{"id":30480,"date":"2024-09-06T08:00:52","date_gmt":"2024-09-06T08:00:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/?p=30480"},"modified":"2024-09-04T16:31:03","modified_gmt":"2024-09-04T16:31:03","slug":"750cc-down-lincoln-highway-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/2024\/09\/06\/750cc-down-lincoln-highway-2\/","title":{"rendered":"750cc Down Lincoln Highway"},"content":{"rendered":"

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\nBy Bernard Chambaz<\/strong> & Barroux<\/strong>, translated by Joe Johnson<\/strong> (NBM)
\nISBN: 978-1-68112-245-8 (album TPB\/Digital edition)<\/p>\n

For such a relatively young country, there\u2019s an astounding amount of vibrant – and largely self-perpetuating – mythology underpinning America. Cowboys, Indians, colonialism, Manifest Destiny, gangsterism, Hollywood, food, Rock \u2018n\u2019 Roll and even names and places have permeated the imagination of the world. This last even created its own sub-genre: tales of travel and introspection ranging from Kerouac\u2019s On the Road<\/strong> to Thelma and Louise<\/strong> via the vast majority of \u201cBuddy movies\u201d ever made.<\/p>\n

Somehow, such stories seem to particularly resonate with non-Americans. Scots, French and Italian consumers are especially partial to westerns, and Belgians adore period gangster tales set in the golden age of Los Angeles. I must admit that during my own times stateside there was always a little corner of my head that ticked off places I\u2019d seen or heard of from films, TV or comics: Mann\u2019s\/Grauman\u2019s Chinese Theatre, Central Park, Daly Plaza, Empire State Building as well as uniquely American moments and activities – pretzel cart, bag of potato chips bigger than my head, bar fight, someone saying \u201cyoo Brits…\u201d – as I experienced them myself. That\u2019s the true magic of modern legends.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s also the theme driving this beautiful travelogue depicting life imitating art…<\/p>\n

Available in oversized (288 x 214 mm) paperback and digital formats, 750cc Down Lincoln Highway <\/strong>reveals how a French competitor in the New York Marathon takes a cathartic life detour after getting a \u201cDear John\u201d text from his apparently no-longer Significant Other one hour before the start.<\/p>\n

Understandably deflated, he hits a bar, discovers bourbon and strikes up a conversation with one of life\u2019s great survivors…<\/p>\n

Ed<\/em>\u2019s barfly philosophy hits home – as does his description and potted history of the Lincoln Highway – and before long our remarkably reliable narrator has hired a motorbike and opted to cross the USA along the historic route from East Coast to West…<\/p>\n

Rendered in a dreamy, contemplative wash of greytones, his ride becomes a shopping list of transitory experiences confirming – and occasionally debunking – the fictive America inside his head and his preconceptions of the people who live there.
\n\"\"
\nPutting concrete sounds, tastes, sights and smells to such exotic ports of call as Weehawken, Princeton, Trenton, Philadelphia, Gettysburg, Pittsburgh, Zulu, Fort Wayne, Chicago, Dekalb, Mississippi, Central City, Cheyenne, Salt Lake City, Eureka, Reno, Lake Tahoe, Berkeley and so many other places before reaching the highway\u2019s end at Poteau Terminus, the once-broken rider regains his life\u2019s equilibrium and gets on with the rest of his life, happy that the trip and anonymous people he met have rewarded him with fresh perspective and rekindled hope…<\/p>\n

Written by award-winning novelist, poet and historian Bernard Chambaz (L\u2019Arbre de vies<\/em><\/strong>, Kinopanorama<\/em><\/strong>) and backed up by an extensive map of the trip, garnished with suitable quotes from Abraham Lincoln, this is quite literally all about the journey, not the destination…<\/p>\n

This beguiling excursion is realised by multimedia artist and illustrator Barroux (Where\u2019s the Elephant?,<\/strong> In the Mouth of the Wolf<\/strong>), serving as a potent reminder of the power names and supposition can exert on our collective unconsciousness.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s also a superbly engaging, warmly inviting graphic meander to a mutual destination no armchair traveller should miss.
\n\u00a9 2018 URBAN COMICS, by Chambaz, Barroux. \u00a92020 NBM for the English translation Hearst Holdings Inc. All rights reserved.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Bernard Chambaz & Barroux, translated by Joe Johnson (NBM) ISBN: 978-1-68112-245-8 (album TPB\/Digital edition) For such a relatively young country, there\u2019s an astounding amount of vibrant – and largely self-perpetuating – mythology underpinning America. Cowboys, Indians, colonialism, Manifest Destiny, gangsterism, Hollywood, food, Rock \u2018n\u2019 Roll and even names and places have permeated the imagination … <\/p>\n

Continue reading “750cc Down Lincoln Highway”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_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},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[191,214,104,348,216,105,230],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-30480","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-adventure","category-european","category-graphic-autobiography","category-health-2","category-lifestyle","category-mature-reading","category-travelogue"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p4AFj-7VC","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30480","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=30480"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30480\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":30483,"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30480\/revisions\/30483"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=30480"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=30480"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=30480"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}