What I’m Reading (Pt. 2)
Hello again, Internet,
It’s me, your humble Drunken Boat comics editor, returning with an update on some of the books I’ve been reading this past month (in addition to your amazing submissions!). You might rightly ask, why, Nick, are you sharing this reading list with us? Good question. First, because the list is uniformly filled with amazing work, this is a list of recommendations to any and all lovers of art and literature. Second, because the editorial process is, at its core, a subjective process, the hope is that this list might offer a glimpse into the kind of work that I personally gravitate toward, thereby giving y’all comics makers a sense of what kind of comics might best fit at Drunken Boat. With that said, I’ll be the first to admit that this is a tangled list of sometimes highly disparate books. Which is hopefully more encouraging than mystifying. Alas:
Late Bloomer by Mare Odomo
I bought Late Bloomer on a bit of a whim, out of respect for Retrofit Comics and an interest in what they’re version of “comics/poetry” might be, and I’m so glad I did. Mare Odomo’s Late Bloomer is a lush little book, with stunningly intimate pencils and a beautiful aesthetic hum that leans heavily on Odomo’s terrific sense of fragmented timing. The sparse language acts as found ephemera, a textured undercurrent to the lovely stylistic range of Odomo’s drawings: the books been swimming in my head for weeks. Update: I’ve lost my copy in Utah somewhere and I’m looking for it, tracking for pencil marks. The book burrows softly in the heart, so I’m heartbroken until further notice.
The Angel in The Dream of Our Hangover, aphorisms by mark leidner
I picked up Mark Leidner’s book a couple weeks back during an irresistibly generous (and ongoing) sale from the excellent Sator Press, a press whose excellence I can now fully confirm (I’ve been making eyes at their catalog ever since picking up Christopher Higgs’ terrific The Complete Works of Marvin K. Mooney a few years ago). Among the books I picked up, Leidner’s has born the most apparent marks of sorcery, drawing me back again and again. Leidner’s lyric aphorisms wade into the poetics of the simple-complex, providing a linguistic apparatus for working out the beauty of the mind. And blessedly its pocket-sized, meaning you can comfortably take it wherever you go, which is exactly what you’ll want to do. Randomly opening a page — Leidner: “If only I could write as well as I have regretted how poorly I have loved.”
Don’t Come in Here by Patrick Kyle
In his second full-length book for Koyama Press, his third altogether, Patrick Kyle continues to prove himself one the most idiosyncratic and bizarre cartoonists around. While Don’t Come in Here reads rather quickly, or can be, reading slowly is so much more pleasurable. Kyle’s often pattern-heavy panels, outright strange character design, and surreal setting — an apartment of infinite proportions yet crushing clausterphobia — gets stuck in your eyes like taffy in teeth, seeping alien sugar into the brainstem. Check it out for a surreal take on isolation, confinement, and the complexities of sharing walls (among other things).
Hellbound Lifestyle, by Alabaster Pizzo & Kaeleigh Forsyth
I just love this book. I love it. Alabaster Pizzo’s deadpan-hilarious drawings and condiment-bright color palette fit so perfectly with Kaeleigh Forsyth’s hilarious text(s) (often literally phone texts): it’s a match made in heaven. Or hell. Whatever. I don’t laugh out loud often while reading, comics or otherwise, but Hellbound Lifestyle had me bursting. Such a weird, wonderful book about navigating a weird, wonderful (and depressing) twenty-first century. One of my favorite books to come out this year.
Giant Days, written by John Allison, illustrated by Lissa Treiman
I was introduced to Giant Days by my wife and oh my goodness, yes, it’s brilliant. Having recently dipped into the long-fabled world of Buffy the Vampire Slayer via Netflix (with, again, my aforementioned wife), I found a blurbist’s comparison of Allison’s writing with Joss Whedon’s apt, though, of course, sans vampires. However, where watching Buffy more than a decade after the fact kind of hyper-accentuated its late-nineties campiness, Giant Days feels refreshingly present, a smart, funny, weird, and contemporary vision of an ensemble relationship comedy. File in category: Guilty Pleasures No One Feels Guilty About, i.e. a wholly satisfying grin-maker.
Poetry Comics from the Book of Hours by Bianca Stone
I’ve long been an admirer of Bianca Stone’s Poetry Comics, and particularly enjoyed her collaboration with the great Anne Carson, so it’s terrific to finally have a full collection of her comics poems in this new book from Pleiades Press. Stone’s lyrical approach to the form is beautifully surreal, with delicious linework that often incorporates inkblots and other material chaos. I am in the process of writing more about Stone’s work elsewhere, but suffice it to say, Stone is on the forefront of stretching the boundaries of the comics form, of which this newest book stands as a testament. A must for anyone interested in intersections of text and image.
Einstein, written by Corinne Maier, illustrated by Anne Simon
Einstein is the third comics biography from Corinne Maier and Anne Simon, and while it’s the first of their series I’ve read, it certainly won’t be the last. Prior to the book I only had a cursory knowledge of Einstein, and was happy to find the biography a playfully intelligent, nuanced primer on the legendary scientist. While I imagine someone more versed in Einstein might find the work a bit remedial, I could certainly imagine the same recommending the work to comics-loving newbs like myself. And, of course, you can’t go wrong with Simon’s wonderful drawings. From a comics-maker’s perspective, it’s always fascinating to examine an intelligent cartoonist working to represent nonfiction with a balance of clarity and panache.
