billy Ireland Cartoon Library & Museum, Columbus, Ohio
When: Now until 31 October 2021

The Legend of Wonder Woman
An exhibition celebrating 80 years of DC Comics’ iconic Amazon. More details...
Where: Cartoon Art Museum, San Francisco
When: Now until 31 December 2021

Romanticism To Ruin: Reconstructing the Garrick
Focused on the lost buildings of Louis Sullivan. Co-curated by John Vinci, Tim Samuelson, Chris Ware and Eric Nordstrom. More details...
Where: WrightWood659, Chicago
When: 24 September to 27 November 2021

Hapless Children Drawings From Mr Gorey's Neighbourhood
Featuring a menagerie of youngsters who come to bad ends, and for that reason it’s suggested that you avoid establishing any emotional attachment to them. More details...
Where: The Edward Gorey House, Cape Cod, MA
When: Now until 31 December 2021

Marvelocity: The Art of Alex Ross
Featuring original art from his most recent book, Marvelocity, visitors will also learn about how Alex Ross developed into a great illustrator through his childhood drawings, preliminary sketches and paintings. More details...
Where: Canton, Ohio
When: 23 November 2021 to 6 March 2022

COMIC ART MUSEUMS & GALLERIES

UNITED KINGDOM:

British Cartoon Archive
By appointment access to over 200,000 cartoons and comics. More details...
Where: University of Kent, Canterbury

Heath Robinson Museum
A permanent exhibition dedicated to Heath Robinson’s eccentric artistic career. More details...
Where: Pinner, London

Orbital Art Gallery
The gallery space of an awesome comics shop. More details...
Where: Central London

Quentin Blake Center for Illustration
Soon to be home to Quentin Blake's archive of 40,000 works. More details...
Where: Clerkenwell, London

The Cartoon Museum
Celebrating Britain’s cartoon and comic art heritage. More details...
Where: Central London

V&A National Art Library Comic Art Collection
By appointment access to the Krazy Kat Arkive & Rakoff Collection. More details...
Where: South Kensington, London

EUROPE:

Basel Cartoon Museum
Devoted to the art of narrative drawing. More details...
Where: Basel, Switzerland

Belgian Comics Art Museum
Honouring the creators and heroes of the 9th Art for over 30 years. More details...
Where: Brussels

Hergé Museum
Explore the life and work of the creator of Tintin. More details...
Where: Belgium

Le Musee de la Bande Dessinee
A celebration of European comics culture. More details...
Where, Angouleme, France

NORTH AMERICA:

Billy Ireland Cartoon Library & Museum
The world’s largest collection of materials related to cartoons and comics. More details...
Where: Columbus, Ohio

Cartoon Art Museum
Exploring comic strips, comic books, political cartoons and underground comix. More details...
Where: San Francisco, California

Charles M. Schulz Museum
Dedicated to the life and works of the Peanuts creator. More details...
Where: Santa Rosa, California

Fantagraphics Bookstore & Gallery
Bookstore and gallery space of the publisher of the world's greatest cartoonists. More details...
Where: Seattle, Washington

Frazetta Art Museum
The largest collection of Frazetta art. More details...
Where: East Stroudburg, PA

Norman Rockwell Museum
Illuminating the power of American illustration art to reflect and shape society. More details...
Where: Stockbridge, MA

Philippe Labaune Gallery
Comic art and illustration by emerging and established artists from around the world. More details...
Where: New York, NY

The Edward Gorey House
A museum dedicated to Gorey’s life and work and his devotion to animal welfare. More details...
Where: Cape Cod, MA

The Society of Illustrators
Dedicated to the art of illustration in America. More details...
Where: New York, NY

The Book of Jim by Jim Woodring (No. 71)

The Book of Jim (1993)

by Jim Woodring

REVIEW BY GIL ROTH:

(from The 100 Best Comics of the Century! in The Comics Journal #210, 1999)

A distillation of Woodring's quixotic magazine series Jim (a self-described "autojournal" neglected at the time of its original four-issue run), The Book of Jim melds dream comics, automatic writing, and surreal illustrations into one unsettling package. The book is fascinating, both for its constituent parts and for the suggestiveness of their interrelationships. Indeed, The Book of Jim is one of those volumes which can be reread from a hundred different points of entry, in dizzying recursions - a real tail-swallowing experience. The comics, such as the harrowing What the Left Hand Did (with its unforgettable scene of torture as spiritual epiphany) and the cryptic Invisible Hinge (which hints at, yet defers, some profound revelation), join to form one hallucinatory dream-diary, punctuated by intervals of uncanny, lucid-dreamy prose, such as When the Lobster Whistles on the Hill. It all fits together like one of those blurred, unreconstructed dreams you try to grasp just after waking.

The Book of Jim lives up to its author's contention that true horror is "not only fun, but sacred". Woodring fearlessly plumbs his own unpredictable dream-life for material, without manicuring what he finds; the result weds beauty to terror. His drawings boast a hypnotically wavy-line and an unfailing graphic brilliance; dig those garden plots, those critters, those alarming, kaleidoscopic transformations. His line is matched by the fearlessness of his prose, eccentric, and precisely descriptive, which can transform an insect's dead shell into a "fuselage" or wring sheer terror out of an empty playground swing. Art and writing run together to give The Book of Jim the matter-of-factness and disarming spiritual heft of a really good nightmare. With this work, Woodring opened up new horizons in first-person cartooning, creating work at once frightening and profoundly affirmative.

ALAN MOORE:
Jim Woodring's stories manage, by some occult means, to be at once unsettlingly alien and intimately familiar. The effect is not unlike opening a new book to find the illustrated account of a dream you had when you were five and told no one about. Cryptic and haunting, Woodring's work evokes a sense of something important and forgotten. Easily the most hypnotic talent to enter the field in years.

FURTHER READING:

Jim Woodring Official Site

Jim Woodring at Fantagraphics Books