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Post by kirby101 on Dec 20, 2022 9:47:34 GMT -5
The saga of my English copy of Schuiten and Peeters Fever in Urbicande. There is a new English edition of this GN from IDW that I ordered.  This is a translated newly colored version recently published in Europe. I have the original French edition  Which is in Black & White. I love the art, and though I read this in Dark Horse's Cheval Noir, that was years ago and long gone from my memory. I was looking forward to being able to read the story again in the new English edition. The book arrived, but the cover was damaged during shipping. So I am returning it for a refund. I have to say though, I am not a fan of the coloring. I have the B&W French edition of Brusel and the English color version. I find I much prefer Schuiten's work in Black & White. There are exceptions, when he is doing the art in full color, but for the most part, give me the pure pen work. So to continue, I go to Ebay to buy another copy of the new English edition. I still want to read this book and I can read the English text while looking at the B&W art in the French edition. But, what do I see for sale? The original English edition from the NMB.  The reason I don't have this is I have not seen this for under $75. But someone hdd it listed for $25, that is only $5 more than the new colored edition. Of course I jumped on this. Now I can read it in English in my preferred B&W |
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Post by kirby101 on Dec 23, 2022 13:31:15 GMT -5
My NMB edition of Fever in Urbicande arrived. I am very happy I can now read this book, as I only own the French edition. BUT, I must say I am disappointed in the printing. It is printed on thinner paper than the Casterman book, and as a result the ink lines are thicker and not as sharp Whe I have time I will take a pic of them side by side to show the difference. Looks like I will read the NMB book while looking at the Casterman. Maybe I will get the new color edition anyway, if I catch a bargain.
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Post by kirby101 on Dec 25, 2022 10:08:33 GMT -5
Some sample panels I grabbed from the NMB and Casterman editions of Urbicande. In the first one you can see how the shadow on seated man's face looks solid black on the right, instead of the fine line work in the French book on the left. In the lower panel, line work in the background is also gone.  In the second example, the cross hatching in the cannon is almost gone in the NMB book at the bottom.  They may seem like subtle differences, but since the art is the main attraction to these books, it should be as clear and sharp as possible. |
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Post by berkley on Dec 25, 2022 18:31:28 GMT -5
Some sample panels I grabbed from the NMB and Casterman editions of Urbicande. In the first one you can see how the shadow on seated man's face looks solid black on the right, instead of the fine line work in the French book on the left. In the second example, the cross hatching in the cannon is almost gone in the NMB book at the bottom. They may seem like subtle differences, but since the art is the main attraction to these books, it should be as clear and sharp as possible.
The difference is very noticeable and worthy of being pointed out. Anyone wondering whether to buy the French or the English edition would want to know about this.
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Post by EdoBosnar on Dec 30, 2022 17:07:19 GMT -5
Strip revija 5 Continuing my slow read-through of this large format Croatian comics review. With this issue, the editors began to include work by non-Croatian writers/artists, so the lead feature (as well as the cover art) is by none other than Hal Foster. It’s a story he did in the 1940s called “The Song of Bernadette,” based on a novel of the same title by Franz Werfel (about St. Bernadette of Lourdes; there was also a movie adaptation). This comic adaptation is apparently pretty obscure, so that even diehard Foster fans are often unaware of its existence or have only heard of it.  Other features include a short work by Serbian artist Branislav ‘Bane’ Kerac called “Requiem,” which was originally published in an anthology book, Breakthrough, on the theme of the fall of the Berlin Wall and the collapse of state socialism in Eastern Europe that appeared in 1990.  A special focus of this issue is Slovenian comics, so there’s a few short pieces about the history of comics in Slovenia and works by some of its better known creators. I liked this story by Tomaž Lavrič, which deals with the ugly side of post-socialist nationalism.  Otherwise, there is – of course – some nice work by Croatian creators, including this Western called “The Red Tillers,” written by Nikša Fulgosi with art by the legendary Andrija Maurović.  And “The Saboteurs,” which is an adaptation of a movie about the WW2 Yugoslav Partisans in Bosnia, with a script by Marcel Čukli and art by Jules Radilović. The ‘Partisan war story’ was a very widespread pop culture genre in the former Yugoslavia in the decades following World War II, often mirroring the storytelling style of Westerns. 
