The posts where I link to other reviews of books I’ve reviewed myself have turned out to be the most popular things on this blog (I don’t know what that says about my own writing skills … hurm). Since I can’t possibly write a good, solid, in-depth review of every notable book that comes out, and since there are actually some fantastic graphic novels that I won’t be reviewing as a matter of policy (more on that in a minute), I’ve decided to expand the link-blogging to reviews of books that haven’t actually appeared on GNR. I still hope and plan to post at least one in-depth review of my own every week, too. Plus more. Um. Maybe.

Yesterday, Don McPherson posted a decidedly mixed review of K. Thor Jensen’s Red Eye, Black Eye on his Eye On Comics blog:

Red Eye, Black Eye is a surprisingly engaging read, but it’s also a surprisingly quick one. I powered through the entire volume rather quickly as I killed some time waiting for the girlfriend to arrive home for supper one evening. With a price tag of almost 20 bucks US, readers will likely expect something a little meatier, something that will occupy a little more of their time. [...] Mind you, while it may not occupy time, it does occupy the mind. … more

Last Tuesday, Brian Heater did the comparative review thing over at Daily Cross Hatch: Nick Bertozzi’s The Salon vs. Jason’s The Left Bank Gang. Bertozzi wins this round:

Nick Bertozzi’s The Salon has a lot with The Left Bank Gang, centering around a fictionalized account of a group of avant-garde painters (art patrons Gertrude and Leo Stein also play pivotal roles, the former of whom, incidentally has a minor part in Jason’s book), living in Paris in 1907. Where Jason’s book abruptly transitions into a noirish robbery caper, the action in Bertozzi’s is more akin to a supernatural murder mystery. The Salon is also more successful in framing its own plotline—unlike Jason, Bertozzi feels fairly confident in the direction that his story is going to go in, from the outset. … more

I won’t be reviewing Red Eye, Black Eye or The Salon here at GNR, because both of these graphic novels were originally serialized on a website that I happen to own, and I try to avoid the appearance of conflict of interest when that happens. At some point I will probably get over myself and break that rule. But not yet.

I also won’t be reviewing Leland Myrick’s Missouri Boy, but not for the same reason. I read it; I liked it okay, I guess; I just couldn’t think of anything interesting to say about it.

Fortunately, Elizabeth Chou, also writing for Daily Cross Hatch, comes through with a lengthy review:

Leland Myrick’s autobiographical Missouri Boy is like a shoebox of snapshots, chronologically organized and punctuated subtly by various coming-of-age moments in his life. Each story is awash in the subdued tones of nostalgia and set at a distance by dreamy, poetic narration and sparse dialogue. … more

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Whatever else anybody might say about it (and most people who’ve written about it so far seem pretty confused and startled by the damn thing), Eddie Campbell’s The Fate of the Artist is indisputably a major new work by one of the most important figures on the graphic novel scene (probably best known to casual graphic novel readers as the illustrator of Alan Moore’s From Hell, which itself is finally back in print from Top Shelf, by the way). I’ve read Campbell’s strange new, um, post-autobiographical (?) tale twice now, if “reading” is the right word, but haven’t yet come up with any clear thoughts about it myself, one way or another. Don’t take that as a bad sign — it isn’t, necessarily. I expect I will figure out what I think about it at some point, and will write a review here. I pretty much have to. It cannot be ignored. It’s that kind of book. In the meantime, here’s some of the more interesting first reactions from around the web:

Mark Fossen (Focused Totality):

But is [The Fate of the Artist], the standard bearer for the Great March To Acceptance, even a graphic novel?

I don’t know that it is … I don’t know that it isn’t.

I don’t know that I care … read more

Christopher Butcher (Comics212.net):

The weight of Campbell’s publishing efforts, his art, and his life in comix, is felt on every page. It’s felt on the very first page in fact, on which the artist tells us to “all go to fuck,” sick of comics and himself and you too … read more

Rob Salkowitz (Emphasis Added):

You don’t get the sense that [Campbell is] trying to impress anyone with mere formalism or keep his audience coldly at a distance, as in the arch and constipated work of someone like Chris Ware. He’s not trying to appear Artistically Serious by asking Important Questions in Difficult and Challenging Ways – or at least, that’s not all he’s doing … read more

Campbell himself attempts to explain what he was doing, in characteristically self-effacing fashion, in this interview conducted by Jen Contino at Comicon Pulse:

“On the surface I was trying to wrestle with the terrors I experienced after becoming a too-visible person in the world,” Campbell said. “While I certainly was never anywhere near famous or anything like that, after the From Hell experience, with the movie and the colossal success of the book, I came to feel very vulnerable and exposed. Taking an introspective look at myself is what I was doing all along remember. It’s just that I had always done it safe in the knowledge that nobody would ever read the damn things. Now I learned to the contrary. It must be worse for my kids. My daughter started working in a DVD store a while ago and somebody there was familiar with the page I drew way back in 1988 on the subject of her toilet training. That must have a worrying effect on a young lady. So in Fate, I’ve given her the microphone to talk about me for a change.” … read more

Title: The Fate of the Artist Creator: Eddie Campbell Publisher: First Second

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