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Big Clay Pot
Top Shelf Productions is proud to announce the first full-length graphic novel from the Xeric-winning Scott Mills. With his sensitive take on humanity and his completely original artistic vision, we expect this thoughtful tale of early Japan to prove quite popular. It has been several thousand years since the end of the last ice age. The waters have warmed and risen, excising great portions of East Asia, while simultaneously creating the cluster of islands we now know as Japan. Across this modest new body of water came many immigrants. Some sought freedom. Some sought fortune. When Sun Kim came from Korea to Kyuushuu, the southern-most of the four largest islands of Japan, she was simply looking for a fresh start. Complete with panel-by-panel Japanese-language translations, to boot!
144 pages, Paperback
First published December 15, 2000
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Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews
December 22, 2021
Not my cup of pot.
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May 22, 2020Big Clay Pot is a quiet meditation on kindness set in 200 BCE Japan. It follows Sun after she arrives to a new village where she manages to clumsily destroy other villagers food and property. Kokoro, an elderly gentleman, grumpily takes her in and teaches her how to harvest food, fish, and create clay pots.
The book itself is very subtle and understated with loose brush strokes and ziptone shading. It’s simple but effective and conveys emotions with a subtle line or light shading. The overuse of ziptone can be a little exhausting because it feels like the art is at odds for being too subtle or too complicated. There are a lot of empty panels or panels with no words that, with loose artwork, makes it easier to skip them if you’re hurrying through the book. One really cool thing is the book features the Japanese translations along the edges of the pages.
On my second read through, I breezed through it pretty fast. It’s really good, but it’s like a small glass full of green tea every morning: you feel great to have it and look forward to it because it’s delicious, but you have it every morning so some of the specialness is gone or forgettable. I really like it, but I’ll probably remove it from my shelf to make room for other books.
The book itself is very subtle and understated with loose brush strokes and ziptone shading. It’s simple but effective and conveys emotions with a subtle line or light shading. The overuse of ziptone can be a little exhausting because it feels like the art is at odds for being too subtle or too complicated. There are a lot of empty panels or panels with no words that, with loose artwork, makes it easier to skip them if you’re hurrying through the book. One really cool thing is the book features the Japanese translations along the edges of the pages.
On my second read through, I breezed through it pretty fast. It’s really good, but it’s like a small glass full of green tea every morning: you feel great to have it and look forward to it because it’s delicious, but you have it every morning so some of the specialness is gone or forgettable. I really like it, but I’ll probably remove it from my shelf to make room for other books.
June 1, 2012
this was pretty cute. while it feels a little like it's better suited as a middle chapter to a longer work, it's fair to itself. on the other hand, i often get down on works that drag themselves out simply because the characters could be forced to do more or show more or just to reach a certain number of pages, so finding a short graphic story that is comfortable in its own skin and content in telling only the aspect of this little girl's life that seemed important at the time is actually pretty comforting. but that's all preference.
i hate to say that i liked something as much as i liked this and then not recommend it, but it really does feel like an underdeveloped introduction to a new character. mills hints after the narrative that we may see more of Sun in a future work, and i sincerely hope he revisits the character.
"charming" feels like the ultimate condescending word, but sometimes, man, sometimes a book is just flat out charming.
i hate to say that i liked something as much as i liked this and then not recommend it, but it really does feel like an underdeveloped introduction to a new character. mills hints after the narrative that we may see more of Sun in a future work, and i sincerely hope he revisits the character.
"charming" feels like the ultimate condescending word, but sometimes, man, sometimes a book is just flat out charming.
September 15, 2013
Plainly drawn with a great sense of the pause and silence between words. A simple story about two people. If its possible it's a Zen comic for the parring back to the essentials of storytelling and the moments that exist in each other's company..
Jokes too...
Charming.
Jokes too...
Charming.
August 26, 2008
This is a story about a little girl and a big clay pot. I like the simplistic style of this comic.
December 14, 2009
Sweet and simple. A great read.
April 5, 2013
It was a beautifully written story about friendship and finding a place where you belong. Simple and sweet.
August 19, 2014
Created in a lighthearted art design this book captures the readers mind for a brief, yet beautiful time. I enjoyed this story, but feel I cannot give a better review without spoilers.
April 11, 2015
Nicely done but just not too sure about the relationship between the old man and the girl.
August 29, 2015
this would be a terrific book to use w/Dave the Potter and A Single Shard as a jr. high or h.s. art project art as healer, savior, freedom.
July 27, 2014
A simple story about friendship. Some nice poetic touches, but a bit obvious for my taste.
Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews