Tag Archives: Ng Suat Tong

Oji Suzuki’s “A Single Match”

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A Single Match is an anthology of short stories by Oji Suzuki published by Drawn and Quarterly. This is a review of the title story. The pages read from left to right.

“I had just seen, standing a little way back from the hog’s-back road long which we were traveling, three trees which probably marked the entry to a covered driveway and formed a pattern which I was not seeing for the first time…Where had I looked at them before? …Was I to suppose, then, that they came from years already so remote in my life that the landscape which surrounded them had been entirely obliterated from my memory…?…Were they not rather to be numbered among those dream landscapes, always the same, at least for me in whom their strange aspect was only the objectivation in my sleeping mind of the effort I made while awake either to penetrate the mystery of a place beneath the outward appearance of which I was dimly conscious of there being something more…Or were they merely an image freshly extracted from a dream of the night before, but already so worn, so faded that it seemed to me to come from somewhere far more distant?”

 

In Search of Lost Time, Marcel Proust

 

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Review: Brecht Evens’ The Wrong Place

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The revelers which fill the stairwell of Brecht Evens’ cover painting seem like a code for the contents of his book, ever striving for the space which occupies the right topmost corner of that image. They are dressed as for a masque: a conga line of harlequins, butterflies, angels, fairies, gauchos, ballerinas and Greek gods; ancient bacchants holding fiddles and rattles, sitting astride tandem bicycles and hobby horses; leaching on to the front and end papers of the book design, an account of the history of gaiety and debauchery.

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Best Online Comics Criticism 2010: The Final List

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For an introduction to this voting exercise, please see the article posted yesterday. The jurors were Derik Badman, Melinda Beasi, Johanna Draper Carlson, Shaenon K. Garrity, Tim Hodler, Chris Mautner and Bill Randall. They have been encouraged to post their personal choices (with accompanying remarks) on their own websites.

SIX VOTES

(1) Jason Thompson: The Other Love that Dare Not Speak Its Name (and other articles)

The jurors agreed to consolidate their votes into a single article. Other articles by Thompson which received interest were his pieces on Morality in Action Comics, Ceres: Celestial Legend and Happy Mania. His articles appear regularly at Anime News Network where his column “House of 1000 Manga” is published weekly. At least one of the jurors considers him the best writer on manga today. Voice your assent (or dissent for that matter) here.

FIVE VOTES

(1)  Katherine Dacey on Ayako

Dacey is a mainstay of the manga blogosphere. Once again, the jurors decided to consolidate their votes into a single piece. The other article which received favorable attention was Dacey’s review of  Sexy Voice and Robo & Harriet the Spy. Let her know which one you prefer.

(2)  Joe McCulloch: Essay on Thought Balloons (The Problem with American Vampires is that Just Don’t Think”)

This is Jog’s second year on this list. The bulk of Jog’s writing is for the web and this appears to be both a conscious decision and a sign of the times. Now writing at Comics Comics, his output has slowed if compared to his days at Jog the Blog. This article was a strong early contender for the final list. Other articles of note in 2010 include his review of Alan Moore’s Neonomicon and his survey of the “comics” of Peter Greenaway. There can be little doubt that he is one of the most popular writers on comics working today.

FOUR VOTES

(1)   Craig Fischer on David Mazzucchelli (Born Again Again).

Fischer is an Associate Professor of English at Appalachian State University. He also writes frequently about comics and film for academic venues. Does this mean he was slumming when he decided to write this piece on Mazzucchelli’s Asterios Polyp for this blog? Perish the thought!

THREE VOTES

(1)  David Bordwell on Hergé (Tintinopolis)

Judging by the frequency with which his blog is linked to by various comics bloggers, Bordwell would appear to be a favorite for his thoughts on film and criticism in general.

(2)  Dirk Deppey: The Mirror of Male-Love Love

This is Deppey’s second time on the list. He got on the list last year for his editorial on Paul Levitz which would be more accurately labeled as industry commentary.  There’s no mistaking this year’s entry which may well be his most memorable article on comics in recent memory.

(3)  Ken Parille: Casper, Formalism, and the ‘Great’ Search Party

Parille is an Assistant Professor of English at East Carolina University and is considered by some to be the foremost expert on the comics of Dan Clowes. No one practices the art of comics close reading as assiduously as Parille. The vote was initially split between Parille’s Casper piece and his review of Charles Burns’ X’ed Out. My personal preference is for the “losing” piece which at this point in time appears to be one of the few substantial reviews of Burns’ comic out there.

LINKS

(1) Derik Badman’s personal choices

(2) Melinda Beasi on the list and her choices

(3) Johanna Draper Carlson on the list and her choices

(4) Shaenon Garrity on the list and her choices

(5) Tim Hodler on the list and his choices

(6) Chris Mautner on the list and his choices

(7) Bill Randall on the list and his choices


Best Online Comics Criticism 2010: Introduction and Runners-Up

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It’s that time of the year again and here at HU we’re looking back on the year in online comics criticism.

The choices made by our panel of judges will be revealed tomorrow. Today, I’m taking a look at some of the reviews and essays which, for one reason or another, didn’t make the cut. I should add that this has no bearing on the actual quality of the articles in question. The important thing to remember is that the process was “democratic”. In other words, if you’re lucky you just might get Abraham Lincoln. If not, you might have to settle for George W. Bush (who was indeed loved and remains loved by many Americans).

The 7 articles which did make the final list represent a compromise arrived at by the imperfect tastes of 7 judges. The most interesting thing about such lists is how often they get it completely wrong, the bastard child of individual purity and the god damned evils of collective reasoning.

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Jaime Hernandez for Sale

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Early in 2010, The Art of Jaime Hernandez: The Secrets of Life and Death by Todd Hignite was published by well-known art book publisher Abrams. This monograph was beautifully designed, with page after page of original art, sketches, poster art, partially completed drawings, color guides and more. The text was incisive and sensitive. I suspect any comics artist would be thrilled to have a monograph like this one written about their work. I would love to see more books like this.

In addition to being a writer, Hignite is Consignment Director for Heritage Auctions. Heritage Auctions is an auction house based in Dallas, TX. It primarily sells work in internet auctions, although it does also have floor sales. To quote Heritage’s website, “Heritage Auction Galleries is the largest collectibles auctioneer and third largest auction house in the world. We are also the undisputed Internet leader in our field.” That field includes a lot of comics and comics art.

In the past, Heritage has been somewhat weak on alternative or underground comics. They seem to have been making an effort over the past year to correct this. There has been a good deal of high-quality underground comix artwork sold (including a lot of very expensive items by Robert Crumb), and since March of 2010, there has been more-or-less weekly sales of Jaime Hernandez pages.

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