| Title | : | The Comics Journal Special Edition Volume 2: Cartoonists on Music |
| Author | : | |
| Rating | : | |
| ISBN | : | 1560974990 |
| ISBN-10 | : | 9781560974994 |
| Language | : | English |
| Format Type | : | Paperback |
| Number of Pages | : | 180 |
| Publication | : | First published January 1, 2002 |
This Comics Journal Special Edition spotlights master cartoonist Jim Woodring with a spectacular cover painting, two essays on the artist's oeuvre by Donald Phelps and Kenneth Smith, and a new interview. Text-and-art features include an appreciation of the cartoonist W. E. Hill by Zippy creator Bill Griffith (with many examples of Hill's gorgeous tabloid-sized Sunday pages in full color) and Timothy Kreider on B. Kliban.
Our comics section's theme this volume is "Cartoonists on Music and Musicians" including many of the greatest names in cartooning today: Mary Fleener, Roger Langridge, Peter Bagge, Penny Van Horn, Spain, Ron Rege, Al Columbia, Jordan Crane, Steven Weissman, Diane Noomin, Megan Kelso, Gerald Jablonski, Justin Green, Mark Kalesniko, Carol Lay, Blanquet, Sam Henderson, Phoebe Gloeckner, Tony Millionaire, Michael Kupperman, John Porcellino, R. Crumb, Bill Griffith, Arnold Roth, David Mazzucchelli, Ivan Brunetti, Matt Groening, C. Tyler, John Kerschbaum, Sherri Flenniken, Richard Sala, Rick Geary, Mack White, and Mark Martin. Rockin' good comics!
The Comics Journal Special Edition Volume 2: Cartoonists on Music Reviews
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"I thought my parents wanted to kill me," says a surprisingly lucid Jim Woodring. "Actually, that might have been true."
The creator of the audacious FRANK cartoon led a life tortured with hallucinations and apparitions - and yet, the surrealist backgrounds and characters featured prominently in his work is, according to the man, "pure craft." There is nothing further beyond each pointy-tipped psychedelic mound or Glatified dwelling skillfully injected into each panel of work. It's just for look and atmosphere.
Can that possibly be true? Perhaps. At least, if it isn't, Woodring is not telling. That, however, is acceptable - given that he had divulged so much of himself throughout the interview already. A man can't give away all of his secrets, can he? Especially not the incomprehensible, illogical ones.
Within The Comics Journal Summer 2002 Special, an oversize paperback coffee table book, are many other specimens of artistry from other creators (Robert Crumb, Johnny Ryan, Sam Henderson, John Porcellino, et al.) giving special focus to music and musicians. Some features interpret song lyrics, either from actual or self-created songs. Others look into the effects and styles of various musical genres, and their impact upon the artists' lives, their personalities, and their own artistic output.
Also featured are reprints of the long-forgotten W. E. Hill's Among Us Mortals, a full-page Sunday newspaper piece from 75 years ago, which were never collected in their entirety from that day to this. French bande-dessinee artist Lewis Trondheim is given a platform to discuss his own work and influences. And several of The Comics Journal's regular contributors give - as can be expected - verbose, opinionated, pretentious analysis of the likes of Li'l Orphan Annie, Harvey Kurtzman, and King Aroo's Jack Kent.
While some of these articles prove challenging to get through (thanks, in no small part, to the grandiose verbiage selected by several of the columnists), they each prove in some way to be rewarding. Opinions aside, there is a lot of fascinating material to be extracted from the passages and observations. For instance, while stopping short of "explaining the jokes" of bizarre caricaturist/cartoonist B. Kliban, writer Timothy Kreider provides possible readings of several of his one-panel works, insofar as to raise a curtain on a previously indecipherable punch-line.
As a whole, this special edition does not make itself indispensable - but one would be remiss to allow the Woodring interview and King Aroo reprints (along with a few of the other articles) to slip on past, unread. -
I leafed through most of this huge volume since I bought it mainly for the Woodring interview. And said interview is a nice companion piece for all the things that were yet to come. It's interesting to read that he didn't see Frank going anywhere and now there is another comic announced for spring 2022. I also read the King Aroo reprints from the 50s and enjoyed these whimsical strips quite a lot.
