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Nobrow #8
NOBROW 8: Hysteria
I think we can all agree what the prevalent mood is these days, and why the hell not? The world seems to be taking a turn for the worse . . . so we let sixteen of the world's leading comic creators and more than thirty of the very best illustrators take the theme for a whirl, hoping they would shed some light.
Covers by Max Capdevilla and Karine Bernadou
Nobrow 8 contains over sixty pages of comics and sixty pages of illustration
Now with the added dimension of graphic storytelling, it appeals to a much wider market of comics enthusiasts and fans of graphic storytelling
Covers by Max Capdevilla and Karine Bernadou
Nobrow 8 contains over sixty pages of comics and sixty pages of illustration
Now with the added dimension of graphic storytelling, it appeals to a much wider market of comics enthusiasts and fans of graphic storytelling
128 pages, Paperback
First published May 14, 2013
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
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December 9, 2013[A version of this review, in German, appeared in the Swiss comics journal STRAPAZIN.]
Comics anthologies are a tough sell. Literally. A few years ago Brett Warnock, founder of Top Shelf, one of the more successful small-press publishers in the US, confided to me, “Anthologies have always been one of my passions but, sadly, they are just not commercially sustainable.” His confession was an ironic one: Top Shelf began its life as a wonderful (eponymous) comics anthology.
However difficult anthologies may be as a commercial proposition, it seems that artists and serious comics readers love them. A good anthology is a “Wunderkammer” of graphic storytelling, an opportunity to highlight a variety of artistic styles along with the curatorial sensibility of its editor. And short comics stories showcase different voices—lyrical, personal sketch, brief narrative, formal play—in counterpoint to the long-form “graphic novel.”
Some of the comics I have most enjoyed, and most re-read, have been anthologies: Raw, Blab, Cheval Sans Tête, Boxer, Kramers Ergot, Drozophile, Actus Tragicus, and Drawn & Quarterly. (D&Q is another example of a publishing house that began as an anthology.) Many of the best anthologies had significant influence on the evolution of serious comics art, though none of them lasted very long—Lapin and Zero Zero are two notable exceptions.
In spite of the inauspicious forecast, there is a new candidate for “Best English Language Anthology Comic”: Nobrow, published by Nobrow Ltd. (Are we seeing a publisher/anthology naming theme here?) The eighth issue of this superb smorgasbord of graphical goodness is now available, and you should find a copy quickly because Nobrow are limited editions and tend to sell out quickly. It’s difficult to review an anthology, so let me just say that #8, dedicated to the theme of “Hysteria,” is just fantastic.
While not quite as large as, say Raw, Nobrow packs a punch: this issue’s vibrant Max cover will take over your coffee table, and the contents live up to the packaging: visually arresting and formally inventive short stories ranging from slice-of-life to surreal, in styles as divergent as painterly, illustrative, animated, and “cute brut.” Almost all of the cartoonists here are new to me, and I would be eager to see more work from all of them, especially Karine Bernadou, Andrew Waugh, Dustin Harbin, and Kyle Smart. (The table of contents nicely lists websites for each artist: a 21st Century innovation that’s both more useful and more succinct than the traditional resume/bio page.)
But wait (as the old knife commercial goes), there’s more! Flip the book over and the other half is devoted to lush, full-bleed illustrations, also on the theme of “Hysteria,” and in an even wider range of styles than the comics. It turns out that Nobrow started out, five years ago, as a platform for design and illustration work; comics only got worked into the mix later. (See their superb website at www.nobrow.net for more background.) I am the happy owner of the now-impossible-to-find first two issues of Nobrow, which have no narrative content at all, but are an art director’s fantasy. While mass produced, the anthology still comes across as an art object or artist’s book, due in part to a sophisticated printing technique that uses a Pantone-based separation process to deliver impossibly rich flat color. It’s like silkscreen without the smell.
