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Archive for the ‘Funny (ha ha)’ Category

Tove Jansson–Moomin: Volume Four (The Complete Tove Jansson Comic Strip) (2009)

Posted in Adventure, Animals, Boredom, Children's Books, Cute, Drawn & Quarterly, Evening News London, Funny (ha ha), Lars Jansson, Moomin, Religion, Surreal, The Blind Boys of Alabama, Tiny Desk Concert, Tove Jansson on January 29, 2016| Leave a Comment »

moomin3  SOUNDTRACK: THE BLIND BOYS OF ALABAMA-Tiny Desk Concert #139 (July 5, 2011).

bboaI have of course heard of The Blind Boys of Alabama, but they only came on my radar maybe a decade or two ago.  And I never knew these things about them:

  • They formed under a different name in 1939.
  • The band has understandably experienced many lineup changes in the 72 years since.
  • Singer Jimmy Carter is the only participant in this lineup billed as a founding member, and even that term is up for debate.
  • They have released 60-plus albums and received a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award
  • And that wherein these Blind Boys are young and old, blind and sighted.

There are six players for this Tiny Desk–a guitarist, a bassist and a barely visible drummer as well as three singers.

It makes me laugh that the guy on the far left sings much less than the others and seems to be less happy about being there.

They play four songs and, no surprise, they sound fantastic.  Their harmonies are outstanding and the music is quiet and subtle–a mellow accompaniment for this soulful music.

But their rendition of “Amazing Grace” is indeed amazing–they do it to the tune of “House of the Rising Sun” and it must be heard to be believed.  I happen to really like the original of “Amazing Grace” and I hate when it is done poorly.  But I love this interpretation–it’s original and still moving.

  • “Take The High Road”
  • “I Know A Place”
  • “Jesus Built A Bridge To Heaven”
  • “Amazing Grace”

[READ: January 23, 2015] Moomin Volume 4

Moomin Book 4 changes things pretty dramatically.  Because starting with this book, the stories were written by Tove’s brother Lars!

The colophon explains “[Chapters 14-17 were written by Lars [Jansson] and drawn by Tove.  Chapter 18 was to be run before Chapter 14 and be Tove’s farewell strip but she stayed on to draw 7 more chapters].”

So that means that the first four chapters in this book were written by Tove’s brother but she drew the art.  How fascinating.

This book contains the stories: “Moomin Goes Wild West,” “Snorkmaiden Goes Rococo,” “The Conscientious Moomins,” “Moomin and the Comet,” and “Moomin and the Golden Tail.”  As with the others these stories originally ran in the Evening News, London 1953-1959. (more…)

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Joshua Ferris–“Solo: Learning to Fly Part 4” [of 4] (Popular Mechanics, June 2015)

Posted in Airlines, Completed Series, Essays, Fears, Funny (ha ha), Joshua Ferris, Popular Mechanics, River Whyless, Set in New Jersey!, Tiny Desk Concert on January 26, 2016| Leave a Comment »

sept2015SOUNDTRACK: RIVER WHYLESS-Tiny Desk Concert #502 (January 19, 2016).

whylessRiver Whyless is an interesting band, at least during this Tiny Desk Concert.  They have several singers, different instruments and a whole bunch of interesting percussion on hand–including a typewriter!

The band has one EP out, from which the first song “Life Crisis” comes.  The female singer (none of the players’ names are given) says that this was their tiny desk submission.

On this song the male singer (actually everyone sings) plays typewriter and presents his typed document at the end of the show–although the audience never gets to see it–I imagine it’s gibberish, but it would be amazing if it wasn’t).  The female singer plays a violin solo in the middle of the song (which was unexpected since she doesn’t have it as the song opens).

Under the typewriter is a pump for a harmonium which has an accidental vibrato on it.  Shes says that one day it started doing that and they love it and hope it never fixes itself.

The other two songs are new–not on their EP from last year.  “Sailing Away” starts with violin and harmonium.  There’s also a guitarist who sings leads and a percussionist (who has all manner of gadgets and drums and mallets around him).  The harmonium player/typist also plays a melody on the toy piano.  All of these items may seem like novelties or goofs, but their songs are quite lovely and these little accents just add to the overall feel.

“Baby Brother” opens with a buzzy acoustic guitar and a whole landscape of percussion.  And this time the harmonium player switches to guitar while he sings lead (everyone sings lovely harmonies by the way).

I love everything about this band…except their songs.  All three songs are quite nice, and while I’m listening to them I certainly enjoy them, but they are really not that memorable.  There’s no hooks in them.  Despite the fact that all of their accouterments are not really gimmicks, those are the things I will remember most about River Whyless.

[READ: January 18, 2016] “Learning to Fly Part 4”

This is the final part of the 4 part essay.  A series like this is bound to be anticlimactic because presumably if his solo didn’t go well, he’d be dead.  And if he didn’t do the solo, there likely wouldn’t be a part 4 (unless he talked about chickening out instead).

But Ferris takes an interesting tact for this end section.

He opens the essay by explaining that he was commissioned by Popular Mechanics to write this essay.  This makes sense but is something  hadn’t thought about–they asked him to do it.

He says that he was full of anxiety the entire time–which we knew he would be.  He was terrified to fly–a wobbly commercial airplane takeoff would totally freak him out.  Plus, being a writer, he had an overactive imagination. (more…)

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Joey Weiser–Mermin Book Three: Deep Dive (2013)

Posted in Aliens, Booker T. & the M.G.'s, Booker T. Jones, Children's Books, Funny (ha ha), Graphic Novel, Joey Weiser, Ocean, Oni Press, Supernatural, Tiny Desk Concert, Unfinished series on January 24, 2016| Leave a Comment »

mermin2SOUNDTRACK: BOOKER T. JONES-Tiny Desk Concert #125 (May 2, 2011).

Booker T. Jones is the Booker T from Booker T. & the M.G.’s whose classic “Green Onions” is one of my favorite instrumentals ever (and probably why I enjoy the Hammond sound so much).

And he plays it here.  He says he wrote it when he was 17 years old (in 1962)–a senior in high school.  And he still enjoys playing it.

They did some furniture moving to get the desk-sized Hammond B3 organ and its sturdy wooden Leslie speaker cabinet to where Bob’s desk normally goes, and it is worth it.  Booker T. even gives a brief lesson about “crawling” on the organ and what drew him to it in the first place when he was ten years old.

After playing “Green Onions,” he switches sounds on the organ to play a wonderfully menacing version of “Born Under a Bad Sign” (a song he also wrote).  It’s so very different on the organ–and I much prefer this version to the familiar one.

The final song is called “Down in Memphis.”  It was a new song in 2011 but it is the song I like the least.  There’s nothing bad about it–it’s just kind of plain and simple.  It’s more of him singing (about Memphis, which doesn’t mean much to me) and less of his organ playing.  But that’s okay.  His voice is still amazing.

I’m all about that Hammond.

[READ: January 21, 2016] Mermin: Book Three

After waiting nearly three years between books one and two, I waited one day between books two and three.  I actually assumed that this series was a trilogy, but I have learned that there is a part four already out.

Book three opens up in the Kingdom of Mer.  Mermin is a little boy (uh, fish, uh, whatever) and he is having a really hard time learning to control the sea.  He should be able to use his thoughts to make the water move.  But he stomps out in frustration.

Then we jump back to the present where our gang (Pete, Toby and his sister Claire and Penny) along with Mermin and Benni are being driven in a ship to Mer.  And Mak is driving the ship (I don’t think I knew that my favorite walking whale had a name).

Their back home “plan” for heading to the sea involved having Randy tell everyone that they were away camping.  Of course, Randy is a bad kid and can’t be trusted, so it should come as no surprise to see that he stowed away on the ship (we never actually find out what happened back home). (more…)

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Joey Weiser–Mermin Book Two: The Big Catch (2013)

Posted in Aliens, Children's Books, Funny (ha ha), Graphic Novel, Joey Weiser, Ocean, Oni Press, Supernatural, They Might Be Giants, Tiny Desk Concert, Unfinished series on January 23, 2016| Leave a Comment »

  mermin 3SOUNDTRACK: THEY MIGHT BE GIANTS-Tiny Desk Concert #145 (July 28, 2011).

tmbgI have loved They Might Be Giants for decades.  But I have kind of fallen off the TMBAndwagon over the last few years.

I must have watched this Tiny Desk when it came out, but i didn’t really remember it at all.

John and John (and Marty Beller on drums) play 2 songs from their then new album Join Us (the last one I bought I think).

The first is “Can’t Keep Johnny Down” sung by Flansburgh who also plays keyboards.  It sounds very much like classic TMBG (that voice, of course).

“Cloisonné” is a slower song sung by Linnel while Flans plays a very long saxophone (seriously, it’s very long).  This also sounds very TMBG–Johns voice and the sax are right on).  I don’t know why I didn’t listen to this album more.

They wrap up the set with the brilliant 21 part “Fingertips” from Apollo 18.  And it sounds perfect–just like the record, only live and a little more fun.

[READ: January 19, 2016] Mermin: Book Two

I enjoyed Mermin Book One quite a lot.  And of course, I couldn’t wait for Book Two.  And then I forgot about it.  I need some kind of reminder system, I guess.

Anyhow, this book picks up right where the previous one left off.

Mermin (not to be confused with Moomin) has completed his adventure and is trying to settle in with Pete and his friends–you know go to school and be normal even he is a green fish type creature.  And Benni (the round goldfish like creature) is still around to watch over Mermin (even if he is not appreciated).

And now suddenly Penny is trying to hang out with the boys.  Pete and his friends are reluctant for her to join them because she usually hangs out with other people and besides, they are trying to keep Mermin a secret.  They are not doing a good job of it though. (more…)

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Tove Jansson–Moomin: Volume Three (The Complete Tove Jansson Comic Strip) (2008)

Posted in Adventure, Animals, Boredom, Carlo Domeniconi, Children's Books, Cute, Drawn & Quarterly, Evening News London, Funny (ha ha), Isaac Albeniz, Johann Sebastian Bach, Miloš, Moomin, Paul Jacobs, Religion, Surreal, Tiny Desk Concert, Tove Jansson on January 22, 2016| Leave a Comment »

moomin3  SOUNDTRACK: PAUL JACOBS-Tiny Desk Concert #148 (August 12, 2011).

pauljacobsPaul Jacobs is an organist.  In fact he heads the Julliard School’s organ department.  For this Tiny Desk Concert they moved in Jacobs’ massive organ–complete with foot pedals.  I feel like he should have played for an hour for all the work that must have gone into moving this.

I had thought about describing the way the Tiny Desk Concert has changed as I went through the Concerts.  But I have gone out of sequence so often that it’s kind of moot.  Nevertheless, it’s fun to marvel at how in the first few shows, it was one camera, there was little editing and what you got is what you saw.

Well, for this, the 148th Concert, they have three cameras.  And that is perfect because one is on Jacobs’ face.  One is on Jacobs’ hands as he plays these amazing Back pieces.  But the best one is on Jacobs’ feet.  Jacobs play a melody with his hands and a separate melody with his feet.  Watch as he looks like he’s tap dancing all over these massive foot pedals. The mind boggles watching him.

He plays four Bach pieces:

  • J.S. Bach: “Gigue” Fugue
  • J.S. Bach: Arioso
  • Bach/Reger: Invention in F Major
  • J.S. Bach: Fugue in A Minor

The Arioso is recognizable to me as a familiar piece.  It’s low and beautiful with washes of foot pedals.  But even more familiar is the Invention in F minor which most piano students try to play.  This version was arranged by Max Reger who turned the left hand melody into a foot pedal melody–so Jacobs is all over the keyboard on this one.  It’s stunning.

The final piece is somewhat recognizable (well, to me its recognizable as Bach, since his stuff is so elaborate and cool).  This piece is really fun to watch his hands and feet at work.  Especially at the end when he plays an intense “foot solo” before returning to an incredibly fast finger coda.

It’s such a neat instrument and he’s an amazingly talented player.

I prefer to watch on the NPR site, but its easier to embed the YouTube version:

[READ: January 13, 2015] Moomin Volume 3

Moomin Book 3 is slightly different n that it has four stories instead of three.   The stories feel shorter too, although I don’t have the other books handy to compare.

This book contains the stories: “Moomin Falls in Love,” “Moominvalley Turns Jungle,” “Moomin and the Martians,” “Moomin and the Sea,” and “Club Life in Moominvalley.”  As with the others these stories originally ran in the Evening News, London 1953-1959. (more…)

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Joshua Ferris–“The Landing: Learning to Fly Part 3” [of 4] (Popular Mechanics, July/August 2015)

Posted in Airlines, Benny Sings, Elton John, Essays, Fears, Funny (ha ha), Joshua Ferris, Popular Mechanics, Set in New Jersey!, Tiny Desk Concert, Unfinished series on January 19, 2016| Leave a Comment »

popjlu SOUNDTRACK: BENNY SINGS-Tiny Desk Concert #501 (January 15, 2016).

bennyBenny Sings is a Dutch singer songwriter.  I had never heard of him, and no wonder, this was apparently his first performance in the United States.  And “this is also where he performed with background vocalist Jennah Bell for the first time.”

The blurb says that he layers R&B, jazz and pop over hip-hop foundations.  Although the first of two songs, “Love” is just him on the piano.  For the second song “Beach House,” he busts out the drum machine.  But it still comes across as an orchestra pop song (maybe like slower Elton John).

It’s all fine, but nothing special.

According to my records, this was the 500th Tiny Desk Concert.  And if you count all of the concerts on their Tiny Desk Page, it tallies up to 500 today.  But I know that they are planning something big for #500.  So I don’t quite know what to think.

[READ: January 14, 2016] “Learning to Fly Part 3”

Part three of this story (see, I said it wouldn’t be too long before I continued with it) is all about the landing.  Ferris explains that the landing has always been the hardest part for him.  He managed turns and banks and rises and everything else, but frankly, had his teacher not been there he would have died dozens of times with bad landings.

He says that as you slowly (or quickly) sink towards the ground, your instinct is to pull up away from it, which is exactly what you shouldn’t do.

This particular part of the essay doesn’t have a lot of flying details in it, because most of it is taken up with his fears about his poor landings.  Although the way Ferris tells of the time he easily should have died from not slowing down is pretty harrowing and exciting–how is his instructor so calm?

He sums up landing though you need patience when things are most hurried, composure when things are most fraught.  You need focus when your attention is most scattered.  You need a light touch on the controls when the urge to yank hard and pull them off the panel is at it strongest.

Then he describes all of the things that his instructor appears to be doing at once to land the plane:

He was descending, turning the yoke, applying back pressures, lowering the flaps, adjusting the trim, peddling the rudder, adding power, nosing down–all more or less simultaneously.

Ferris swears that he will quit.  He cannot land the damned plane.  His wife will be pleased that he has quit ans she is terrified of him crashing.  But he knows that he will likely not quit–because it’s a challenge and any tough challenge is one you want to quit hundreds of times but which you never do,

But for his final lesson, he was going to go up once more and then quit.  “And that was the day I had my first perfect landing.”

Great cliffhanger

The final part comes next.

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Tove Jansson–Moomin: Volume Two (The Complete Tove Jansson Comic Strip) (2007)

Posted in Adventure, Animals, Boredom, Carlo Domeniconi, Children's Books, Cute, Drawn & Quarterly, Evening News London, Funny (ha ha), Isaac Albeniz, Miloš, Moomin, Religion, Surreal, Tiny Desk Concert, Tove Jansson on January 15, 2016| Leave a Comment »

milos moo2SOUNDTRACK: MILOŠ-Tiny Desk Concert #138 (June 30, 2011).

Miloš is Miloš Karadaglić, a 28-year-old from Montenegro.  He says he wants to bring classical guitar to a younger audience–to make it cool.

The first piece is a lovely ballad called “Romance” although the author is anonymous.  It is sweetly pretty and everything you might expect from a slow classical guitar piece.  It rings familiar to me, although it’s hard to know if I’ve heard it before or not.

The second piece is where his guitar really comes to life.  Asturias by Isaac Albeniz which Miloš describes as most flamenco and most familiar.  Interestingly, eh says that this was originally written for piano. The introductory riff should indeed be familiar and Miloš plays it passionately.

For the final piece he plays the first movement of a piece by Carlo Domeniconi: “Koyunbaba – moderato.”  This piece has a strange tuning: C sharp minor.  It’s a Turkish song with extraordinary techniques.  He says it reminds him of home–the song is about the sea and the waves by his home.  Whether it’s the tuning or the structure of the song, it is enchanting and exotic and really lovely.

[READ: January 13, 2015] Moomin Volume 2

I enjoyed Moomin volume 1 so much that I was excited to read vol 2.  And it did not disappoint.  This volume was full of the same whimsical, often bizarre stories that were sweet and funny (and a bit cruel, which makes them funny).  It also added some new characters.

This book contains the strips: Moomin’s Winter Follies, Moomin Mamma’s Maid, Moomin Builds a House and Moomin Begins a New Life.  Each one seems to tackle a big idea and pushes it to crazy conclusions.

