{"id":5103,"date":"2010-06-16T06:00:14","date_gmt":"2010-06-16T06:00:14","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/?p=5103"},"modified":"2010-06-16T18:16:58","modified_gmt":"2010-06-16T18:16:58","slug":"the-best-american-comics-criticism","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/2010\/06\/16\/the-best-american-comics-criticism\/","title":{"rendered":"The Best American Comics Criticism"},"content":{"rendered":"

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\nEdited by Ben Schwartz<\/strong> (Fantagraphics Books)
\nISBN: 978-1-60699-148-0<\/p>\n

If we want to have our particular objet d’art<\/em> considered as valid, worthwhile and meaningful as those other peculiarly human non-survival oriented pursuits such as literature, poetry, painting sculpture, music, film and others of that ilk, it’s not enough to simply consume the product. Comics needs to be talked up, kicked about and generally deconstructed by people cleverer than us. It also needs to be done in a manner as interesting and beguiling as the art itself<\/p>\n

Unlike me, proper critics need to be at once intensely engaged and incisively dispassionate regarding their subject; able to discuss it in a manner the rest of us can understand, and this magnificent compendium gathers together some of the most telling, pertinent and timeless considerations on sequential narrative of this century.<\/p>\n

Naturally not everybody in our quirky community wants to spend money reading about comics rather than the items themselves, so if I can’t convince you to try this fabulous book with the absolutely true statement that \u00e2\u20ac\u0153this is an immensely enjoyable read which offers you the chance to see your passion in a new light and will definitely open your eyes to new opportunities to read and collect\u00e2\u20ac\u009d then please stop here.<\/p>\n

If you’re intrigued and still with me I’ll now briefly run down the fabulous treasures in store if you do acquire this incredibly important and entrancing tome.<\/p>\n

Divided into History, Fans, Appraisals, Reviews and Interviews, The Best American Comics Criticism<\/strong> covers every aspect of the industry, business and art-form, paying particular attention to that most under-estimated factor in the development of Comics: the unflinching devotees who turned a pastime into consuming passion \u00e2\u20ac\u201c the readers and fans.<\/p>\n

Brian Doherty leads off the History<\/em> section with ‘Comics Tragedy: Is the Superhero Invulnerable?’<\/em> (from Reason<\/strong> magazine May 2001), followed by Paul Gravett’s ‘Graphic Novels: Can you Hear the Trucks?’<\/em> (Comics International<\/strong> March 2005) and concludes with two of R. Fiore’s Funnybook Roulette<\/strong> columns dealing with the aftermath of the 9\/11 atrocity, ‘A Moment of Noise’<\/em> and ‘Make Me a Liar’<\/em> from Comics Journal<\/strong> #247 and 259 (October 2002 and April 2004 respectively).<\/p>\n

The fascinating Fan<\/em> section features ‘American Boys’<\/em>, an extract from Gerard Jones’ superb Men of Tomorrow: Geeks, Gangsters and the Birth of the American Comic Book<\/strong> followed by a pr\u00c3\u00a9cis from the landmark judicial ruling overturning the copyright decision against Jerry Siegel, and which awarded some of the profits from the creation of Superman to the writers’ heirs, and ‘Then Let Us Commit Them’<\/em> a portion of David Hajdu’s book The Ten Cent Plague: The Great Comic Book Scare and How it Changed America<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

This section concludes with ‘High Standards’<\/em> a cartoon examination of the fanboy phenomenon by Seth which was first seen in Wimbledon Green<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

Appraisals <\/em>sees a number of creators discussing other creators and their work with contributions from Will Eisner, Frank Miller, Howard Chaykin, Steve Ditko, Harold Gray, Frank King, George Herriman, James Thurber, John Stanley, Charles Schulz, Will Elder, Daniel Clowes, Lynda Barry, Phoebe Gloeckner and a dissection of the Masters of American Comics exhibition<\/strong> with contributions from Douglas Wolk, Bob Andelman, Alan Moore, Peter Bagge, Donald Phelps, Ben Schwartz, Jeet Heer, Sarah Boxer, John Updike, Seth, Jonathan Franzen, Daniel Clowes, Ken Parille and Dan Nadel.<\/p>\n

The Reviews<\/em> section opens with Chris Ware’s ‘T\u00c3\u00b6pffer in English’<\/em> (from Bookforum<\/strong>, April\/May 2008), Rick Moody’s ‘Epileptic: Disorder in the House’<\/em> from the New York Times<\/strong>, 23rd<\/sup> January 2005, Robert C. Harvey’s ‘Fun Home: Literary Cartooning in a Graphic World’<\/em> (Rants & Raves<\/strong> and Comics Journal<\/strong> – December 2006 and February 2007).<\/p>\n

The New York Times<\/strong> of June 1st<\/sup> 2008 provided John Hodgman’s ‘Epics (Kirby’s<\/strong> Fourth World Omnibus<\/strong>; Kirby: King of Comics<\/strong>; Age of Bronze<\/strong>; Y: The Last Man<\/strong>)’ <\/em>whilst the Amazon Customers Review Section<\/strong> was harvested for an anthology of contributions; ‘Was this Review Helpful to You?: Joe Matt’s Spent<\/strong>‘<\/em> and the section closes with another visual treat as Nate Gruenwald pictorially examines ‘C. Spinoza’s Pacho Clokey<\/strong><\/em>‘<\/p>\n

The final section is Interviews<\/em>, with David Hajdu tracking from Carl Barks to Marjane Satrapi in ‘Persian Miniatures’<\/em>(Bookforum<\/strong>, October\/November 2004), Darrell Epp’s April 22nd<\/sup> posting on The Two-Handed Man<\/strong> website ‘It Keeps Ending Up Looking Like it was Drawn By Me: An Interview with Chester Brown’<\/em> and three Comics Journal<\/strong> interviews conducted by Gary Groth: Will Elder<\/em> from #254, Yoshihiro Tatsumi<\/em> in #281 and Kim Deitch<\/em> in #292 (July 2003, January 2006 and October 2008 respectively).<\/p>\n

A transcribed Art Festival event provided a Conversation Between Daniel Clowes and Jonathan Lethem:<\/em> \u00e2\u20ac\u0153I Could Relate Very Closely to Your Isolation\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/em> (Museum of Comic and Cartoon Art, June 12th<\/sup> 2005) whilst The New Art Comics HeroesCon<\/strong> (June 21st<\/sup> 2008) was the forum for Sammy Harkham & Dan Nadel’s closing discussion on the state of the Art.<\/p>\n

With a wonderful introduction from Schwartz, loads of pictures, and a copious index and acknowledgements section this scholarly and infectiously accessible tome is just the kind of academic adjunct the comics biz needs, and therefore so do you. Don’t devour this book: pace yourself, dip in, ponder, reflect and, of course, then try out something you haven’t read before\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6<\/p>\n