I have great hopes for Nobrow Ltd., not that they appear to need me pulling for them. In addition to their wonderful flagship anthology, the publishing house has cultivated a smart and diverse catalogue of graphic novels and children’s books; Luke Pearson’s delightful “Hilda” series, with its plucky young heroine adventuring through Nordic folklore, has been especially successful. This publisher’s business strategy is a savvy hybrid—Top Shelf meets RAW—and sales have been robust enough that they are opening a New York City office soon. Nobrow’s future is bright, and they just may have discovered a way to do the impossible: make an excellent art comics anthology commercially viable. Bravo!
Comics anthologies are a tough sell. Literally. A few years ago Brett Warnock, founder of Top Shelf, one of the more successful small-press publishers in the US, confided to me, “Anthologies have always been one of my passions but, sadly, they are just not commercially sustainable.” His confession was an ironic one: Top Shelf began its life as a wonderful (eponymous) comics anthology.
However difficult anthologies may be as a commercial proposition, it seems that artists and serious comics readers love them. A good anthology is a “Wunderkammer” of graphic storytelling, an opportunity to highlight a variety of artistic styles along with the curatorial sensibility of its editor. And short comics stories showcase different voices—lyrical, personal sketch, brief narrative, formal play—in counterpoint to the long-form “graphic novel.”
Some of the comics I have most enjoyed, and most re-read, have been anthologies: Raw, Blab, Cheval Sans Tête, Boxer, Kramers Ergot, Drozophile, Actus Tragicus, and Drawn & Quarterly. (D&Q is another example of a publishing house that began as an anthology.) Many of the best anthologies had significant influence on the evolution of serious comics art, though none of them lasted very long—Lapin and Zero Zero are two notable exceptions.
In spite of the inauspicious forecast, there is a new candidate for “Best English Language Anthology Comic”: Nobrow, published by Nobrow Ltd. (Are we seeing a publisher/anthology naming theme here?) The eighth issue of this superb smorgasbord of graphical goodness is now available, and you should find a copy quickly because Nobrow are limited editions and tend to sell out quickly. It’s difficult to review an anthology, so let me just say that #8, dedicated to the theme of “Hysteria,” is just fantastic.
While not quite as large as, say Raw, Nobrow packs a punch: this issue’s vibrant Max cover will take over your coffee table, and the contents live up to the packaging: visually arresting and formally inventive short stories ranging from slice-of-life to surreal, in styles as divergent as painterly, illustrative, animated, and “cute brut.” Almost all of the cartoonists here are new to me, and I would be eager to see more work from all of them, especially Karine Bernadou, Andrew Waugh, Dustin Harbin, and Kyle Smart. (The table of contents nicely lists websites for each artist: a 21st Century innovation that’s both more useful and more succinct than the traditional resume/bio page.)
But wait (as the old knife commercial goes), there’s more! Flip the book over and the other half is devoted to lush, full-bleed illustrations, also on the theme of “Hysteria,” and in an even wider range of styles than the comics. It turns out that Nobrow started out, five years ago, as a platform for design and illustration work; comics only got worked into the mix later. (See their superb website at www.nobrow.net for more background.) I am the happy owner of the now-impossible-to-find first two issues of Nobrow, which have no narrative content at all, but are an art director’s fantasy. While mass produced, the anthology still comes across as an art object or artist’s book, due in part to a sophisticated printing technique that uses a Pantone-based separation process to deliver impossibly rich flat color. It’s like silkscreen without the smell.
I have great hopes for Nobrow Ltd., not that they appear to need me pulling for them. In addition to their wonderful flagship anthology, the publishing house has cultivated a smart and diverse catalogue of graphic novels and children’s books; Luke Pearson’s delightful “Hilda” series, with its plucky young heroine adventuring through Nordic folklore, has been especially successful. This publisher’s business strategy is a savvy hybrid—Top Shelf meets RAW—and sales have been robust enough that they are opening a New York City office soon. Nobrow’s future is bright, and they just may have discovered a way to do the impossible: make an excellent art comics anthology commercially viable. Bravo!
January 26, 2021
I randomly stumbled upon it while looking for the Luke Pearson comic Hilda. It is a collection of comics and art by many different creator with their take on Hysteria. It is pretty fitting them for this time in the world. It is also definitely has adult views and themes.
