{"id":14187,"date":"2015-10-28T08:00:21","date_gmt":"2015-10-28T08:00:21","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/?p=14187"},"modified":"2015-10-28T10:42:25","modified_gmt":"2015-10-28T10:42:25","slug":"the-juggler-of-our-lady-the-classic-christmas-story","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/2015\/10\/28\/the-juggler-of-our-lady-the-classic-christmas-story\/","title":{"rendered":"The Juggler of Our Lady – the Classic Christmas Story"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"
\nBy R. O. Blechman<\/strong> with a Foreword by Jules Feiffer<\/strong> and Introduction by Maurice Sendak<\/strong> (Dover Comics & Graphic Novels)
\nISBN: 978-0-486-80030-1<\/p>\n

Win’s Christmas Gift Recommendation: A truly immaculate confection\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6 10\/10<\/strong><\/p>\n

Christmas is not just about shiny new toys and sparkly knitwear. It’s just as much about unearthing or revisiting old, beloved and almost totally forgotten treasures.<\/p>\n

Here’s a superb case in point – finally back in print after far too many years away – thanks to the perspicacious souls at Dover Books\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6<\/p>\n

Oscar Robert Blechman is a glittering star in America’s graphic arts firmament and an international superstar. Brooklyn-born in 1930, he has excelled as cartoonist, illustrator, author, animator\/Director, editorial cartoonist, Editorial Director and ad-man.<\/p>\n

He’s won awards for his commercials and TV specials and been venerated in an exhibition at The Museum of Modern Art. His anti-Vietnam cartoons graced The Village Voice<\/strong> through the early 1970s whilst his cartoons and illustrations appeared in such prestigious vehicles as Punch<\/strong>, The New Yorker<\/strong>, Trump<\/strong>, Harper’s Bazaar<\/strong>, Esquire<\/strong>, Show<\/strong>, Theater Arts<\/strong> and Humbug<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

He’s also produced fascinating graphic narratives such as Georgie<\/strong> and can reasonably claim to have produced one of the very first English-language Graphic Novels\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6 which is the subject of today’s lecture\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6<\/p>\n

In 1952 Blechman used his groundbreaking and soon-to-be phenomenally influential minimalist line-style – deftly augmented with judicious watercolours – to make a much-told tale all his own.<\/p>\n

The Juggler of Our Lady<\/strong> was his first book: initially published by Henry Holt, and superbly fetishized and commemorated through brother-cartoonist Maurice Sendak’s fondly emotional Introduction<\/em> in this sublime new pocket hardback edition. The slim tome became a landmark in graphic narrative and is beloved by generations.<\/p>\n

Anatole France’s 1892 tale Le Jongleur de Notre Dame<\/strong><\/em> is probably the most widely accepted version of the original medieval religious-miracle legend but there have been so many others that the story is as much part of most people’s seasonal landscape as Santa<\/em> Claus<\/em> or Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer<\/em>.<\/p>\n

Blechman’s reinvigoration managed to retain all the awe and wonder, whilst adding such a potent blend of wry humour, pitiful humility and gentle hope to the mix that it can make a grown man weep. In 1958 his book became an animated Terrytoons<\/strong> TV short with a huge impact when it was adapted by Al Kouzel & Gene Deitch and narrated by that legendary Christmas Spirit Boris Karloff\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6<\/p>\n

You know the story: Cantalbert<\/em> is an itinerant juggler who loves his work. He feels that if more people juggled there would less time for war and misery and folk would act better, feel better and be better.<\/p>\n

Nobody, however, will listen and the despondent performer – hungry for spirituality – joins a monastery. Even here he does not fit in and is saddened by his lack of suitable talents to venerate The Lord and especially The Virgin Mary\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6<\/p>\n

Everything comes to a head on Christmas Eve when the monks all display the magnificent presents they have made for the Madonna and poor Cantalbert has nothing worthy to give.<\/p>\n

Later, when all is quiet, the sad juggler offers the only thing he knows and loves to the statue of The Virgin and something wonderful happens\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6<\/p>\n

Deftly deconstructed and wondrously appreciated in a Foreword<\/em> by Comics and Cartooning Titan Jules Feiffer, The Juggler of Our Lady<\/strong> is a masterpiece of graphic dexterity and an utterly beguiling experience no lover of the storytelling arts should be without.<\/p>\n

Text and illustrations \u00c2\u00a9 1997 R. O. Blechman. Foreword \u00c2\u00a9 1997 2015 Jules Feiffer. Introduction \u00c2\u00a9 1980 Maurice Sendak. All rights rserved.
\nThe Juggler of Our Lady – the Classic Christmas Story<\/strong> will be released November 27th<\/sup> 2015 and is available for pre-order now. Check out www.doverpublications.com<\/u><\/a>, your internet retailer or local comic or bookshop.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By R. O. Blechman with a Foreword by Jules Feiffer and Introduction by Maurice Sendak (Dover Comics & Graphic Novels) ISBN: 978-0-486-80030-1 Win’s Christmas Gift Recommendation: A truly immaculate confection\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6 10\/10 Christmas is not just about shiny new toys and sparkly knitwear. It’s just as much about unearthing or revisiting old, beloved and almost totally … <\/p>\n

Continue reading “The Juggler of Our Lady – the Classic Christmas Story”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[90,97,156],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-14187","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-cartooning-classics","category-kids-all-ages","category-world-classics"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p4AFj-3GP","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14187","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=14187"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14187\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=14187"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=14187"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=14187"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}