Before I could get in to Comic Con I hung out at the San Diego Public Library and read these books with funny pictures:
The Juggler of Our Lady by R.O. Blechman
Maurice Sendak loves this book. I thought it was okay. Maybe you had to be there, in 1952. I'm not so sure it holds up. Nothing about it seems particularly fresh or original today.
Waterwise by Joel Orff
Beautiful, short, black&white meeting of old friends, perhaps for the last time, during a moment liminial for both, in which they merely float. Peppered with flashbacks and dreamy metaphors, this is a quite lovely book.
The Saga of the Bloody Benders by Rick Geary2
As I suspected, The Bloody Benders is the best of Geary's Victorian Murder series that I have yet read. It ended up being an apropos choice as Geary's art graced the official Comic Con publications I would be carrying around the rest of this week.
The Benders were a serial-killing family of which I knew nothing before reading an excerpt of the book in the most recent Best American Comics. I think my unfamiliarity with the tale added to my enjoyment, but Geary's straightforward reporting and distinctive art are always a pleasure in and of themselves.
The Left Bank Gang by Jason
Finally! I've finally read a Jason book all the way through! And it did not disappoint. Anthropomorphic dogs named Ezra Pound, Ernest Hemingway and Scott Fitzgerald spend their days making comics; and criticizing the comics of Tolstoy, Dostoevsky and Gertrude Stein. Finally hooking with with their bird pal James Joyce to pull a robbery.
Awesome.
4 comments:
You've sold me on The Left Bank Gang. I'd never heard of it. Thanks!
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It was great --- definitely check it out.
I just realized why The Left Bank Gang seems familiar to me--I read about it a couple years ago, then checked it out from the library and read it. I remember enjoying it, I think. What do you know, I read artsy comics too!
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There may be hope for you yet!
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