COMICS AND GRAPHIC NOVELS
STEVE TOASE PRESENTS HIS LATEST PICKS FROM THE WORLD OF SEQUENTIAL ART
Morrison Hotel
The Morrison Hotel graphic novel tells the story of the groundbreaking album, but it’s more than that. It’s a roadhouse, with a different story behind every door, but it’s more than that. It’s an album in its own right, weaving together social history, poetry, personal events and imagination, but it’s more than that.
With Morrison Hotel Leah Moore has written a remarkable exploration of The Doors’ music, capturing the spirit of both the songs and the band without being literal or lecturing the reader. Each story is distinctive. Creating something new around a piece of art that already has a strong identity is a daunting project, but Leah has succeeded in making a story that hangs together as well as any album.
Part of the book’s strength comes from the different artistic teams responsible for the artwork and colouring on each story, giving each its own atmosphere, whether that’s the Bacchanalian dreamworld of “Waiting for the Sun” by artist Mike Oeming and colourist Taki Soma, the watercolour psychedelia of “Indian Summer” (artwork by Jill Thompson), or the tear-gas-soaked brutality portrayed in “Peace Frog” (artist Sebastián Piriz).
The stories in this book can be enjoyed separately, but for the full effect I would recommend reading them in the order they appear, just as you would listen to the tracks on a classic, era-defining piece of vinyl. Highly recommended.
Animal, Vols 1-4
Colo
Dibbuks, 2021 (available via Europe Comics: www. europecomics.com/author/colo/
Pb, 52pp per volume, £4.79 each
At the heart of Animal is a philosophical question: what makes us human, and can we renounce our humanity? Over the four volumes, the central character is silent as he progresses from a member of society to giving up that status and the consequences that follow from that decision. Throughout, other characters, including lawyers, relatives, friends and hospital workers, discuss encounters, opinions and decisions that unfold along the path taken by the artist who no longer wants to be human.
Within Colo’s script and evocative artwork there are echoes of similar philosophical questions raised by ideas of being an outlaw in mediæval societies (i.e, outside the protection of the law rather than outside its control), and conecptual pieces such as Rhythm 0 by performance artist Maria Abramović.
Animal tackles a complex issue with heart and empathy, both of which are captured in Colo’s excellent artwork. This is a complex debate presented in a very well written and well illustrated story. At its heart, I think, is a very fortean discussion about categorisation, inclusion and exclusion.
Crashpad
Gary Panter Fantagraphics, 2021
pp80, £25.99, ISBN 9781683964162
Crashpad is a comic very much in the tradition of underground comix, in terms both of style and content. The artwork is incredibly psychedelic, with nods to early Max Fleischer animations and later artists like Robert Crumb, Gilbert Shelton, and Pete Loveday here in the UK. The storylines are loose explorations of acid-soaked reality, barely holding together during encounters with the normal world. The pen and ink artwork is complex and easy to lose yourself in. If you’re a fan of the psychedelic comic classics, then you’ll definitely enjoy this.
Frank at Home on the Farm
Jordan Thomas and Clark Bint
Scout Comics, 2021 www.scoutcomics.com/collections/frank-at-home-onthe-farm
Frank at Home on the Farm starts with a simple premise. Frank returns to his home village, but at the family farm he finds his mother, father and brother missing. Stranger still, no one in the village even remembers them. Frank’s nights are plagued by graphic dreams of the Western Front, and his days haunted by disembodied voices.
This is a masterful comic series that over four volumes explores the unsettling space where paranoia and reality collide. Clark Bint’s artwork is perfect for the storytelling, capturing the grotesque without descending into caricature or parody, and the twists when they come are perfectly rendered in all their tooth-and-claw detail. Jordan Thomas is excellent at revealing just enough to keep you reading without giving the game away.
A dark and graphic comic that creates unease with superb skill.
Kill 6 Billion Demons
Abbadon (Tom Parkinson-Morgan) Ongoing web comic
https://killsixbilliondemons.com/comic/kill-six-billiondemons-chapter-1/
Where to start? Kill 6 Billion Demons is a sumptuous explosion of colour, theology, myth and storytelling that teeters on the edge of being overwhelming while dragging you further and further into the strange. Over the years, readers have drawn parallels with China Miéville’s Perdido Street Station, and there are also echoes here of Grant Morrison’s epic The Invisibles.
The story starts with Allison, who is spending some time with her boyfriend when a figure appears and places an artefact in her skull, causing her to be dragged to the city of Throne. Here, she meets 82, an angel manifesting in a stone body, and is led into a chaotic and entertaining world of complex intercutting philosophies, tribes, deities, demons and obligations. Cities exist in the petrified corpses of gods, slaves wear temporary faces, and demons are grown to be consumed in order to convey the power of understanding all speech.
The best advice I can give is just to dive in and let Abbadon’s creation fill your brain; then, explore the liturgies and wiki on the website, because there is a vast amount of adjacent information and always something new to discover here.
Monsters
Barry Windsor-Smith Jonathan Cape, 2021
HB, 328pp, ISBN 9781787333413
Monsters is an epic of a comic, though in some ways its subject is precise and focused: how do we create monsters? The story starts with an horrific act of parental violence, then jumps forward to the now teenage protagonist, Bobby Bailey, joining the army, where his claim that he has no family leads to terrible consequences. There are literal monsters here – no coincidence that the military programme at the heart of the story is called Prometheus – but there are also monsters created by trauma, who in turn shape others into something monstrous.
Monsters isn’t an easy read, covering PTSD in many forms, whether caused by domestic violence or military conflict, and childhood trauma. Some of the most heartbreaking sequences are when the now adult Bobby returns to his family home and relives his early life. The black and white artwork is incredibly detailed, capturing the grotesque, both in the medical experiments that are catalysts for the events, and the behaviour that creates monsters in other settings. Throughout, the lettering is especially effective, for example capturing the damage carried from the battlefield to the family home.
Monsters is a big book dealing with difficult subjects, and one that I would recommend.