A Cornucopia of Cliché

comics and cartooning, commentary and criticism

the-arrival5.jpg
The Arrival by Shaun Tan is the most overrated comic of the past year. Published more or less simultaneously in several languages, it seems to have received unanimously positive, bordering on rave, criticism since it came out — from the mainstream press as well as the comics cognoscenti. To cap things off, it was awarded the Book of the Year-award at Angoulême. Yet, it is little more than a big fat sap sandwich.

Its shortcomings are nothing new. Rather, they seem almost endemic to the modernist tradition of the socially engaged, silent picture-narrative that it naturally fits into. The mostly woodcut stories of artists like Lynd Ward, Otto Nückel and Eric Drooker that with a few outstanding exceptions — Frans Masereel, Palle Nielsen — equate the stark contrast of their graphic medium with their ethos and thrive on the bathetic.

Taberholdet

commentary and criticism, current affairs

Malou Aamund
Ifølge Nyhedsavisen sang Dansk Folkepartis ledelse i eftermiddags højt af glæde over nyheden om Malou Aamunds skift fra Ny Alliance til Venstre. Dansk Folkeparti er naturligvis dagens vinderparti, nu er VKO-flertallet genoprettet, og (resterne af) Ny Alliance sat helt uden for indflydelse. Metabunkeren tager et kig på nogle af taberne i det ubønhørlige brutale game, der hedder dansk politik – og lad os starte med den lette ende:

Mikael Bertelsen
Ja, Mikael Bertelsen, den charmerende ankermand i DR2s fremragende kulturtalkshow Den 11. time. Hvad i alverden har han med den politiske situation i Danmark at gøre? Not much, men han er tilfældigvis gift med dagens hovedperson, Malou Aamund : der blev valgt ind i Folketinget på paroler a la “Tanken om at sidde fire år til med en VKO-regering, der på så mange områder er ude af trit med, hvad befolkningen gerne vil, og hvad samfundet har brug for, er ikke til at holde ud“. Selvsamme kvinde, der nu har foræret nøglen til den parlamentariske magt i Danmark til Pia Kjærsgaard. Jo, men det er da vel ikke Bertelsens ansvar? Muligvis ikke, men det bliver svært at se Bertelsens rare ansigt i tv fremover uden at tænke: “Okay, det er ham, der sad med hænderne i skødet, da hans kone sørgede for at Danmark atter blev et blokpolitisk land“. Strengt? Jamen, sådan er det.

Picks of the Week

current affairs, film, tv, video, hype & linkage, music

The picks of the week from around the web.

  • Frank Rich: “The Billary Road to Republican Victory”. The New York Times‘ great op-ed columnist looks ahead at what a Hillary Clinton ticket for the presidency might mean for the presidential elections. An interesting corrective to the otherwise commonplace view that Hillary is the stronger candidate for the Democratic party.
  • Rolling Stone: “The Death of High Fidelity”. Great article about the challenges posed to high-fidelity sound recording by the new digital formats.
  • That insane Tom Cruise indoctrination video. If you haven’t yet seen this thing, hop to it! Tom Cruise in all his glory. A great character study.

    • A Healthy Serving of Comics History

    comics and cartooning, hype & linkage

    eccoci.jpgComics writer and historian Alfredo Castelli has a late Christmas present for us all — the entirety (704 pages!) of his annotated bibliography on the early American newspaper strip, Eccoci ancora qui (“Here We Are Again”) is now available online in PDF format! Meticulously researched and chock-full of rarely-seen images, this is a must for everyone interested in the period, even if you don’t read Italian.
     
     
     

    Manga på Louisiana til efteråret

    comics and cartooning, film, tv, video, journal, pictorial arts

    manga_louisiana.jpg
    Fra Louisiana’s hjemmeside:

    Manga
    8. oktober 2008 – 8. februar 2009
    Det var den berømte japanske maler Hokusai, der kaldte sine tegnede portrætskitser for manga, som bragte navnet til Vesten. Manga er et særlig japansk tegneserie-fænomen, der historisk rækker 200 år tilbage, og som i dag har international kultstatus med millioner af hæfter solgt hver måned, talløse filmatiseringer og som over de sidste 25 år har sat sig dybe spor i den japanske samtidskunst.

    Dupuy & Berberian — Grand Prix d’Angoulême

    comics and cartooning, commentary and criticism

    monsieurjean.jpg
    Hardly surprising, here it is: Philippe Dupuy and Charles Berberian are the winners of the 2008 Grand Prix at Angoulême. An understandable, if somewhat dull choice, Dupuy and Berberian have played central role in the development of the French album-format comic for adults in the 1990s, first and foremost with their Monsieur Jean series (1991-2005), about a thirtysomething, single Parisian’s romantic travails and coming to terms with aging. Notable in their oeuvre is also their autobiographical work, particularly Journal d’un album (1994).

    Their artwork is elegant, airy and clear, a combination of the Belgian ligne claire, Parisian school illustration of the 30s in the tradition of Bofa, Laborde and Savignac, as well as New Yorker-style cartooning in the tradition of Addams and Arno. They are consummate storytellers and craftsmen, creating pretty, entertaining comics that do not rock the boat excessively. Good, but somewhat petit.