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Post by foxley on Dec 30, 2022 19:53:03 GMT -5
Strip revija 5Continuing my slow read-through of this large format Croatian comics review. With this issue, the editors began to include work by non-Croatian writers/artists, so the lead feature (as well as the cover art) is by none other than Hal Foster. It’s a story he did in the 1940s called “The Song of Bernadette,” based on a novel of the same title by Franz Werfel (about St. Bernadette of Lourdes; there was also a movie adaptation). This comic adaptation is apparently pretty obscure, so that even diehard Foster fans are often unaware of its existence or have only heard of it. St. Bernadette was a Mountie?! 
Actually, the only reason I know anything about The Song pf Bernadette is because Franz Werfel was one of the husbands of Alma Mahler, who had what Tom Lehrer described as “the juiciest, spiciest, raciest obituary it has ever been my pleasure to read”, and he wrote a song about her called "Alma" and it mentions Franz and The Song of Bernadette. It is both hilarious and factually accurate and can be listened to here.
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Post by EdoBosnar on Dec 31, 2022 4:49:31 GMT -5
St. Bernadette was a Mountie?!
Actually, the only reason I know anything about The Song pf Bernadette is because Franz Werfel was one of the husbands of Alma Mahler, who had what Tom Lehrer described as “the juiciest, spiciest, raciest obituary it has ever been my pleasure to read”, and he wrote a song about her called "Alma" and it mentions Franz and The Song of Bernadette. It is both hilarious and factually accurate and can be listened to here.
That song is really funny. |
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Post by Dizzy D on Feb 5, 2023 5:12:33 GMT -5
So a bunch of comics:
I finally got a copy of Katanga #3 and things ended pretty much as I'd expected (as in not well.. but as it was based on historical events (the murder of Patrice Lumumba) it could only end in tragedy).
Back to Fred Duval:
Renaissance: Sadly only 3 issues published here, while the series itself is longer. I thought it was set in the far future or not on Earth, but reading it, not quite. It takes place about 100 years from now, Earth is ravaged by environmental disasters, disease and war when an alien fleet arrives. The aliens want to prevent the extinction of humanity. I like that the aliens in this are mostly good, but not completely. They want to help humanity, but when they are faced with armed and violent humans, they have no problem defending themselves. The aliens also have multiple factions within them and several of them are wondering if all this is worth it. I really like the covers and alien designs in this. I guess I have to check other languages to get the conclusion of this story though.
Wonderball: It has Duval, Jean-Pierre Pecau and Colin Wilson on the creative team, the same team that does Nevada, which is one of my favourite series. Wonderball is not quite there (I liked the setting and premise of Nevada more, Wonderball goes more into well-explored territory for me). Set (mostly) in the U.S., Detective Spadacinni, nicknamed Wonderball due to his addiction to the chocolate brand, investigates the rise of serial killers in the U.S. and finds a conspiracy behind it: a secret experiment to create a superior human leaves its subjects physical advanced, but mentally unstable. Artwise Wilson is great as usual, but I have never had much taste for conspiracy thrillers.
Seven Characters by Fred Duval and Florent Calvez: Part of the weird Seven series (a series of standalone comics which all have the number seven in common, but nothing else), this one was interesting. Set in France, 17th century, the playwright Molière has died and 7 persons (the whole story is kinda metaphysical, so it gets a bit muddled whether these are living people that Molière based his satirical plays on or characters born from his imagination turned to flesh) all main characters in one of Molière's plays, are thrown together to protect his legacy. The seven themselves are targetted as part of that legacy. I'm not a fan of the art though the panel in Hell is full Jeroen Bosch and great. The concept is so unique that I did like this comic despite its artstyle.
Not Duval:
Une aventure de Spirou Par... Jul&Libon are the creative team this time and they have create Spirou Chez Les Fous (Spirou and the Crazy Ones, or Spirou in the Madhouse would probably be a better translation). I was not familiar with the work of either and both seem to be mostly on short gag comics. Fantasio is missing and Spirou follows his tracks to Angouleme. In the town, many of the inhabitants are struck by madness and think they are comicbook characters. In the town's mental institution Spirou finds Fantasio who thinks he's Tin-Tin's Captain Haddock. All in all, I think this was my least favourite of the Spirou Par... series (though the other entries were all good-to-great, so it's not quite as bad). My issue is mostly that there is not much story here: a lot of the patients are just cameos to other comicbook characters, there is a bit where Fantasio hopes to find information about his parents (because both Spirou and he know that they are comicbook characters themselves... don't think about it too much), but he quickly realizes that there are no answers here.