December 24, 2014
An amazingly diverse anthology of comics and illustrations, all centered around the theme of Hysteria. The book is split into two halves: comics, and illustration. The book is meant to be flipped over halfway through, but the choice of which half to read first is left up to the reader. I confess I looked through the illustration half first. The entire book covers a wide array of styles. I have to admit that none of the creators were familiar to me, and I've been reading comics for a long time. There's some really good work here, though, and I look forward to seeing more. Everything skews toward the artsy end of the comics spectrum, and the book as a whole reminds me of the classic issues of Raw back in the day, which is not a bad thing. This will not be everyone's cup of tea, but it's definitely worth checking out if you're curious.
May 25, 2015
I have seen this book in the library for months now. I had zero intention of ever picking it up. The cover was weird, which is really the only judgment I had on this book.
I was so wrong.
I'm really glad I picked this up, because of how weird it is.
If anyone has ever read Love & Rockets, or anything> by the Hernandez Brothers...You may have a taste for really weird, out-there comics. The night before I read this, I read volume 3 of Love & Rockets, which had a really strange bestiality story. The next day I saw the back cover of this book with the elongated, nude female body with a wolf mask tied to her face. Naturally, I was like "what the fuck do we have here?!" thinking that it would be equally just a strange and fucked up.
I was right, this book is fucked up! But in a way that totally gets you hooked!!
Now, just a heads up. You won't be able to tell which is the cover. Wolf tits is the back. But it really doesn't matter, because halfway through you flip it over and start over again.
I don't know which side I loved more. There was one half that had no words, just pictures with really ambiguous themes. I think that might have been my favorite half. But the comics half was just as good, and addressed just as many issues, but these issues addressed were smaller things, like hating your job, your friends are dicks, maybe you're a germaphobe. The book looked at these issues in a really interesting way.
My favorite part about the half of the book with no words is that it's up to you to decide what the story really is, what is really happening in the picture. The themes are sometimes very obvious, you can see what all it is addressing. But the rest is for you personally to figure out.
The very best part?
The meaning you and I can both get from these pictures will be incredibly different. And I think that is an amazing thing that all of these artists put together.
I was so wrong.
I'm really glad I picked this up, because of how weird it is.
If anyone has ever read Love & Rockets, or anything> by the Hernandez Brothers...You may have a taste for really weird, out-there comics. The night before I read this, I read volume 3 of Love & Rockets, which had a really strange bestiality story. The next day I saw the back cover of this book with the elongated, nude female body with a wolf mask tied to her face. Naturally, I was like "what the fuck do we have here?!" thinking that it would be equally just a strange and fucked up.
I was right, this book is fucked up! But in a way that totally gets you hooked!!
Now, just a heads up. You won't be able to tell which is the cover. Wolf tits is the back. But it really doesn't matter, because halfway through you flip it over and start over again.
I don't know which side I loved more. There was one half that had no words, just pictures with really ambiguous themes. I think that might have been my favorite half. But the comics half was just as good, and addressed just as many issues, but these issues addressed were smaller things, like hating your job, your friends are dicks, maybe you're a germaphobe. The book looked at these issues in a really interesting way.
My favorite part about the half of the book with no words is that it's up to you to decide what the story really is, what is really happening in the picture. The themes are sometimes very obvious, you can see what all it is addressing. But the rest is for you personally to figure out.
The very best part?
The meaning you and I can both get from these pictures will be incredibly different. And I think that is an amazing thing that all of these artists put together.
August 10, 2016
Some amazing work by so many artists and I'm sad I have only heard of two of them. Nobrow has come up with a way of printing in such bright, rich tones, that the colors are a big part of the draw. But it may not be to everyones taste and many works seem to have only 6 to 8 colors. Which makes me wonder if the original works are as limited or if changes have been made for printing. I don't mean this as a negative, I like art done with a limited color scheme. There is only one other review for this book on site right now and he does a better job than me. Read his review. And if you like good new short comics and enjoy illustration, this is one of the best books on the market now that Mome is gone. Buy it.
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews