Two Anthologies
An Anthology of Graphic Fiction, Cartoons, & True Stories edited by Ivan Brunetti (Yale UP, 2006). 400p, $28.00.
Big Fat Little Lit edited by Francoise Mouly and Art Spiegelman (Puffin Books, 2006). 144p., $14.99.
Any anthology lives or dies by the choices of its editor and/or the general plan for selection. The success of Kramer’s Ergot has largely been attributed to the diverse tastes of editor Sammy Harkham and his forays to the cutting edge of comics. Similarly these two anthologies are products of editor and theme.
In his introduction to An Anthology of Graphic Fiction (note the “an”, a nice touch that avoids it being “THE” anthology), editor Brunetti notes that the selection is largely based on “comics that I savor.” He says that the selection “offer a vibrant sampling of the vital, highly personal work that is currently being produced in contemporary “art comics” along with a few classic comic strips and other historical material that have retained a “modern” sensibility accessible to today’s reader.” Which is all to say, he just threw in whatever he wanted. The lack of theme or chronology is not aided by a table of contents that consists of page numbers and small illustrations of one of the characters in each story by cartoonist Onsmith–completely useless if you aren’t already familiar with the work.
My wife paged through the book, stopping to read only a very few of the pieces, noting that most of the book looked ugly. Looking back on the book, I can’t argue the point. Brunetti’s taste lean to the visually or thematic “ugly.” There’s a lot of ugliness in this book from the harsh crabby lines and over-the-top no holds barred stories of the underground comics of the 60’s (lots of them in here) to the personal ugliness of characters in stories by modern cartoonists like Clowes or Tomine. That’s not to say the book is all ugliness, but a related negativity seems to exist in so many of the stories contained like the autobiographical tales of Lauren Weinstein or Julie Doucet or even the selection from Jaime Hernandez “Flies on the Ceiling” (which is mostly about the devil tormenting a character). Which is all to say that this probably gives a strange view of contemporary comics. This is not inconsistent with my view of Brunetti’s work, which I have mostly disliked for its own ugliness (except for Schizo 4 which I loved).
There are a number of great stories in this book, both the conventional choices and the more unusual. The couple pages of tributes to Schulz’ Peanuts were interesting, but oddly out of place in a book that only included about 3 or 4 pages of classic newspaper strips. The appearance of David Mazzuchelli is always a bonus even if it’s only for 2 pages. Stories or excerpts from Ron Rege, Lynda Barry, John Porcellino, Richard McGuire (his wonderful “Here” (also found in the most recent Comic Art issue)), Sammy Harkham, Gabrielle Bell, Carol Tyler, and Chris Ware (”I Guess” where the image and text run parallel) are all welcome reads, some of which aren’t readily available elsewhere. The excess number of Crumb pages (28 by my count) is only brightened by the “Short History of America” (one of the only Crumb stories I like), the number of Ware page (21) also seems excessive considering the short shrift given to many other cartoonists.
All in all, like any anthology, your enjoyment will depend on your tastes, but I found it to by a dark, humdrum read, punctuated by bright lights. This is not an anthology I’d pass on to someone not familiar with comics in general (unless I thought this style might fit their taste).
Big Fat Little Lit is culled from the previous three Little Lit books (none of which I’ve read), collecting stories for children from cartoonists and children’s book authors/illustrators. It is interesting to see how obvious the differences are between the two types of artists. Most of the latter have a comparatively softer style with watercolors, pastels, colored pencils, or paints while the cartoonist have a more graphic style with harder, flatter colors.
I can’t judge this book as children’s literature or its worth for kids, as I have none and am completely inexperienced in the style. There are a few comics in here that attracted me from the start. Again, David Mazzuchelli is always a aesthetically pleasing read with his great color scheme and linework. Joost Swarte, who I was not previously familiar with, impressed with his Hergé-esque style that is more geometric and uses softer, muted colors. I hear Fantagraphics has a collection of his work coming out next year. Based on the two stories in this book, I’ll be looking forward to that volume. Lewis Trondheim has a two page story in his Mister O style that offers multiple choice reading paths. Otherwise, I don’t have anything to say about the rest of the book. I’ll hold onto it and maybe pass it on to one of my relatives when they are old enough to maybe enjoy it.
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