Sirocco by Giulio Macaione: marketed for some reason as a Young Adult comic over here (and guess I can see it, the main character is a teenager, though just as much of the story is dedicated to her father and grandmother). Set in Venice and in Sicily, Mia is training to be a professional ballet dancer, she is raised by her single gay father and her grandmother. The story is told in only the colours white, black, blue and grey and it works very well for it. It's a slice of life comic and it's elevated by its art. Storywise, I don't think I was ever surprised by it, though it's fine at what it does (and it doesn't help that another slice of life comic below here does manage to do more interesting things storywise).
And ending on a high note:
Malgré tout by Jordi LaFebre, which has actually been translated into English under the title "Always Never" (though a more literal translation would have been Nevertheless). It's a romance told in reverse, Zeno, owner of a bookstore and Ana, a retired mayor have known each other and have been in love for decades, despite Ana being married. In reverse we move back from their first date after meeting each other again to their first meeting. I love LaFebre's artwork, especially the colouring and telling the story in reverse is an interesting touch that works really well. Like I said, it has been published in English, so check it out (though I can understand it not being everybody's cup of tea here).
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Post by antoine on Mar 3, 2023 19:43:55 GMT -5
I have the original French edition I've never heard of that. Is Volume #2 the only one worth reading or the whole series? You got me curious and I reserved this one from the library but wondering if I need to read the rest of the series or can enjoy this one as a standalone. |
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Post by kirby101 on Mar 3, 2023 21:25:43 GMT -5
I have the original French edition I've never heard of that. Is Volume #2 the only one worth reading or the whole series? You got me curious and I reserved this one from the library but wondering if I need to read the rest of the series or can enjoy this one as a standalone. Every Schuiten/Peeters book is stand alone. But every one is more than worth reading. (There is occasional reference to other stories) |
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Post by antoine on Mar 15, 2023 20:41:37 GMT -5
I've never heard of that. Is Volume #2 the only one worth reading or the whole series? You got me curious and I reserved this one from the library but wondering if I need to read the rest of the series or can enjoy this one as a standalone. Every Schuiten/Peeters book is stand alone. But every one is more than worth reading. (There is occasional reference to other stories) Just finish reading La fièvre d'Urbicande 5 minutes ago, what an amazing book. I got the Casterman edition , art looked REALLY good. Can't believe I had never heard of that before. I also read volume #1 (Les Murailles de Samaris) and also loved it. Will read the rest of the series in the neat future. Really happy you suggested this! |
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Post by kirby101 on Mar 15, 2023 22:15:26 GMT -5
Every Schuiten/Peeters book is stand alone. But every one is more than worth reading. (There is occasional reference to other stories) Just finish reading La fièvre d'Urbicande 5 minutes ago, what an amazing book. I got the Casterman edition , art looked REALLY good. Can't believe I had never heard of that before. I also read volume #1 (Les Murailles de Samaris) and also loved it. Will read the rest of the series in the neat future. Really happy you suggested this! Glad you like them. He is one of the finest artist in the medium. |
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Post by Dizzy D on May 9, 2023 10:26:50 GMT -5
It's been a while, so a lot of new and old comics added to the collection:
In no specific order:
War Machines #1: This Machine Kills Fascists by Pecau, Mavric-Damien and Scarlett
I mostly know Pecau of his supernatural/conspiracy stories like The Secret History, Major Arcanum etc. and his cooperations with Duval and Wilson (Nevada, Wonderball). I bought this one not because of Pecau, but because of the cover: bright-red, with a tank in perspective: seen from the side with the burrel turned towards the reader and in big letters the title. It's a series of 4 (so far, don't know if more is planned), each of the series is focused on a specific tank. These are stories though, not a treatise or historic account.
The first issue "stars" an IS-2 tank aka as a T45. This specific tank is the 500th tank build by the engineer Sergej Soevarow, painting Woody Guthrie's creed on the side of it. Soevarow is insane, insanity born both out of his experiences during the war and his time in a Russian goulag. This tank is his baby, build with more care than any other and will be his instrument of vengeance on all fascists (note: not Germans). We follow the tank from Russia to Berlin to Cuba to Angelo to Afghanistan and it survives where other tanks failed. Pecau's stories often have a supernatural element and you can argue that there is some here: is the tank cursed and pay his operators a heavy press for its successes? Or is it just coincidence and is the tank's survival a result of Sergej's obsessive care for it.
I liked this a lot, but it doesn't quite live up to the cover, which is one of my favourite covers ever.
