A collection of Jerry Moriarty's Jack Survives strips, which I first saw in Art Spiegelman's Raw magazine. Though there weren't many strips, Jack SurvA collection of Jerry Moriarty's Jack Survives strips, which I first saw in Art Spiegelman's Raw magazine. Though there weren't many strips, Jack Survives presented a relatively unconventional style of storytelling found in the strips format. The comics are vignettes featuring "Jack", a stereotypical depiction of an American man in the 1950's. Jack goes through the banality of life, often struggling with minor, inconsequential things but still managing a relative amount of optimism through it all. Though meant to be humorous, there is an odd mixture of wistfulness and melancholy pervasive in them. Jack's life has an isolating quality to it, as was the case for most single men during the time of American's rapid industrialization phase, but his easygoing attitude belies a sense of duty and tranquility that makes the comic feel less bleak than it could. Moriarty states that Jack is based a bit on his father, with some of the differences coming from injecting some of his own personality into the character. The personal quality to the strip is definitely felt, with most stories here reading as if they could have been pulled directly from a day in Moriarty's life. Moriarty's storytelling is just masterfully achieved throughout, with each strip doling out a minimalistic narrative that reads as rich and textured within a few short pages. It maintains the rhythm of a comic strip throughout, but it reads as something much more relevant to the growing maturity of the comics industry of its time. Between this and Mark Beyer's Amy and Jordan strips, it's clear that Raw was dedicating a lot towards innovating on the format of the comic strip.
The strips themselves are comprised largely of ballpoint pen drawings and paintings, but the difference in media used doesn't detract in any kind of way. If anything, the shifting aesthetic allows a more ethereal tone to a strip that is really just about a man doing chores poorly. This edition from Buenaventura Press reproduces the full color pages here nicely, presenting the strips in a gorgeous size that does Moriarty's elaborate style justice. Chris Ware in his introduction offers gushing adulation towards Jack Survives, putting on the level of legendary strips like Krazy Kat and others. I'm not sure I'd be able to put it quite there, but there is something remarkably distinguished about this strip that seems deeply innovative and singular....more
More so for fans of Johnny Ryan who want to see him lampoon their favorite comic creators.
Divided into four parts, Comic Book Holocaust riffs on clasMore so for fans of Johnny Ryan who want to see him lampoon their favorite comic creators.
Divided into four parts, Comic Book Holocaust riffs on classic daily comic strips, Marvel superheroes, independent comics and miscellaneous (the fourth category was completely random stuff). Ryan varies up his cartooning to play off the styles of cartoonists like George Herriman, Frank King, Charles Schulz, Hergé, Joe Sacco, Joe Matt, and many, many others. Your favorite comic is probably in here since Ryan goes for it all here. The gags are pretty repetitive since Ryan's go to style of jokes primarily revolve around scat, flatulence and sex, but there are some funny puns here and there. There's some nice variety in the cartooning here, though Ryan doesn't deviate too far from his crude doodling style. As a whole, this wasn't really something I enjoyed though some of the gags were good enough for a laugh or two....more
Though the essence of transgressive undergrounds of the '60s and contemporary stoner comedies is noticeable here, Matt Furie's Boy's Club is a rather Though the essence of transgressive undergrounds of the '60s and contemporary stoner comedies is noticeable here, Matt Furie's Boy's Club is a rather underwhelming fusion of the stuff that came before. Here we follow four dumb roommates who spend their days lazing about, farting, snorting and ejaculating their way to a punchline. The "jokes" are unrelentingly crass, but rarely funny. Furie's cartooning has a fairly appealing vibe to it due to the minimalist quality it goes for - the simplicity of character designs is probably why Pepe the Frog turned into a meme - but it does result in some pretty limited sequential storytelling too. There isn't really anything innovative in Furie's strips, and the unfunny quality only compounds how dull of a read this was. The stories also get repititive quick, making this a tedious effort to get through. I like the raunchy and shocking bits found in older undergrounds plenty, but the stories here don't really live up to those sensibilities either. If anything Boy's Club suffers from being too tame, despite the crass quality of the stories. ...more
Seth outlines interesting comics, graphic novels, illustration books, etc. he's come across in his many years as an avid comics collector. The book stSeth outlines interesting comics, graphic novels, illustration books, etc. he's come across in his many years as an avid comics collector. The book starts with a mini comic that depicts Seth's fascination with the lesser known and otherwise lost "cartoon books" in the annuls of history. He makes it clear that he's not looking at examining the legacy of underground comics or the lesser known works of his contemporaries, rather his selection here is some pretty obscure stuff. The selections are very impressive and Seth adds some thoughtful notes as to why they are of significance. If one hopes that "Forty Cartoon Books of Interest" will elucidate some hidden gems worth reading then they would be wrong. This is for the truly inquisitive and curious members of the community. ...more
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