What do you think?
Rate this book
Is That All There Is? HC
By appropriating and subverting Tintin creator Herge s classic clear line style, Joost Swarte revitalized European alternative comics in the 1970s with a series of satirical, musically elegant, supremely beautifully drawn short stories often featuring his innocent, magnificently-quiffed Jopo de Pojo, or his orotund scientist character, Anton Makassar. Under Swarte s own exacting supervision, Is That All There Is? will collect virtually all of his alternative comics work from 1972 to date, including the RAW magazine stories that brought him fame among American comics aficionados in the 1980s. Especially great pains will be taken to match Swarte s superb coloring, which includes stories executed in watercolor, comics printed in retro duotones, fiendishly clever use of Zip-a-Tone screens, and much more. (There s even a story about how to color comics art using those screens, with Makassar as the teacher.) Other noteworthy stories include Swarte s take on an episode from Herge s early days, a Fats Domino story, a tribute to the legendary Upside-Downs strip, and a story titled simply Modern Art.
120 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 2011
11 people are currently reading
298 people want to read
About the author
Joost Swarte
79 books30 followersJoost Swarte is a Dutch comic artist and graphic designer. He is best known for his ligne claire or clear line style of drawing, and in fact coined the term.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 30 of 38 reviews
May 16, 2012
Five stars for content, three for design. Why the heck did Fantagraphics print this book at this small size? Most of these pieces were originally published at a larger size than this, and they all deserve to be printed much larger: at least magazine or French album size, or ideally RAW size (or bigger). Swarte is a comics and design genius, and this new book is a wonderful compilation (I bought the book even though I think I have every piece in there someplace else--it's nice to have them all in one place), but this occasion seems to a HUGE missed opportunity to make a Swarte fetish item, and was there ever a cartoonist who more warranted a fetish item than Swarte?
August 23, 2020
This guy makes Chris Ware look like a kindergarten doodler. This guy, this freaking guy beat every cartoonist using a five page comic about a little anthropomorphic condom. It's almost as if he's too good--that clear line shouldn't be as clear as it appears to be. That being said this book could have done with a better cover.
February 28, 2016
Mostly influenced by Herge's Tintin, and somewhat by the underground comix movement (his stuff was published first in RAW by Spiegelman), this is interesting. His "clean line" approach is impressive; his humor quirky and not particularly compelling to me, but it is interesting and impressive from an artistic perspective. This is a collection of his work over several years. Chris Ware's insightful introduction is one of the very best things about this volume, really useful and insightful.
May 11, 2025
HOT TAKE : Joost Swarte was even better at ligne claire than Hergé !
Tante Leny Presenteert Episode 3 :
https://youtu.be/rVLGyjt0nHU
August 4, 2025
Obviously Swarte is an incredible artist, but he’s also quite a skilled writer. His writing has a distinct underground attitude.
February 13, 2022
Some dated content - Black characters looking like monkeys was particularly cringe.
June 22, 2021
Very funny and strange. The characters are endearing BUT it's all male. Not one even semi-main character female. But besides that it is tremendous and wonderfully "adult" without any shame.
I hear the name "Anton Makassar" in my mind now and then- why is that? How did he stick a fictional name in my head? This book definitely sticks with you- the more and more I think about it the more fond I become of it.
The detail of the art is über human- a heavenly ***** no matter what you individual tastes may be!
I hear the name "Anton Makassar" in my mind now and then- why is that? How did he stick a fictional name in my head? This book definitely sticks with you- the more and more I think about it the more fond I become of it.
The detail of the art is über human- a heavenly ***** no matter what you individual tastes may be!
April 15, 2013
I bought this book for two main reasons: I liked the idea of exploring the art of a Dutch modern artist, and I thought the cover was provocative yet witty. While the art did not disappoint, the old proverb about judging a book by its cover proved all too real...
Technical details: Is that all there is is a collection of Joost Swarte's graphics that spans over three decades (judging by the signatures---from 1975 to 2009). In 144 pages, plus 2 internal covers and 1 front cover, the artist traverses tens of short comic stories.
Art: the main technical instrument is ligne claire, that is, the use of strong continuous lines of equal importance in depicting every detail in the scene (as opposed to the use of shadows, line thickness, etc., which are typical of realistic drawings); in this, Joost Swarte continues the tradition initiated by Herge in his series 51898 and 72120 Adventures of Jo Zette and Jocko. The are also elements of Art Nouveau, and The Style (De Stijl, neoplasticism). Joost Swarte also experiments with new techniques, such as the mirrored cartoon that can also be read upside down, for a different interpretation of the content. The quality of the art is high, the drawings are accomplished and interesting.
Stories: Unfortunately, the stories are a real turn-off. From gross jokes to puerile detective stories, from innumerable suicidal tricks to plain lack of a story, this reader could not find much to keep reading. This severely diminished the pleasure of finding this book out.
Technical details: Is that all there is is a collection of Joost Swarte's graphics that spans over three decades (judging by the signatures---from 1975 to 2009). In 144 pages, plus 2 internal covers and 1 front cover, the artist traverses tens of short comic stories.
Art: the main technical instrument is ligne claire, that is, the use of strong continuous lines of equal importance in depicting every detail in the scene (as opposed to the use of shadows, line thickness, etc., which are typical of realistic drawings); in this, Joost Swarte continues the tradition initiated by Herge in his series 51898 and 72120 Adventures of Jo Zette and Jocko. The are also elements of Art Nouveau, and The Style (De Stijl, neoplasticism). Joost Swarte also experiments with new techniques, such as the mirrored cartoon that can also be read upside down, for a different interpretation of the content. The quality of the art is high, the drawings are accomplished and interesting.
Stories: Unfortunately, the stories are a real turn-off. From gross jokes to puerile detective stories, from innumerable suicidal tricks to plain lack of a story, this reader could not find much to keep reading. This severely diminished the pleasure of finding this book out.
January 3, 2016
This is just my opinion, and maybe this opinion will block me from enjoying the majority of the comic world out there, but I just can't seem to get into comics that are mainly about bad guys vs. good guys and slapstick humor. Maybe I'm too young or something. I wanted to enjoy it. But I found myself towards the end just looking at the pictures and not really even reading the text. The art was cool. I dug the clean-line drawings and the color palettes and the little button noses on the characters. Not to mention all the architectural drawings. Oh and the typography. All in all, I'd say it's a neat book to study if you're an artist, but not if you're a story teller.
January 21, 2013
This is really a brilliant book. I'd read quite a few of Joost's strips in old anthologies. They are quite amazing. His grasp of ligne claire and visual story telling is second to none. I didn't read this book all in one go, just dipping in is enough, as each strip has a lot to enjoy. I think the newer release is slightly larger. So more fool me for buying it early.
October 11, 2012
If Tintin had ever grown up, he might have lived these stories. And he would have been lucky to. All of us should be drawn this well. There is not a high enough heap of praise that I can bestow on this collection.
December 31, 2023
Being a Swarte near-completist (well, not exactly, but I do own a lot of his stuff), I found this collection disappointing on multiple fronts.
This Fantagraphics edition has several flaws, the most glaring of which is the minuscule page size. This undersized format not only obscures the glory of Swarte's art but also renders many details nearly imperceptible - even the text is quite difficult to read at some points. There are also typos and empty text balloons (!), and, lastly, there's hardly any information regarding the sources of the collection. Mistake after mistake.
A more substantial problem is that the "comic story" format is definitely not Swarte's forte: although the artwork is brilliant, many of the stories are puerile and little more than a pretext for his ligne claire exercises, which work far better when relieved of the burden of storytelling (as in his illustration work) or when subjected to explicit formal constraints (as in his Passi Messa series).
This Fantagraphics edition has several flaws, the most glaring of which is the minuscule page size. This undersized format not only obscures the glory of Swarte's art but also renders many details nearly imperceptible - even the text is quite difficult to read at some points. There are also typos and empty text balloons (!), and, lastly, there's hardly any information regarding the sources of the collection. Mistake after mistake.
A more substantial problem is that the "comic story" format is definitely not Swarte's forte: although the artwork is brilliant, many of the stories are puerile and little more than a pretext for his ligne claire exercises, which work far better when relieved of the burden of storytelling (as in his illustration work) or when subjected to explicit formal constraints (as in his Passi Messa series).
October 25, 2024
From the man who coined the term "ligne claire" (the clear line) comes comics that fully embrace this precise style, but in stories far removed from what Hergé and his contemporaries became known for. Here, there’s plenty of sex and violence, and the structure is fairly loose. This creates an intriguing contrast between the tightness of the linework and the looseness of the narratives.
This collection claims to include nearly all of Swarte’s work, which we can take at face value. These stories may have worked even better as individual pieces in anthologies like *Raw*; reading everything together almost feels like an overdose. Still, it’s fantastically elegant, stylish, and at times very funny.
This collection claims to include nearly all of Swarte’s work, which we can take at face value. These stories may have worked even better as individual pieces in anthologies like *Raw*; reading everything together almost feels like an overdose. Still, it’s fantastically elegant, stylish, and at times very funny.
November 10, 2018
To start with a positive: I really love the art. Not only is there that clean line approach, but the artist also focuses on architecture and design. It's really nice. But then there is the negative: some of the stories are bland, and the fun ones have ridiculous violence, sex, and a sense of humor that really isn't aimed at an English-speaking audience - so it doesn't translate well. But the biggest problem is the size, this should have been published twice at big so that we can soak in the details and actually read the text.
May 22, 2019
A grand collection of mixed comic works by Joost Swarte. Great artwork, as to be expected, and some decent stories. I enjoyed the more surreal comics the most, found a few of the others a bit base, or grim, but plenty of value in this collection.
Woody Hayday
Woody Hayday
January 31, 2025
The art is great. I didn't find the stories to be funny, thought-provoking, or shocking. I'm guessing this is something that would have had a much bigger impact when it showed up 40-50 years ago than it does today.
June 25, 2018
Wat heeft Swarte toch akelige strips gemaakt! Overdreven gewelddadig, soms (het wachten is op versterking) op het randje van racistisch (of er overheen?), brrr.
January 14, 2019
Klassikar. Synest ikkje det er sånn kjempebra, då.
September 26, 2023
swarte is such a devout adherent of herge he continues his racial caricature as well
June 22, 2022
Some gags work, some don’t, but it all looks great.
October 5, 2016
Joost Swarte is misschien wel Nederlands bekendste striptekenaar. Daarbij moet vermeld worden dat striptekenaars in het algemeen in Nederland, zelfs de grootste, per definitie niet bekend zijn bij het grote publiek. Swarte geniet zijn faam dan ook vooral buiten onze landsgrenzen; in de Verenigde Staten en Frankrijk. In de Verenigde Staten kent het striplezend publiek - dat nog altijd een relatief veelkoppige entiteit is – Swarte onder andere van Art Spiegelman’s underground magazine Raw en de covers die hij tekende voor The New Yorker. Het leek me aanvankelijk vreemd dat ik als stripliefhebber niet bekend was met Swartes werk, maar een vluchtige blik in Bijna Compleet maakt duidelijk dat Swarte niet bepaald massaal produceerde. Deze verzameling van – verrassend genoeg – bijna al Swartes strips beslaan slechts 142 bladzijdes. Deze strips zagen oorspronkelijk het levenslicht in de periode van 1972 tot 2010. Een strip van de hand van Swarte was dus verre van een alledaagse verschijning, maar laat zich beter vergelijken met zeldzame astronomische fenomenen; alleen de kenner zal er weet van hebben. Aldus kon ik mezelf gemakkelijk vergeven onbekend te zijn met het oeuvre van Swarte.
Waarom zou de lezer dan toch kennis moeten maken met Swarte? Nou, allereerst is hij de geestesvader van de term ‘ligne claire’, ofwel de klare lijn. Met deze term karakteriseerde Swarte de iconische stijl van (wél) wereldberoemde Belgische striptekenaar Hergé en sindsdien duikt de term in talloze publicaties over strips op. Dat juist Swarte deze term opperde is geen toeval, daar hij het werk van Hergé overduidelijk nauwgezet heeft bestudeerd en zich er door heeft laten inspireren. Het is zelfs waarschijnlijk dat de lezer het vroege werk van Swarte verwart met dat van Hergé. Dat is geen enkel probleem, het overkwam Chris Ware namelijk ook. Dat brengt me tot de tweede reden om kennis te maken met Swarte: hij is blijkbaar van zo’n grote kwaliteit dat de notoir norse Chris Ware bereid was een voorwoord voor dit boek te schrijven. Dit zal je niets zeggen indien je niet bekend met Chris Ware, maar naar mijn mening is Ware momenteel de meest innovatieve striptekenaar en een van de meest geslaagde artiesten die ooit in het medium gewerkt heeft. Ware is een ware (ha!) meester van vormgeving en dat juist hij een voorwoord voor Swarte schrijft duidt erop dat hij in Swarte ook iets herkent van die affiniteit met vormgeving. Beide heren zien de stripboekkunst niet zomaar als een reeks opeenvolgende beelden, niet als een stilstaande film, maar pogen in hun werk een visuele taal te creëren die eigen is aan het stripboek. Daardoor ontstaan vaak erg verrassende esthetische pareltjes.
Aangaande de inhoud van Bijna Compleet kan ik vrij kort zijn: de reeks korte verhaaltjes die je hier aantreft – vaak maar enkele pagina’s lang – laten zien dat Swarte een groter talent heeft voor vormgeving dan voor verhaalvertelling. Hij beheerst de kunst van de klare lijn als geen ander en versiert zijn panelen, met name op de eerste en laatste pagina's van een verhaal, met fraaie, originele vormen. Helaas moet ik toegeven dat de verhalen zelf niet verder komen dan een jolige grap en daardoor niet erg memorabel zijn. Swarte heeft zeker een aantal vermakelijke personages gecreëerd; met name Jopo de Pojo, de klungel met een enorme kuif (get it?), en Anton Makassar, filosoof van het slechte idee, wisten meer dan eens een glimlach op te wekken. Verwacht echter geen emotionele reis van dit boek, geen verrassende inzichten die je nog lang blijven. Bijna Compleet is een geraffineerde vorm van plat vermaak die vooral interessant zal zijn voor de liefhebber van Europese stripkunst. Wellicht is het meer een boek voor de tekenaar van stripboeken dan voor de lezer van stripboeken.
Waarom zou de lezer dan toch kennis moeten maken met Swarte? Nou, allereerst is hij de geestesvader van de term ‘ligne claire’, ofwel de klare lijn. Met deze term karakteriseerde Swarte de iconische stijl van (wél) wereldberoemde Belgische striptekenaar Hergé en sindsdien duikt de term in talloze publicaties over strips op. Dat juist Swarte deze term opperde is geen toeval, daar hij het werk van Hergé overduidelijk nauwgezet heeft bestudeerd en zich er door heeft laten inspireren. Het is zelfs waarschijnlijk dat de lezer het vroege werk van Swarte verwart met dat van Hergé. Dat is geen enkel probleem, het overkwam Chris Ware namelijk ook. Dat brengt me tot de tweede reden om kennis te maken met Swarte: hij is blijkbaar van zo’n grote kwaliteit dat de notoir norse Chris Ware bereid was een voorwoord voor dit boek te schrijven. Dit zal je niets zeggen indien je niet bekend met Chris Ware, maar naar mijn mening is Ware momenteel de meest innovatieve striptekenaar en een van de meest geslaagde artiesten die ooit in het medium gewerkt heeft. Ware is een ware (ha!) meester van vormgeving en dat juist hij een voorwoord voor Swarte schrijft duidt erop dat hij in Swarte ook iets herkent van die affiniteit met vormgeving. Beide heren zien de stripboekkunst niet zomaar als een reeks opeenvolgende beelden, niet als een stilstaande film, maar pogen in hun werk een visuele taal te creëren die eigen is aan het stripboek. Daardoor ontstaan vaak erg verrassende esthetische pareltjes.
Aangaande de inhoud van Bijna Compleet kan ik vrij kort zijn: de reeks korte verhaaltjes die je hier aantreft – vaak maar enkele pagina’s lang – laten zien dat Swarte een groter talent heeft voor vormgeving dan voor verhaalvertelling. Hij beheerst de kunst van de klare lijn als geen ander en versiert zijn panelen, met name op de eerste en laatste pagina's van een verhaal, met fraaie, originele vormen. Helaas moet ik toegeven dat de verhalen zelf niet verder komen dan een jolige grap en daardoor niet erg memorabel zijn. Swarte heeft zeker een aantal vermakelijke personages gecreëerd; met name Jopo de Pojo, de klungel met een enorme kuif (get it?), en Anton Makassar, filosoof van het slechte idee, wisten meer dan eens een glimlach op te wekken. Verwacht echter geen emotionele reis van dit boek, geen verrassende inzichten die je nog lang blijven. Bijna Compleet is een geraffineerde vorm van plat vermaak die vooral interessant zal zijn voor de liefhebber van Europese stripkunst. Wellicht is het meer een boek voor de tekenaar van stripboeken dan voor de lezer van stripboeken.
March 11, 2012
Joost Swarte is one of the true greats, the most important inheritor of Herge's ligne claire style, in both the technical and philosophical sense. While he has his ups and downs as a storyteller, his skill as a visual stylist is second-to-none, and is simply some of the most beautiful work ever done in the medium of comics. Fantagraphics has provided a real service in issuing a comprehensive collection of Swarte's comics work in translation, and the book is as handsome as the contents therein demand. Already my favorite book of 2012!
November 13, 2014
I think Joost Swarte is a great artist. I'm still not sure what to do about the racial stereotypes--it needs to be really explicitly a satire of older humor for me to get it, I guess, and to me it just reads like a rehashing of old "humor". It doesn't feel like it's a necessary part of any of the stories except to reference the stuff in TinTin that always causes controversy? Someone, feel free to school me (in a non-condescending way, please.)
apart from that, it's rad to see more translations of non-U.S. comics to be read.
apart from that, it's rad to see more translations of non-U.S. comics to be read.
May 6, 2012
Joost Swarte as an artist I can't believe I hadn't heard of before. This probably has to do with the fact that this is the first proper collection of his work released in the US, but still, his inspirations are Herge, Jacques Tati, and, incongruous though it may seem, Fritz the Cat. The meticulous "clean line" style of the Tintin comics is here used to show the bawdy adventures of a variety of colorful characters, some which have underlying socio-political themes, and some which are basically just really, really well drawn dirty jokes. It's another great release from Fantagraphics.
June 5, 2013
I find Swarte's style fascinating in its precision and "clarity of line," which is apparently a style he mostly created, or at least became the master of. The intro by Chris Ware was pretty interesting, enough that I read the entire thing. I used to love studying, or just zoning out on Swarte's illustrations in RAW magazine, but was a little dissatisfied with a whole book of his work. Hmph. The stories are weird and seem muddled, maybe just because of the cultural gap. I dunno. But his draftsmanship is amazing.
March 24, 2012
This book is cool.
I bought it because I was at Big Brain comics in Minneapolis and the clerk talked to me and then I felt guilted into buying something.
It's odd and has a couple semi-racist seeming strips that I don't get. I can't figure out of it's a joke or some weird Dutch thing. I like the LIGNE CLAIRE drawing style. The drawings are better than the story lines. Anyway, if you liked RAW magazine when you were 16 and now read the New Yorker you might like this.
I bought it because I was at Big Brain comics in Minneapolis and the clerk talked to me and then I felt guilted into buying something.
It's odd and has a couple semi-racist seeming strips that I don't get. I can't figure out of it's a joke or some weird Dutch thing. I like the LIGNE CLAIRE drawing style. The drawings are better than the story lines. Anyway, if you liked RAW magazine when you were 16 and now read the New Yorker you might like this.
March 3, 2012
The only thing disappointing about this book, which is amazing, is the storylines. Why doesn't Swarte trust his ability to tell a worthwhile tale? Why do most of them end in absurd self-destruction and silly misbehavior?
January 2, 2013
Joose Swarte is a remarkable cartoonist/designer/illustrator of the "clear line" school, hugely influenced by Tintin's Hergé, but also by George McManus and others. A larger format would have been nice, but the material is so strong that I'm giving it the full five stars.
July 10, 2013
Usual review. The art is fantastic. The attention to aesthetic and especially the angles are wonderful, but just about every visual aspect here is top notch. But the content/writing ranges from pretty good to eh. Gorgeous to look at, less exciting to read.
July 1, 2014
i love swarte's work in the new yorker, these of his comic characters i didn't like.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 38 reviews