De Rode Ridder #276 "Het Einde van Alles" (The Red Knight: The End of Everything) by Legendre and Bono.
The Red Knight was a series started by Willy Vandersteen in 1959, in turn based on a children's book series (though I guess this is another one of those examples where the adaption has overtaken the original source. Still the original source has over 60 books in it, so it's not exactly unknown).
Since 2012 the series was retooled (as it had been a couple of times before) and was now written by Martin Lodewijk and Marc Legendre (alternating issues). I bought a random issue for very complicated reasons (will get back to those in the near future once another comic is published), but overall I was not a fan. It has become more of an ongoing story as far I can tell and it was pretty short, so it felt like the middle of a bigger story. What was there, was very different from the Red Knight I remembered, which should not be an issue, but it was dark and depressing and felt empty.
Prima Spatia #1: L'héritière (The Heiress) by Filippi and Camboni
Another series bought based on its cover. I thought it may have been originally published by Arleston's Drakoo imprint, but apparently not. The artstyle looks a lot like Arleston's regular partners. The cover is a girl floating in space, touching a space-whale. The artwork inside didn't feel as good (the human(oid) characters seem .. off. Page composition, creatue and spaceship design is good though). Storywise it's mostly setup: Alba is the daughter of a high-ranking politician. Her father's enemies target her, but with the help of her governess she managed to escape. Both arrive on a startship that hunts spacewales. Creatures Alba has some connection to.
La bibliomule de Cordoue (The Book Mule of Cordoba) by Lupano and Chemineau
A much better comic than the previous 2 I mentioned: 250+ pages long with a bit of text-only information on the historical context of the story at the end. The year 976, the Caliphate of Córdoba is a powerful Muslim territory in South-West Europe. After the death of his father, the young caliph is only 11 years old, so the de factor ruler is his vizier. The vizier has plans for the future though and one of his alliances threatens the giant library of Cordoba, so the chief librarian tries to escape with as money books as he can. To do so, his only confidante, a copyist, tries to steal a mule from a thief to transport the books. Followed by the vizier's men, the librarian, copyist and thief try to reach a safe place with as many books as they can. There is an epilogue about the recurring destruction of libraries and loss of knowledge over the centuries and the risk of storing all data in the Cloud these days.
La baroque épopée du monde qui ne voulait plus tourner (The irregular epic of the world that no longer wished to turn) by Arleston and Dimat
I didn't notice it was an Arleston when I bought it, but it's another one of his recent short series (see also Necromancers, mentioned earlier), so my issue with Arleston losing focus when doing longer series these days, may luckily not apply. I went for the interesting title and cover in this case. Like most of Arleston's series it's a mix of sci-fi and fantasy, though it seems to be a more of a Renaissance vibe than a medieval vibe. Dimat plays a bit with making it look like a theatrical play, we get acts and two crows that act like a Greek orchestra.
Complainte des landes perdues by Tellier, Teng and Dufaux (The Lament of the Lost Lands)
Made an error here. This series is comprised of 4 subseries. I thought I bought issues 1-3 of the subseries Sorceresses, but got 1 and 3 of Sorceresse 2 of the subseries Sudenas. I'll get back to this once I get the correct #2.
Hollywoodland by Maltaite and Zidrou.: als coming back to this one.
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Post by Dizzy D on Jun 11, 2023 15:00:10 GMT -5
It's been a while, so a lot of new and old comics added to the collection: In no specific order: War Machines #1: This Machine Kills Fascists by Pecau, Mavric-Damien and Scarlett
I mostly know Pecau of his supernatural/conspiracy stories like The Secret History, Major Arcanum etc. and his cooperations with Duval and Wilson (Nevada, Wonderball). I bought this one not because of Pecau, but because of the cover: bright-red, with a tank in perspective: seen from the side with the burrel turned towards the reader and in big letters the title. It's a series of 4 (so far, don't know if more is planned), each of the series is focused on a specific tank. These are stories though, not a treatise or historic account. The first issue "stars" an IS-2 tank aka as a T45. This specific tank is the 500th tank build by the engineer Sergej Soevarow, painting Woody Guthrie's creed on the side of it. Soevarow is insane, insanity born both out of his experiences during the war and his time in a Russian goulag. This tank is his baby, build with more care than any other and will be his instrument of vengeance on all fascists (note: not Germans). We follow the tank from Russia to Berlin to Cuba to Angelo to Afghanistan and it survives where other tanks failed. Pecau's stories often have a supernatural element and you can argue that there is some here: is the tank cursed and pay his operators a heavy press for its successes? Or is it just coincidence and is the tank's survival a result of Sergej's obsessive care for it. I liked this a lot, but it doesn't quite live up to the cover, which is one of my favourite covers ever. De Rode Ridder #276 "Het Einde van Alles" (The Red Knight: The End of Everything) by Legendre and Bono.
