Tuesday, May 16, 2006
Be like me, buy these books!
A couple of months ago I mentioned that
I. N. J. Culbard
said...
 were releasing a who range of comics and I planned to get every some of them. Well the first wave of books has come out (they’re releasing six every six months) and I’ve got three of them (thank heavens for birthday money), here’s what I think of the two I’ve read.<br /><br /><a href=”http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1596430958/qid=1147800104/sr=1-1/ref=sr_1_1/102-0404540-6572130?s=books&v=glance&n=283155”>A.L.I.E.E.N.</a> by <a href=”http://www.lambiek.net/artists/t/trondheim.htm”>Lewis Trondheim</a><br />There’s no way I can claim impartiality when it comes to <a href=”http://www.lewistrondheim.com/”>Trondheim</a>, I adore his work, it’s everything I got into reading comics for. Being brought up in a north east ex-mining village my discovery of <a href=”http://www.asterix.tm.fr/”>‘Asterix’</a> and <a href=”http://www.tintin.com/”>‘TinTin’</a> in the local library was a pretty important (we all have our ‘discovering ‘TinTin’/’Asterix’ stories don’t we). When I first saw <a href=”http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lewis_Trondheim”>Trondheim’s</a> <a href=”http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/1560973382/qid=1147800629/sr=1-1/ref=sr_1_1/102-0404540-6572130?v=glance&s=books”>‘Hoodoododad’</a> I felt that same glow I got in that little library all those years ago. Really.<br />Sadly <a href=”http://www.fantagraphics.com”>Fantagraphics</a> only released the ‘Hoodoododad’ and <a href=”http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1560972882/ref=pd_sr_ec_ir_b/102-0404540-6572130?s=books&st=%2A&v=glance&n=283155”>‘Harum Scarum’</a> (both featuring Mcconey, or Lapinot in France, and his friends) colour albums and several regular b&w format comic The Nimrod. <a href=”http://www.nbmpub.com”>NBM</a> picked up the torch from and published two Trondheim comics, one dedicated to translating <a href=”http://www.pastis.org/donjonland/”>Donjon</a> and the other featuring two stories, <a href=”http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1561634077/ref=pd_sim_b_4/102-0404540-6572130?%5Fencoding=UTF8&v=glance&n=283155”>Astronauts of the Future</a> and more McConey/Lapinot. Both comics folded, to be replaced with book collections instead (except for the McConey/Lapinot stories unfortunately - these really are smart, witty, charming stories)<br />And now First Second are championing Trondheim.<br />I read ‘A.L.I.E.E.N’ with my jaw pretty much wide open from start to finish (with the odd smile thrown in for good measure) The title is an anachronim for ‘Archives of Lost Issues and Earthly Editions of Extraterrestrial Novelties’ because ‘A.L.I.E.E.E.N’ is actually a reprint of a comic Trondheim found left behind by a visiting U.F.O! It is, he wouldn’t lie about some thing like that!<br />So what happens in an alien comic? Well, strange cute characters sort of blunder around getting into scrapes basically (it kind of reminded me of a less psychologically damaged <a href=”http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frank_%28comics%29”>‘Frank’</a>). Don’t worry if you can’t read alien, there’s very little dialogue and when there is the pictures tell the story anyway.<br />Trondheim’s art.... sorry, the alien’s artwork is very stripped down, with simple shapes and flat colours, which somehow makes what happens all the more shocking (the twisted cuteness of the characters adds to that too), did I say the characters get into scrapes? Sorry, that doesn’t quite cover what the characters get up to, but as I’m not going to tell you you’ll have to buy it to find out.<br /><br /><a href=””>‘Sardine in Outer Space’</a> by <a href=”http://www.lambiek.net/artists/g/guibert_emman.htm”>Emmanuel Guibert</a> and <a href=”http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joann_Sfar”>Joann Sfar</a><br />Comic readers may not all have welcomed Trondheim with open arms (fools) but it he did kick the doors open for a few other folk to follow (at least that’s the way it seems to me, least ways he was the first <a href=”http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/L%27Association”>L’association</a> guy to be translated), one being his co-creator of ‘Donjon’, Joann Sfar. Sfar is very much the equal of Tronheim (leading me to suspect that I should learn French because I’m missing out on a hell of a lot), the ‘Little Vampire’ stories were thoroughly charming and <a href=”http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0375422811/qid=1147799962/sr=1-1/ref=sr_1_1/102-0404540-6572130?s=books&v=glance&n=283155”>‘The Rabbi’s Tale’</a> was fantastic. First Second are obviously fans too as Sfar features very heavily in their line up.<br />‘The Sardine in Outer Space’ is a collection of short stories about the spaceship Huckleberry and it’s pirate crew as they travel through space having adventures. This would be easier if the evil Supermuscleman who has trained all the children in the universe to de as they are told wasn’t after them, but as the ship’s crew is the mischievious young girl Sardine, her cousin Louie and uncle Yellow Shoulder it’s all too inevitable.<br />This is a book for younger readers (no idea what age is suitable for ‘A.L.I.E.E.E.N’!) and is one of those books where you have to question why kids should have all the fun. Energetic fast paced stories with witty dialogue are not just for kids alone, grown ups like them too.<br />This is the first time I’ve read anything Guibert’s been part of, I’ll be sure to look out for more, the link above to his bio on <a href=”http://www.lambiek.net/”>Lambiek</a> shows some impressive stuff, in the meantime I can’t wait for the next volume of Sardine’s adventures.
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<h4>10 comments:</h4>
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I'm a big fan of Trondheim. I have his Dungeon books in French and have to bribe my wife to read them to me because I can't read French. I've worked with an all French animation crew who'd worked with Trondheim on an animation series called Tiny Tyrant (Le roi catastrophe). The first film I made, which I wrote and directed was called "Mon Frer Raoul La Tortue" or "My Brother Raoul the Turtle" and was entirely in French... and yet still, I don't speak a word of it.
Astronauts of the Future is beautiful stuff. sadly, I only have the MBM (is that the publisher?) black and white reprints which don't do it justice.
On the subject of Trondheim, I'm being very patient... Twice my order from Amazon for Dungeon: Twilight has been put back to 4-6 weeks, so I've cancelled and ordered it direct from NBM. It hurts waiting.
Hot dang, they're in English now!!! Thanks! No bribery, no more having to learn another language! Fantastic.
NBM have published four Dungeon books so far with fifth due out in a couple of months - they also did Astronauts of the Future and Ordinary Victories by Manu Larcenet. I believe Tiny Tyrant is due to be translated by First Second, can't remember when though.
Only got a couple of untranslated French books, I just tend to stare it them with a green glint in my eye.
I tend to order my books through work or a different 'new' supplier' through amazon (The Book Depository are very good) whenever they quote anything other than 24hours, because it's at that point than amazon become less reliable.
But, you know, Trondheim's worth the wait!
I.N.J got to meet Trondheim, wow! And makes cartoons?! Brilliant.
Nope, didn't get to meet him. the people I worked with in Paris had worked with him, but I didn't get to meet. If I had, the world would know about it! I'd rent out one of those planes with the banners off the back saying I'd met him. But sadly, nay.
I recently acquired a book called Valarien by Mezieres
http://www.noosfere.com/mezieres/
His "Ambassador of the Shadows" was a book that came out in the mid eighties, a reprint and translation. That was the first time I came across it. Absolutely love his work and recommend at least a peak. You can see pages of his work over at his site.
Alongside Mike Ploog, Mezieres was a huge influence on me.
Aw, well, you sort got within sniffing distance!
Totally agree, Mezieres is brilliant, I've got a couple of the 80's valerian reprints as well as the recent Ibooks collection, I had hoped there'd be more but Ibooks folding means it's pretty unlikely.
There's a realy good interview with Mezieres in The Comics Journal, can't remember the issue number but I think it's just over a year old - it's also got an interview with Philippe Dupuy and Charles Berberian which makes it pretty good buy. Did you ever spot TCJ with the Ploog interview?
....... I really am just a comics pimp aren't I.
I think I may have that interview buried somewhere.
the ibooks edition opens with a promising introduction noting the attempts to print Mezieres books in English. Valerian was an awkward jumping on point for some though, because all that great stuff like in Ambassador of the Shadows was done by this point I think and the book had become something else. I just want the entire series in English and I wish to god someone would get a damn move on and do something about it (someone with money and commitment to see the whole damn thing through), because if its anything like the books I have read its a heck of an epic we're missing out on here!
It seems to happen a lot. Obly a couple of volumes of Tardi's brilliant Adele Blanc Sec, Hermann's Towers of Bois Maury (and Jeremiah), Franquin's Spirou, etc. Humanoids didn't even get to bring out the 3rd Chaland volume (damnit!) after they split with DC. So I guess Trondheim and Mezieres are sadly in good company.
BTW I meant to say NBM went on to do the collected edition of Astronauts fo the Future, it's in full colour if you wanted to bask in it!
ooo... alieen looks great, i'll be checking that out next time i make a random (as in i don't know much about comics) visit to page 45. i think i've got a few odds and sods of trondheim (in the mcsweeny's comic edition?), but i don't think i've even fully investigated it.
as for language difficulties, i picked up a couple of books in japan last month and have done the same goggle-eyed, beautific staring... anyone read japanese?
paul, i like these reviews, you'll make a comic buff of me yet.
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