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the book jerk
Nov. 22nd, 2009 01:21 pmI'm excited about a couple books I've gotten my hands on lately. First, Pim and Francie: The Golden Bear Days, by Al Columbia. Holy cow. I was really smitten with Al Columbia's creeped out 'Max Fleischer goes to hell' pieces in the long-ago Zero Zero anthology. This stuff had this perfect, perfect old black and white cartoon look to it, with some sepia tones and a genuinely disturbing silent horror film vibe running throughout.
I guess there are plenty of skilled artists producing unsettling work that you could see in Juxtapoz or what have you but, among the comic artists I knew I felt like there was something pretty special, if scary, about Al Columbia's comics. Maybe it was like listening to early Husker Du, when some pretty harmony came out of the screaming and trashing and noise it seemed sweeter than it might otherwise. These fragments of naggingly familiar cute cartoon characters amid ghoul haunted nightmare streets were thrilling in more ways than one.
Columbia has been kind of elusive so far as I know (stories abound), and this is his first book. It's an absolute grimoire - cryptic, hypnotic, dark and deep. The cover seems soiled, and once you crack it open, what is seen cannot be unseen. The book is ostensibly a series of abandoned stories and standalone images but, a kind of story keeps trying to emerge, over and over, as you turn through the pages. I'm glad to have it after all this time and eager to show it to at least one friend.
Then I've been reading Magic Mirrors, a collection of John Bellairs' fiction for adults. This volume contains not only one of my all-time favorite books, The Face in the Frost, but also the tragically 'uncompleted fragment' of a sequel to that book, along with two other early works. Bellairs is mostly known for his gothic horror stories for young adults. I first discovered him through the authentically scary The Figure in the Shadows, back in the '70s sometime. I can still remember staying up all night reading The Face in the Frost when I was in middle school.
I really, really like Bellairs. He's witty, erudite, humane, and has a real knack for throwing a scare without giving the whole game away. Lots of suggestion rather than over the top grotesque horror. How I wish he'd finished The Dolphin Cross. Oh well. It is a defining trait of mine if not an actual trademark to always be greedy for more. Anyway I think I'll go by the library today to pick up a couple of his YA books that I've never read.
Oh and I finished Under The Dome by Stephen King. I know this phrase will seem comical when applied to Mr. King but, I felt like it was 'King Lite', a work clearly intended to be a television miniseries (and also, clearly, some kind of reaction to the Bush-Cheney presidency). It was OK and I liked it for the most part while reading it and I'll spare you my further criticism (of which I had some, possibly not that valid, mostly to do with depth of characterization and motivations).
And P.S., it's Little Paintings time again. The Little Paintings book is still, alas, indefinitely postponed so far as I've heard. You can read more about the theme of this installment in the series here.
I guess there are plenty of skilled artists producing unsettling work that you could see in Juxtapoz or what have you but, among the comic artists I knew I felt like there was something pretty special, if scary, about Al Columbia's comics. Maybe it was like listening to early Husker Du, when some pretty harmony came out of the screaming and trashing and noise it seemed sweeter than it might otherwise. These fragments of naggingly familiar cute cartoon characters amid ghoul haunted nightmare streets were thrilling in more ways than one.
Columbia has been kind of elusive so far as I know (stories abound), and this is his first book. It's an absolute grimoire - cryptic, hypnotic, dark and deep. The cover seems soiled, and once you crack it open, what is seen cannot be unseen. The book is ostensibly a series of abandoned stories and standalone images but, a kind of story keeps trying to emerge, over and over, as you turn through the pages. I'm glad to have it after all this time and eager to show it to at least one friend.
Then I've been reading Magic Mirrors, a collection of John Bellairs' fiction for adults. This volume contains not only one of my all-time favorite books, The Face in the Frost, but also the tragically 'uncompleted fragment' of a sequel to that book, along with two other early works. Bellairs is mostly known for his gothic horror stories for young adults. I first discovered him through the authentically scary The Figure in the Shadows, back in the '70s sometime. I can still remember staying up all night reading The Face in the Frost when I was in middle school.
I really, really like Bellairs. He's witty, erudite, humane, and has a real knack for throwing a scare without giving the whole game away. Lots of suggestion rather than over the top grotesque horror. How I wish he'd finished The Dolphin Cross. Oh well. It is a defining trait of mine if not an actual trademark to always be greedy for more. Anyway I think I'll go by the library today to pick up a couple of his YA books that I've never read.
Oh and I finished Under The Dome by Stephen King. I know this phrase will seem comical when applied to Mr. King but, I felt like it was 'King Lite', a work clearly intended to be a television miniseries (and also, clearly, some kind of reaction to the Bush-Cheney presidency). It was OK and I liked it for the most part while reading it and I'll spare you my further criticism (of which I had some, possibly not that valid, mostly to do with depth of characterization and motivations).
And P.S., it's Little Paintings time again. The Little Paintings book is still, alas, indefinitely postponed so far as I've heard. You can read more about the theme of this installment in the series here.
