Messages in a Bottle

by Bernard Krigstein, Marie Severin (Inker), Greg Sadowski (Editor)

Bernard Krigstein began his career as an unremarkable journeyman cartoonist during the 1940s and finished it as a respected fine artist and illustrator but comics historians know him for his explosively creative 1950s, during which he applied all the craft, intelligence and ambition of a burgeoning serious artist to his comics work, with results that remain stunning to this day. Krigstein 's legend rests mostly on the 30 or so stories he created for the EC Comics, but dozens of stories drawn for other, lesser publishers such as Rae Herman, Hillman, and Atlas (which would become Marvel) showcase his skills and radical reinterpretation of the comics page, in particular his groundbreaking slicing and dicing of time lapses through a series of narrow, nearly animated panels. Greg Sadowski, who has previously written and designed a Harvey Award-winning biography of Krigstein, has assembled the very best of Krigstein 's comics work, starting with his earliest creative rumblings, through his glory days at EC, to his final, even more brilliantly radical stories for Atlas Comics running through every genre popular at the time, be it horror, science fiction, war, western, or romance (but no super-heroes). Legendary EC colorist Marie Severin, in her last major assignment before her retirement, has recolored 15 stories for this edition. The remainder has been taken from printed comics, digitally restored with subtlety and restraint. This edition reprints the out-of-print 2004 hardcover B. Krigstein Comics, with a number of stories re-tooled and improved in terms of reproduction, and several new stories added. It also contains an extensive set of historical and editorial notes by editor Greg Sadowski. Page stats from Krigstein 's personal archives and a comic book checklist of the artist 's entire body of work round out this substantial volume.

Genres: Comics, Graphic Novels, Horror

272 pages, Paperback

First published March 27, 2013

Reviews

[GeorgeMarshall · Rating 3 out of 5]

What awful production! Krigstein's reputation rests on a handful of pioneering pieces which are deservedly acclaimed, but his wider range is variable and often not great. But the real problem here the coloring. It makes a big play on bringing the EC colorist Marie Severin out of retirement but her recoloring is often inferior to the originals (I am comparing with the Gemstone reissues) and throws the whole pallette at every frame. It fails in any way to utilise the nuance of modern printing. Coloring was always EC's weakness with large ugly blocks in intense reds and blues, which is why the best reissues are often black and white. Where this book keeps the original coloring it is exceptionally glaring when printed on glossy paper not the absorbant old newspulp. So Fantagraphics needed to either use the old coloring (muted to adapt to less absorbant paper) or radically rethink coloring with an excellent modern colorist. Its a shame as this could have been great.

[Kevin Blondel · Rating 5 out of 5]

MESSAGES IN A BOTTLE

PRINTING:
- Paperback;
- Colors.

CONTENT:
- Approximately 40 short stories;
- Approximately 250 pages;
- Closing notes.

PROS:
- A selection of the artist's most notable works;
- Recolored pages by EC Comics' renowned colorist;
- Editor's commentary and interview excerpts for context;
- Reproduction of original artworks.

CONS:
- Poor binding choice for such an important book;
- Regrettable omissions of specific stories.

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION:
- An introduction to one of the first true comic book artists;
- Inspired various contemporary authors with his storytelling philosophy.

TARGET AUDIENCE:
- Sequential Art students;
- Comic book specialists;
- Vintage comics enthusiasts.

RELATED READING:
- "Choke Gasp !" by Various Artists;
- "Asterios Polyp" by David Mazzucchelli.
- "Maus" by Art Spiegelman;

RECOMMENDATION:
* * * * *

[Andy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Krigstein is a major, major artist, but I think a better place to start is another Fantagraphics book, Master Race and Other Stories, which includes Krigstein's best work (many of which are included in Messages in a Bottle) and is in black-and-white. As other reviewers have mentioned, Messages contains some lesser stories (although not necessarily lesser artwork) and some serious coloring problems. If possible, start with Master Race. You'll discover that Krigstein was a genius.

[Kris Shaw · Rating 4 out of 5]

Bernie Krigstein did some groundbreaking work toward the latter part of his comic book career, challenging panel layouts and the length of comic book stories. Some of his later work had nineteen panels per page. Nineteen! He became frustrated with the industry's lack of reverence for it's own material as well as low page rates and went on to other fields. More's the pity for comic fans. Not surprisingly his best work was done for EC. This collection is not a complete overview of his work but does provide a healthy glimpse into the depth and breadth of his output. Recommended reading.

[Adam Sequoyah · Rating 2 out of 5]

Most of the stories are "meh" at best. But some are quite good.

MPA ratings:
PG-13 for violence and drug use
PG for language and smoking

[Konstantine · Rating 5 out of 5]

the stories vary in quality but the art only gets stronger. real crime how kriegstein’s career ended and his overall treatment

[The_Mad_Swede · Rating 5 out of 5]

I knew next to nothing about Krigstein when I picked up this volume at my local library. I had seen recommendations for it at online bookshops I use, and had added it to my wish lists to check it out at some later point. So, perhaps it was only logical that I jumped at the occasion when I found it. The volume is a collection of some of Krigstein's major works, spanning his career in comics (the material was originally published between 1943 and 1957), and consists of short pieces in a variety of genres, originally seen in various anthology titles.

When I started reading the volume, I did find the early pieces somewhat dated, and I consequently took it a bit slow. However, as I came further into the volume, it became more and more interested to see Krigstein's development as a cartoonist, his continuous pushing of the boundaries of the medium, and the personal artistic development inherent in this process; and ultimately I fell in love with his work. As such, this is a fantastic collection, which serves both as an excellent introduction to Krigstein as a cartoonist, and as a testament to his body of work.

The volume also closes with an extensive commentary on the included pieces (along with photostats and original art pages), by editor Greg Sadowski, who provides ample historical background and biographical detail to a seminal cartoonist, whom I had not even really heard of before.

Highly recommended!

[Stewart Tame · Rating 5 out of 5]

An excellent collection of work from one of the best artists of pre-1960s comics ever. Sadly, Krigstein had ideas ahead of his time and rarely got the support needed to bring his grander ideas to fruition. Yes, the oft-reprinted "Master Race", "The Flying Machine" and "Pipe Dream" are all here, but so are dozens of other stories from throughout his career. Everything is arranged chronologically, and one can see Krigstein's growth as an artist over the course of the book. Following the stories is a section of biographical notes and interview excerpts pertaining to each of the stories, illustrated with excerpts from original art and other stories not included in this volume. The book is rounded out by the original pencils for the entire story, "Poetic Justice," so that one can compare the pencils to the finished work. Also, since the story underwent a few edits due to content deemed unsuitable by the then-new Comics Code Authority, it's instructive to compare the finished version of the story to the original pencils and see just what the youth of America were shielded from. All in all, an exceptional book, collecting the work of a very talented artist.

[Chadwick · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is a promise of an alternative history for comics in America. Krigstein was one of a few artists who truly saw the potential for the development of the medium as something worthy of adult attention. These stories see him honing his skills and then playing with a dazzling variety of approaches to visual storytelling. If it wasn't for Frederick Wertham, Krigstein and his few true peers might have flourished into writing comics that took themselves seriously decades earlier than that happened in the US, and the medium wouldn't have the inextricable link to the superhero genre that it does.

[Michael · Rating 4 out of 5]

via NYPL - Great, great artwork. Krigstein is just so overlooked by casual fans, and such a revolutionary influence on how pages can be used. Fantagraphics did a fairly good job (where they had good material to work with) reproducing these strips. The writing varies from tale to tale, but on balance, it's passable to decent.

[Jen Vaughn · Rating 5 out of 5]

Finally more Krigstein!