Paper Rad: Cartoon Workshop Pig Tales Digest

by Paper Rad (Artist), Donald Baechler (Foreword)

Comic strips, psychedelic imagery and lo-fi digital wizardry from the Paper Rad collective This follow-up to the Paper Rad collective's recent hit, Paper Rad, B.J. and da Dogs , is both a return to form and a move forward. Comic strips, psychedelic imagery and the group's trademark lo-fi digital wizardry lend Pig Tales Digest the feeling of an old-school variety show. Bounding from stories, to suites of gag cartoons, to drawings of Alf, Miss Piggy and other pixillated creatures, this book literally ricochets between silly humor and serious satire, raising the house style of exuberant digital Neo-Primitivism to new heights. This well-priced, accessible sampler, featuring an introduction by the artist Donald Baechler, is sure to reach a wide audience.

Genres: Comics, Art, Graphic Novels

96 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2007

About the author

American art collective that produces a variety of materials. The main members are Jacob Ciocci, Jessica Ciocci, and Ben Jones.

Reviews

[Kevin · Rating 3 out of 5]

Brimming with creativity and the art has a psychedelic punk flavor that I really like. Always fun when you can tell something was borne out of a hyper-specific time period without checking. This here is a real-deal, chemically pure work of art from the Year of our Lord 2007. No later, no earlier. These comics crawled out of the primordial ooze of Pac-Sun and chunky DC shoes, Newgrounds and ebaumsworld.com. You can almost smell the generalized hatred of George Bush on the paper.
As much as I love the aesthetic and philosophic ethos of this collection, I must address the elephant in the room...which is that it's a complete mess. The attempts at narrative are very amateurish and bad and actively detract from the overall experience. Luckily, I have an ace up my sleeve that allows me to overlook this major fault: not caring. I'm choosing to view this weird and incoherent book as historical artifact rather than as a serious, polished artwork. What are you going to do about it? Call the cops on me? Tell them to shoot me dead?

2.5/5

[Mark Desrosiers · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love Paper Rad: they are the takers-away of pain and the givers-back of beauty. This particular volume "reads" like the Inferno as rendered by a dextrous, mildly observant tapeworm. From the shape-shifting pigs forming a noisy "Lap Band" to the melting Sufi agent beset by an exploding Mars rock -- the whole saga is nightmarish and silly, often within the same half-cocked SuperPaint-drenched pane. But it never feels like a wank-fest.

In fact, it feels like magic. The magic of night sweats.

[Aaron · Rating 4 out of 5]

If you're familiar with this group, you know what to expect. If not, understand that, like most experimental lit, you trade more stable conventions of storytelling for some aesthetic ecstasy. Paper Rad remains fresh ten years later because they are so off the wall and unpredictable. The visuals here are almost painful in their originality. Having finally read a book of theirs, I'm blown away by how influential they are in alternative comics that are being published today. I'm sure their influence will not fade any time soon.

[Conant · Rating 5 out of 5]

Absolutely amazing book, one of my favorites with it quickly landing a spot in my top 5. Everything I adore about Jessica Cioccis art is present here. I love it so much.

[Miguel Arsénio · Rating 3 out of 5]

Some nice stoner comics that confused me a bit (perhaps that's the purpose). Cartoon Workshop is better that the other half.

[Sara · Rating 3 out of 5]

Funny, weird, very paper rad. I liked BJ and Da Dogz better, but this is good too. I don't know why it's so hard for me to give this more than three stars. My "i'm glad this exists" meter is maxed out on paper rad's stuff. My "this is my favorite thing ever" meter is not quite as thrilled.

[Christopher · Rating 5 out of 5]

I became aware of the reality of magic.