Walrus: Brandon Graham's All Bum Album

by Brandon Graham (Artist)

Brandon Graham (born 1976) was widely acclaimed for his book "King City," with "Publishers Weekly" calling Graham "one of the most inventive action cartoonists working." "Walrus," his first art book, serves as a handbook to his visual and verbal world, a punning, humorous and sexy metropolis comprised of machines, logos, women and bumbling men, all cast in an alternate sci-fi universe.

Genres: Comics, Graphic Novels, Comic Book, Art

112 pages, Paperback

First published April 30, 2013

About the author

Brandon Graham (born 1976) is an American comic book creator.

Born in Oregon, Graham grew up in Seattle, Washington, where he was a graffiti artist. He wrote and illustrated comic books for Antarctic Press and Radio Comix, but got his start drawing pornographic comics like Pillow Fight and Multiple Warheads (Warheads would go on to become its own comic published by Oni Press in 2007). In 1997, he moved to New York City where he found work with NBM Publishing and became a founding member of comics collective Meathaus. His book Escalator was published by Alternative Comics in January 2005, when he returned to Seattle. His book King City was published by Tokyopop in 2007 and was nominated for an Eisner Award. In May 2009 Graham announced that King City would continue publication at Image Comics and his Oni Press title Multiple Warheads would resume publication after a delay, this time in color. Also at Image he is the writer on Prophet, the return of a 1990s series, with the rotating roster of artists Giannis Milonogiannis, Farel Dalrymple, Simon Roy, and himself.

(Source: Wikipedia)

Reviews

[Jamil · Rating 4 out of 5]

Brandon Graham just makes you want to draw. He's infectious.

[Eric Mesa · Rating 5 out of 5]

If you're purchased comic artists' sketch books before, you probably have a good idea of what you're going to get. However, unlike other sketch books I've seen, this one contains little mini-comics scattered among the more traditional sketches. It's also neat that he includes some sketches his wife has drawn since they often draw together. Also fun - his reinterpretations of some Marvel and DC characters.

It's enlightening to see what he does to get himself geared up for projects where he's drawing.

Of note, Brandon Graham used to be a porn artist before he started doing more mainstream (if still adult-oriented) comics. Unless I missed a page somewhere, there isn't any pornographic content in this sketchbook, but there is nudity (mostly female, but there are a few penises to be seen here and there). I would be OK showing it to my kids if they were around middle school or older because it's just nudity rather than pornography - but that may vary and I just wanted to warn potential buyers ahead of time. It may be a pointless warning (who would buy a sketchbook of an artist they didn't know about?), but I think a fair warning nonetheless.

[Tom · Rating 4 out of 5]

Largely excerpts from Graham's sketchbooks, but also including some finished art, Walrus shows Graham to be an excellent draughtsman influenced by Moebius in particular and manga in general. No real stories here, so I can't evaluate his story-telling abilities, but as a craftsman's workbook, it strongly suggests that he has the artwork half of the equation down.

[Leif · Rating 4 out of 5]

Extremely talented and somewhat too clever, Brandon Graham impresses me. This book is just what I wanted.
It is neat to see when someone likes the same stuff you do AND is a great artist.
I have no problem with his butt obsession.
The stuff with his wife and drawing each other was quite sweet.
Thank you, Brandon Graham and your pixie-wife, M.C.

[Matt Graupman · Rating 4 out of 5]

It's pretty clear from his pun-filled comics and his chaotic Tumblr and Twitter posts that there's a lot going on in Brandon Graham's head. "Walrus" confirms this by collecting some of his equally imaginative sketchbook pages alongside a few samples of more refined or completely finished work. I'm always so jealous of artists with really intricate sketchbooks (it's something I aspire to do myself) and Brandon's is absolutely incredible. There's cute half-naked ladies, bulbous alien landscapes, an army of droids, and some things that even defy description. The most interesting part is the last few pages where he tinkers around with different styles and lists his future artistic goals. It's refreshing to see such an accomplished creator continue to explore and push himself. I'll check out anything and everything he makes.

[Damon · Rating 3 out of 5]

I love Brandon Graham. As a result, as I do with all artists I love, I bought this published sketchbook collection. And, as with most of them, as I was reading it, I wondered "Why did I buy this??" I guess I always hope for that secret glimpse into the artistic mind, or the lost works which have never seen daylight before, and I think maybe to some extent you see a bit of both here? But... I dunno. This isn't unpleasant to flip through by any means, but (to quote a good friend) there's not a lot of "there" there. A few snippets of "lost" stories near the end, but even for a Graham completist like me, nothing to get too excited about.

[Drew · Rating 4 out of 5]

Really, really great stuff. Makes me wish I would sit down and draw more. I really liked getting a look into Graham's warm-up/sketch illustrations.

[Neal · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a book for Graham completists only. Kind of a peek inside his process and the workings of his mind, along with some odds and ends he published in smaller anthologies.

[Alexander · Rating 4 out of 5]

Light fun zen. A fair amount of sex peppered with cutesy puns and a little self deprecating humour. It's always a pleasure reading Brandon Graham's work :)

[Z · Rating 5 out of 5]

sooo beautiful <3