These stories originally ran in the Evening News, London 1953-1959. (more…)

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Joshua Ferris–“The Stall: Learning to Fly Part 2” [of 4] (Popular Mechanics, June 2015)

Posted in Airlines, Essays, Fears, Funny (ha ha), Joshua Ferris, Natalie Merchant, Popular Mechanics, Set in New Jersey!, Tiny Desk Concert, Unfinished series on January 12, 2016| Leave a Comment »

popmechSOUNDTRACK: NATALIE MERCHANT-Tiny Desk Concert #500 (January 12, 2016).

nat merch Natalie Merchant was supposed to appear on a Tiny Desk show in 2014, but she was ill on that day (she even tells the story of going to the hospital).  She had to cancel the entire tour.  Turns out we saw her on that tour a couple of days before she got sick!

When Sarah and I saw her we both remarked on how great her voice still sounded.  And it sounds great here too.  The same instantly recognizable voice from her albums with all of the power and inflection that she’s always had.

Although I still don’t understand where her speaking voice accent comes from (she’s from upstate New York after all).

“Motherland” (a 2001 song) she dedicates to the staff of NPR.  Her accompaniment is an acoustic guitar, upright bass and accordion and it works very well for this slow, rather sad song.

“Texas” is another pretty, slow song from her 2014 album which she was supposed to pay at the Tiny Desk show.  She says he most regretted missing the Tiny Desk show when she had to cancel her tour.  She had no idea the desk was not so tiny and that it could fit 1000 people standing around watching.

Then she plugs her new album, Paradise Is There: The New Tigerlily Recordings.  It is a reworking of her songs from Tigerlily (and there was a documentary that accompanied it (which they were filming when we saw her).  She plays “Cowboy Romance” from that album.  I don’t know the original (or I don’t recognize the song) but it sounds fine in this stripped down format.

Even though her songs are rather serious, she’s quite silly with the band and crew.  She emphasis “CONfiguRAtion of muSICians” before introducing “Cowboy Romance.”

Everyone assumes she will play only three songs (the standard), but she has a special treat planned.  She says that she heard a story on NPR about how office workplaces would benefit from singing together.  And they are all trapped with her.  So she says they are going to sing a Protestant hymn that she recently found in a songbook in the library.

She says that she and the guitarist are Catholic, the accordionist is Jewish (from Israel) and the bassist has no religion.  he says he’s from the West Coast (she jokes that he’s from a cult in Oregon).  Then when she asks the guitarist what key it’s in and he says, “What song? ” to which everyone laughs because she never mentioned the title.

It’s a lovely old song which she teaches to the whole room.  After the first verse, she says she approves of the group sing-along and says it should be a weekly thing.  I love the way they split the screen to show the whole staff singing along. It’s quite lovely and the staff’s accompaniment is really pretty.

This is a delightful show and a very intimate performance by Natalie Merchant.

[READ: January 12, 2016] “Learning to Fly Part 2”

I really enjoyed Part 1 of this essay, but as often happens to me with broken up pieces, I forgot about the next part until long after.  So here it is over six months since I read Part 1 finally getting around to Part 2 (but at least I have Parts 3 and 4 with me so I’ll be finishing them up soon). (more…)

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Tove Jansson–Moomin: Volume One (The Complete Tove Jansson Comic Strip) (2006)

Posted in Adventure, Animals, Ballake Sissoko, Boredom, Children's Books, Cute, Drawn & Quarterly, Evening News London, Funny (ha ha), Moomin, Surreal, Tiny Desk Concert, Tove Jansson, Vincent Segal, Yacouba Sissoko on January 8, 2016| Leave a Comment »

SOUNDTRACK: BALLAKE SISSOKO AND VINCENT SEGAL-Tiny Desk Concert #104 (January 17, 2011).

moomin 1sissokoBack in April 2010, another kora player with the same last name (Yacouba Sissoko) played a Tiny Desk Concert with Regina Carter.  Sissoko plays the kora and he is mesmerizing to watch (and to listen to).  Vincent Segal plays the cello and he does things with that instrument which I’ve never seen anybody do before.  It’s a great duo.

Together, the play some beautiful music.  On the first song, “Chamber Music,” Sissoko provides both the lovely backing music as well as some fast plucking.  And Segal keeps up and often outplays his partner.

For the second song, “Balazando,” Segal plays the cello like an upright bass and even plays a little bass solo (including some harmonics).  Then when Sissoko starts playing Segal, plays such high notes that it sounds almost like a flute and even has a Chinese feel to it.

Before the third song starts watch as Sissoko tunes the kora (by twist ting the ropes that hold the strings in place).  “Niandou” opens with Sissoko playing a fast melody (with an up close camera to really show his fingers).  Then Segal play a lovely riff of high notes on the cello.  The song ends with a very fast section–some quick bass playing on the cello followed by some very fast bowing before returning to the slow opening.

The fourth song features some cool harmonic bowing, the likes of which I’ve never seen on a cello before.  The end of the song sees Segal strumming the bowl like a guitar–he can do it all.

Together, they make some beautiful music.

[READ: January 5, 2015] Moomin Volume 1

Inspired by reading the D&Q 25th anniversary book, I decided to check out the books that have been sitting in the children’s section of my library every time I go–Moomin!  They are oversized and lovely books and since I’ve paused on Peanuts I thought I’d read some Moomin–which I have never read before.

It was fascinating to read in the D&Q 25th Anniversary book that Moomin started because Jansson tried to draw the ugliest creature she could think of.  And it eventually morphed into the adorable round creature that we know as Moomin.

This book contains four stories.  I feel like the strips are printed like an every day four panel strip.  Each four panel strip is signed and numbered (but not dated) and most of them (but not all) read like they have a punchline at the end.  So I’m not entirely sure what to make of the publishing run.  Although the front pages state that it originally ran in the Evening News, London 1953-1959.

The four stories are Moomin and the Brigands, Moomin and Family Life, Mooim on the Rivera and Moomin’s Desert Island. (more…)

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Drawn and Quarterly: Twenty Five Years of Contemporary Cartooning, Comics, and Graphic Novels (2015)

Posted in Adrian Tomine, Anouk Ricard, Archer Prewitt, Archer Prewitt, Big Books, Brecht Evens, Brecht Vandenbroucke, Canadian Content, Chester Brown, Chris Oliveros, Chris Ware, Consumerism, Daniel Clowes, Diane Obomsawin, Doug Wright, Drawn & Quarterly, Frank King, Funny (ha ha), Guy Delisle, Helge Dascher, Humiliation, Interviews, Jillian Tamaki, Joe Matt, Joe Sacco, John Stanley, Julie Doucet, Kate Beaton, LGBTQ, Library Related, Marc Bell, Marriage Trouble, Menstruation, Moomin, oshihiro Ratsumi, Pascal Girard, Peter Bagge, Seiichi Hayashi, Seth, Sex, Shigeru Mizuki, Supernatural, Surreal, The Coctails, The Sea and Cake, Tom Gauld, Translation, Unfinished series, Violence, Virginity (Loss of), War, Yuck! on January 4, 2016| Leave a Comment »

dq25SOUNDTRACK: ARCHER PREWITT-“O, KY” (2005).

wikldernessArcher Prewitt formed The Coctails (a kitschy lounge act) in the early 90s, several years before the lounge revival.  Then he joined The Sea and Cake and has been making amazing music with them.  And he has also released several solo albums.

He has also published some comics (Sof’ Boy) with Drawn & Quarterly.

This song comes from his album Wilderness.  The title of the song is clever, too.

It’s upbeat and folky with a little psychedlia and rock thrown in.  I like Prewitt’s voice quite a bit–it’s simple but really strong.  But the selling point on this song (and others from this album that I have listened to) is the composition and arrangement of these songs.

I like the way this one goes from simple guitar to orchestration (although presumably not a real orchestra) for the chorus.  And how post chorus there are flutes and other instruments to pick up the momentum which adds a vaguely psychedelic feel to it.

At four minutes (the song is five) it changes direction entirely and turns into a nearly new song with big guitars and drums. And it rather rocks.

And just to make Archer the all around dude that he is.  He also drew the cover art.  Jeez.  He’s probably super nice and friendly, too.

[READ: January 3, 2016] Drawn and Quarterly: Twenty Five Years 

I have liked a lot of D+Q books for a long time, although I never really considered a comprehensive look at their publishing house.  This book–about 775 pages long–is about as comprehensive as it gets.

This book contains a few previously published cartoons and excerpts as well as a whole slew of previously unpublished pieces.  There are essays and histories and reminiscences and love love love for the little Montreal graphic novel publisher.

I didn’t know much about the history of D+Q–that Chris Oliveros started the publisher in 1989 out of his house.  That he was the only employee for years.  And that he was essential in getting the term “graphic novel” used by everyone–including the library of congress!

He weathered distribution problems, he weathered the rise and fall of indie comics in the late 90s and he has come through with some of the most beautiful books published.  D+Q has also brought attention to foreign artists as well as out of print artists.

Really, if you have any respect for graphic novels (that aren’t superhero-based) you owe thanks to D+Q. (more…)

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