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| NABIEL KANAN |
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LOST
GIRL |
| by Nabiel Kanan |
Paperback: 96 pages
NBM Publishing, Inc.
ISBN: 1561632295 |
$9.95
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| Nabiel Kanan
is a British cartoonist known for his stories of teenage alienation from
society. He treads familiar ground in this
black-and-white graphic novel about timid Beth, who, on vacation with her
family, encounters a somewhat older but far more experienced girl, apparently
a vagrant, who is chillingly fearless about sex and drugs. Fascinated by
her worldliness, Beth tries to become closer to her, but she remains elusive.
Meanwhile, Beth's family is following news reports about a local girl's
disappearance, and Beth fears her new acquaintance might be involved somehow. |
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By
the vacation's end, the reader is uncertain whether the nameless free spirit
actually exists, and that uncertainty is compounded by her resemblance
to Beth. Kanan's sketchy, wispy drawing style differs from the illustrative
approach taken by most European artists in NBM's ComicsLit series, but
it effectively conveys the vagueness of Beth's life and the ambiguity surrounding
her mysterious friend. Kanan's teens lack the sophistication and articulateness
of their age-mates in American Daniel Clowes' Ghost World (1997), but his
understated take on adolescent disaffection seems as valid as Clowes',
if less entertaining.
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From
Kirkus Reviews
The
British author of the graphic novel Exit follows up with
another narrative relying on his simple-line style, which perfectly suits
the lanky English girls who are at the center of this deceptively realist
tale. On vacation with her parents at a seaside caravan park, 15-year-old
Beth, innocent-looking and wide-eyed, studies the more sophisticated girls
who strut before the lustful boys. Annoyed by her intense and critical
mother, and her younger sister, Beth wanders off and witnesses a vixenish
girl seduce a stranger in an alleyway, and then steal his car while he's
naked and spent. Later at the beach with the pot-smoking daughter of her
parents' friends, the skimpily clad Beth again spots the mystery seductress,
and follows her into the woods. After ditching the smart-talking friend,
Beth and the stranger eventually meet: Beth smokes her first dope and accompanies
the young sexpot on a wild horse ride--a moment of unprecedented freedom
for the overprotected Beth. Just when you think that the Beth and the stranger
look too much alike that Kanan seems to lack a flexible style you realize
that the visual similarities are the point: Was the other girl a dream?
A vision of Beth herself in the future? The recurring background search
for a local missing girl further enhances a surprisingly complex mystery--a
narrative often advanced by Kanan's smart and wordless cinematic frames.
Copyright
© Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.
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| Ben
Katchor |
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The
Jew of New York |
| by Ben Katchor |
Paperback: 97 pages
Pantheon Books
ISBN: 0375700978 |
$15.00
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| From the creator
of "Julius Knipl, Real Estate Photographer" comes a graphic novel of amazing
originality, "the fevered dream of an amateur historian in which the 'real'
lives of New York Jews . . . are fleshed out and given the breath of poetic
truth" (The New Yorker). |
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The New York
Times Book Review, J. Hoberman:
"The Jew of New York is
not only something to read but to ponder--an object nearly as strange and
striking as the story it contains."
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The Boston Globe, Clea
Simon
"...a marvelously satisfying
denouement, its subtle satire bringing about some amusingly moral endings.
And if the day looks too bright, too modern, after the book is done, Katchor's
work is rich enough to invite a second and a third read."
Whether chronicling the metropolitan
peregrinations of Julius Knipl, Real Estate Photographer, or weaving together
history and fantasy in 19th- century New York, Ben Katchor's comics, filled
with scratchy figures moving through gray-washed streets, feel like the
relics of a half- forgotten dream. The Jew of New York takes an obscure
historical footnote--an attempt in 1825 to establish a Jewish homeland
in upstate New York--and spins it into an intricate tale of a rapidly developing
city and its diverse inhabitants, from one-legged actresses, to wandering
Jews, to masked anti-Semites. The plot wanders from place to place, never
predictable, but always fascinating. The result is a like a story by Paul
Auster, rewritten by Charles Dickens, as Katchor gradually draws the reader
into his bizarre but precisely imagined world. Weird conspiracies, religious
fanaticism, and a plan to carbonate Lake Erie are just three of the threads
which Katchor weaves together, creating a version of 1830's New York that
captures the spirit of the times in a way that history cannot. The reader
is never quite sure what is true, yet this powerfully imagined work is
irresistibly compelling. Katchor's disturbing, deeply layered historical
palimpsest transforms his collection of misfit characters and the city
that they inhabit into something rich and strange. |
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| CHRIS
KNOWLES |
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HALO:
AN
ANGEL'S STORY |
| by Chris Knowles |
Full Color
Paperback: 96 pages
Sirius Books
ISBN: 1579890059 |
$12.95
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| A guardian angel
tries to protect a young girl and loses his divinity in the process. |
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The dramatic
modern gothic tale, presented the way it was meant to be read! Thomas is
a guardian angel watching over the tumultuous life of Robin, a vulnerable
young girl who grows up in the morally bankrupt surroundings of middle-class
suburbia. Robin runs away to the dangerous streets of Manhattan in the
early 80s--as Thomas battles the laws of angelic guardianship in an effort
to save her from certain death. A story that blends intense drama, tender
romance, nostaligc fads and astonishing violence, HALO is a full color
comic novel that truly brings the medium to life.
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About the Author
Chris Knowles is a freelance
artist and writer based in New Jersey, where he lives with his wife and
two children. HALO, AN ANGEL'S STORY is his first work in comics. |
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| JAMES KOCHALKA |
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QUIT
YOUR JOB |
| by James Kochalka |
Paperback: 96 pages
Alternative Comics
ISBN: 1891867008 |
$6.95
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| On his way to
work at the Chinese restaurant, Magic Boy discovers an enchanted ring and
determines to make an expedition to the North Pole. He only gets as far
as the coffee shop on the next block, but his world is forever changed
in the short journey. Special cover design by Michel Vrana. |
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| Jeff Smith (creator
of Bone, published by Cartoon Books) provides the introduction to
one of the finest graphic novels of the year. Ignatz Award winner James
Kochalka has been called "one of the brightest lights of independent comics"
and Quit Your Job is a shining example of his genius.
About the Author
James Kochalka's distinction
as a "rock star" has been tempered more and more lately by his acclaim
as a cartoonist. Critics and fans have responded like crazy to the Ignatz
Award winner's ubiquitous and instantly recognizable one-pagers in comics
and magazines across the U.S., to his many wonderful comic books, and to
his beautiful graphic novels. |
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| JAMES KOCHALKA |
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THE
PERFECT PLANET
&
OTHER STORIES |
| by James Kochalka |
Paperback: 208 pages
Top Shelf Productions
ISBN: 1891830082 |
$14.95
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THE PERFECT
PLANET & OTHER STORIES
By James Kochalka
(A goofy, bucktoothed Elf
has deeply introspective adventures in a winter wonderland)
Miss this at your own peril,
as we think you'll agree that James is a superstar on the rise. |
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| "Primitive,
childlike and profane."
--The
Village Voice
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"Peculiar
comic genius."
--Pulse
Magazine
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"Kochalka
isn't quite in the class of Nabokov or Joyce (not yet, at least), but he's
working towards something as deep and playful."
--The
Burlington Free Press
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This graphic novel showcases
the Ignatz Award winning story, "The Perfect Planet," as well two brand
new stories, Nonironic Futuropolis," and "Frog & Fly." "The Perfect
Planet" is a whimsical tale that explores the mysteries of life with all
the love and wonder the human soul can muster. "Nonironic Futuropolis"
will make you feel as magical as the first snowfall of winter. And "Frog
& Fly" is the quest for the Evil Toad Messiah. Together, this trilogy
makes textbook reading for the serious Kochalka reader. |
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