The Red Knight was a series started by Willy Vandersteen in 1959, in turn based on a children's book series (though I guess this is another one of those examples where the adaption has overtaken the original source. Still the original source has over 60 books in it, so it's not exactly unknown). Since 2012 the series was retooled (as it had been a couple of times before) and was now written by Martin Lodewijk and Marc Legendre (alternating issues). I bought a random issue for very complicated reasons (will get back to those in the near future once another comic is published), but overall I was not a fan. It has become more of an ongoing story as far I can tell and it was pretty short, so it felt like the middle of a bigger story. What was there, was very different from the Red Knight I remembered, which should not be an issue, but it was dark and depressing and felt empty. Prima Spatia #1: L'héritière (The Heiress) by Filippi and Camboni
Another series bought based on its cover. I thought it may have been originally published by Arleston's Drakoo imprint, but apparently not. The artstyle looks a lot like Arleston's regular partners. The cover is a girl floating in space, touching a space-whale. The artwork inside didn't feel as good (the human(oid) characters seem .. off. Page composition, creatue and spaceship design is good though). Storywise it's mostly setup: Alba is the daughter of a high-ranking politician. Her father's enemies target her, but with the help of her governess she managed to escape. Both arrive on a startship that hunts spacewales. Creatures Alba has some connection to. La bibliomule de Cordoue (The Book Mule of Cordoba) by Lupano and Chemineau
A much better comic than the previous 2 I mentioned: 250+ pages long with a bit of text-only information on the historical context of the story at the end. The year 976, the Caliphate of Córdoba is a powerful Muslim territory in South-West Europe. After the death of his father, the young caliph is only 11 years old, so the de factor ruler is his vizier. The vizier has plans for the future though and one of his alliances threatens the giant library of Cordoba, so the chief librarian tries to escape with as money books as he can. To do so, his only confidante, a copyist, tries to steal a mule from a thief to transport the books. Followed by the vizier's men, the librarian, copyist and thief try to reach a safe place with as many books as they can. There is an epilogue about the recurring destruction of libraries and loss of knowledge over the centuries and the risk of storing all data in the Cloud these days. La baroque épopée du monde qui ne voulait plus tourner (The irregular epic of the world that no longer wished to turn) by Arleston and Dimat
I didn't notice it was an Arleston when I bought it, but it's another one of his recent short series (see also Necromancers, mentioned earlier), so my issue with Arleston losing focus when doing longer series these days, may luckily not apply. I went for the interesting title and cover in this case. Like most of Arleston's series it's a mix of sci-fi and fantasy, though it seems to be a more of a Renaissance vibe than a medieval vibe. Dimat plays a bit with making it look like a theatrical play, we get acts and two crows that act like a Greek orchestra. Complainte des landes perdues by Tellier, Teng and Dufaux (The Lament of the Lost Lands) Made an error here. This series is comprised of 4 subseries. I thought I bought issues 1-3 of the subseries Sorceresses, but got 1 and 3 of Sorceresse 2 of the subseries Sudenas. I'll get back to this once I get the correct #2. Hollywoodland by Maltaite and Zidrou.: als coming back to this one.
It took a bit coming back to this, but here it is:
War Machines #2-4: Each issue specifically dealing with a WWII tank, we get the German Tiger, the Russian T34 and the American Sherman tanks. I think the first issue still is far and away the better story of the four (fifth issue is upcoming dealing with another German tank). It was also the inspiration for Pecau to get started on the series after hearing about a Russian WWII tank being found in Afghanistan by American soldiers, so we follow a single tank over decades. The other 3 stories deal with small crews and their tank (in some cases even trade in the tank for newer versions during the story), but the stories themselves are pretty straightforward WWII stories. The historical reviews in the back are the most interesting for the 3 later issues, especially the one about the Sherman tank. Like many, I believed the story about Sherman tanks being no match for the German Tigers during WWII in even numbers, being superior due to larger numbers and being more reliable, but according to historical documents, when they started crunching the numbers, the Sherman vs Tiger in even numbers had about 50-50 result in winning, with the main deciding factor being which one was able to suprise the other party and shoot first. The heavier weaponry and armour of the German tank, designed for the wide open Russian plains, was not as much a factor in the close quarters fights that most engagements in Europe turned into.
