Thursday, April 2, 2009

Art Spiegelman's Maus - Coda #1

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Images:
1. Raw, Volume 1, # 1's cover (July, 1980) by Art Spiegelman ("The Graphix Magazine of Postponed Suicides," quotes my favorite philosopher, E. M. Cioran, who said: "A book is a postponed suicide," The Trouble With Being Born, Viking Press, 1976 [De l'inconvénient d'être né, Gallimard, 1973]: 99 - translation by Richard Howard; the colored scene on the window - and logo - is a collage; sorry for the low resolution);
2. Raw, Volume 2, # 1 (1989; cover by Gary Panter; another type of "collage;" yes, those are Popeye's, huh, nuts...);
3. page by Cathy Millet as published in her book Show (Le Dernier Terrain Vague, 1980); the same story was published in Raw, volume 1, # 2, December, 1980 ("09.26.79. In the hall. It's hot and I feel like a vantage" / "01.07.80. (4 P. M.). I finally get to the living room. No cigarettes. I leave." / "04.21.80. Nor are they in our bedroom whose stucco ceiling is painted salmon. The bed is covered with a whiskey-colored polyester and cotton quilt. Only the cat is there."); slightly skewed geometrical drawings, half-tone dots and text used to create a nouveau roman (Robbe-Grillet) effect;
4. another European artist who published in Raw was the Spaniard Mariscal (image from "Little Mr. Horseman," Raw, Volume 1, # 4, March, 1982); charming as his work may be sometimes, Mariscal created some of the frivolous trendy imagery which was the worst of the eighties' visual culture;
5. on the opposite side from Mariscal, Yoshiharu Tsuge is one of the best artists who ever drew and wrote comics; without wanting to reveal too much: capital page from "Red Flowers," Raw, volume 1, # 7 (May 1985);
6. Jimbo tells it like it is: "Subtlety has no place in this world!!!"; Raw one-shot # 1: Jimbo by Gary Panter (1982);
7. Raw one-shot # 3: Jack Survives by Jerry Moriarty (1984), frontispiece page (detail); here's what Jerry himself had to say about his character: "Jack died in 1953. He was my father. [...] I see Jack as a witness of constant change adapting to each newer world with less understanding. Former values become obsolete and are a burden to him. Yet they remain underneath it all. My Jack forgets experiences so he innocently repeats mistakes.";
8. page from Sue Coe' X (Raw one-shot # 6, 1986; Art Spiegelman participated in the writing - the credits don't explain how, but, anyway: great text!);
9. first page from "The Bowing Machine" by Alan Moore (w) and Mark Beyer (a); Raw, Volume 2, # 3 (1991).

5 comments:

Janice said...

Hi. Do you know if Cathy Millet is American and if she was born in 1952 or 1959?

Isabelinho said...

Hi Janice:

The only biographical note about Cathy Millet that I could find is in _Read Yourself Raw_. It goes as follows: "CATHY MILLET (b. 1952, Calais, France). Strips and illustrations in _Metal Hurlant_ (France), _Charlie Mensuel_ (France), _Liberation_ (France). Book: _Show_, a collection of strips (Paris: Le Dernier Terrain Vague, 1980). When he [sic] isn't drawing or doing advertising art, he [sic] plays golf or goes trout fishing." Hope that helps...

Isabelinho said...

Hi again Janine:

New developments: it seems that Cathy Millet is the alias of a male artist named Christian Roux.

Isabelinho said...

Oops! Janice, sorry!...

Isabelinho said...

Now I understand those two "he" in _Read Yourself Raw_. It wasn't a mistake, it was a private joke, or something...
You may see Christian Roux, here: http://www.lagautriere.com/blog/index.php?2009/09 (He even has a beard!)