Complainte des landes perdues (The Lament of the Lost Lands)
Like I said, I bought an issue of the wrong subseries, so I took the time to get most of my missing issues. This is an interesting series in setup: basically it's 4 mini-series (so far), each dealing with events in the same setting but often set in different times and with different casts. Also each mini-series has a different artist, but the same writer Jean Dufaux. Dufaux has done a lot of work. He's done some work on Blake & Mortimer, I know him also from Raptors, a vampire comic he did with Marini, there is Jessica Blandy, a comic which I never got around to, about a former journalist in the US who investigates all kinds of crime and corruption and there is a lot more. There does not seem to be a single overarching theme, setting or genre to all his works.
So in chronological order: Complainte des landes perdues cycle 1 (four issues published between 1993 and 1998): The first 4 issues follow the story of Siobhan, a young woman in a medieval fantasy setting. Her father was a great hero, who fell in battle against the dark sorceror that now rules her lands. Her mother remarries and her new husband is a loyal vasal to the dark sorceror. The first cycle is my favourite of the four so far. It has Gregorz Rosinski (Thorgal, Le grand pouvoir du Chninkel) on art and I love the covers which drew me into the series. The first covers also form a connecting image.
The second cycle (four issues, the first issue originally released as issue 5 in 2004, but later rereleased under the subtitle Les Chevaliers de Pardon (The Knights of Forgiveness), numbered #1-4 again, or 2.1-2.4 depending on the edition) had art by Philippe Delaby (who also did the Roman historical series Murena with Dufaux), with the last issue finished by his student Jérémy (Vesper, Knights of the Heliopolis) as Delaby died in 2014 before the final issue was finished. Set before the first series, it deals with Seamus, who will later become an ally to Siobhan who works with the Knights of Forgiveness as they hunt the Morrigans, demonic witches that plague the land. I have not finished the specific cycle (got lost in the renumbering so I have an issue 5 which is followed by an issue 2.2), so I'm working my way through the back issues to complete this series.
The third cycle, Les Sorcieres (The Sorceresses but translated as The Witches over here) is still ongoing, 3 of the four issues have been released (2015-2022). Art is by Beatrice Tillier (Le Bois des Vierges (The Virgin Forest) with Dufaux), taking place even far before the second cycle and shows the rise of evil in the lands. I do wonder where issue #4 is going as #3 seems to have resolved the main plot so far.
The fourth cycle, Les Sudenne, is set after the first series and stars Siobhan again (The Sudennes are Siobhan's family). Two issues out so far (2021-2023) with art by Paul Teng (a fellow dutchman, mostly known for historical comics, among a continuation of Jacques Martin's Tristan). Siobhan and Seamus stay with Siobhan's uncle on her father's side. But both her uncle and her cousin, Alyssa, are not to be trusted, though they dare not act openly against Siobhan, who is now a reknown hero.
If you're interested in a fantasy series, I would start with the first cycle as that one is still the best in my opinion, but even the worst of these five artists is still very, very good.
Hollywoodland by Maltaite and Zidrou.: A collection of short stories set in the late 40s/early 50s (the prologue deals with the removal of the "land" of the old Hollywoodland sign), each starring a different character whose names starts with one of the letters of the name Hollywood (not in order though) plus an untitled prologue. With so many stories in about 50 pages of comic, none of them are very deep. Most of them are short vignettes, some funny, some tragic, some both. All about people in Hollywood who all just didn't make it (or made it for a while, but then fall out of favour). Maltaite is an artist in the style of the School of Marcinelle (Jidehem, Franquin, Peyo and many others) and the comical style works well for me with the tragi-comical (or outright tragical) stories in this book. The first page calls it "Part 1", but I think that is just a joke, because the gimmick is done at the end of the book. Good book for fans of the style and the time period, but maybe a bit too shallow.
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Post by mikelmidnight on Jun 12, 2023 12:49:19 GMT -5
I did just read a translation of Schuitens' collection of short pieces, The Hollow Grounds. They are all beautifully drawn, albeit with a particular interest in cheesecake drawings of attractive young women. The stories are atmospherically told although most of the plots are fairly silly if taken at face value. Worth reading for a Schuiten fan, and certainly worth appreciating for the artwork, but not an essential item in a library of their work.  |
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