Shrimpy and Paul and Friends

by Marc Bell

Shrimpy est petit et méchant. Paul est grand et gentil quoiqu'un brin dépressif. Drôles, passionnés, surréalistes, les petits personnages de Marc Bell en font des tonnes et bien plus encore... Leur maison est une cocotte-minute dans laquelle la vie explose de tous bords, un peu à la manière d'un vieux dessin animé de la Warner Bros. Paul perd ses tétons sans lesquels il dépérit à vue d'œil. Les ib-ubs envahissent la maison et y construisent des tours gigantesques, Chia-man déclare son amour à Miss Polly un soir d'ivresse et bien d'autres histoires grotesques et pas sérieuses du tout. L'important, c'est avant tout le comique de situation à travers une référence sous-jacente aux films d'animation des années 1930-1940.

Genres: Comics, Graphic Novels, Canada

174 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2003

Reviews

[Dominick · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was hard to rate. The book is a mix of the amusing, the baffling, and the downright irritating, as Bell provides surreal, almost stream-of-conscious "narratives" (defining the term loosely) about the title characters--whatever they are. Paul looks like a big-nippled sausage with legs (in one story, his nipples are stolen, his life force ebbs out of the holes where they were, and when they are restored, the life force of his twin brother is contained in one of them, and that captures only a fraction of the bizarreness--if that sounds like your sort of story, the rest of the book measures up), Shrimpy like a blank-faced homunculus in a snow suit (with ass flap); Shrimpy spouts bizarre non-sequiturs, has incomprehensible obsessions, and might be charitably described as sociopathic, or perhaps autistic. Sometimes the surreal or absurd can reach sublime heights. Here, more often than not it just seems like weirdness for its own sake. Some of the letters Bell has received over the years (and included in the book, to his credit) suggest that the stuff comes across like an acid trip. I'll take the correspondents' word for that, but I can't disagree that a lot of this feels like the random rambling someone stoned might come up with. Some of it feels like deliberately too hip to be hip stuff, the sort of "humour" where the joke (supposedly) is that there's nothing at all funny about the weirdness one is reading. Nevertheless, it is amusing at times, more than a bit creepy (in a good way) at others (one character especially, Kevin, comes across as a freakshow version of a Fleischer cartoon, with inexplicably unsettling results), and fairly clearly the work of an accomplished and sophisticated cartoonist--deliberate (?) crudeness of style aside. Nevertheless, this is not a book for all tastes; stay away if you don't have a high tolerance for bizarreness for its own sake.

[Maureen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Marc Bell is a mad genius. I don't know how he produces as much material as he does, at such a consistently high caliber. His humor, crude yet somehow refined drawing skills and wild imagination keep bringing me back. He's amazing.

[Marc Kavanagh · Rating 5 out of 5]

Marc Bell mixes traditional cartoon illustration with the absurd, and he is the master of both. One of the most impressive things about this collection is it’s refusal to be stuck in time. Most of these comics were written and released in the mid 90’s but feel like they could’ve been released yesterday. Bell’s ability to fill a frame really shines in the story “The Mighty Kingdom of Shrimpy-UB” but one of my favourites is the story “Why it’s Kevin…” both are illustrated masterfully and jam packed with wild word playa bud even wilder names! A must read for anyone interested in art comics, and a master class of references for anyone trying to dial in their hand and shoe drawings.

[Diego Munoz · Rating 4 out of 5]

Well drawn, interesting but strange comic. Cant really say that I comprehended what I just read, although it was kind of enjoyable. I do like his drawing style, but wished for a tad more clarity at times. Reminded me of Jim Woodring at times.

[Alessandro Andreola · Rating 4 out of 5]

Drogas.

[Mieke Hooghe · Rating 4 out of 5]

Especially enjoyed the nipples.

[Dmitria Guimarães · Rating 3 out of 5]

não uso droga o suficiente pra isso!

[osterplana · Rating 4 out of 5]

cool cool - extra star for the scrapbook at the end which is so ! pretty !

[Carolyn · Rating 3 out of 5]

Magic Bologna, goose gravy, a sausage with nipples and sidekick who looks like a gnocchi; all from the mind of Marc Bell.

I question (like many others) as to the state of Bell's mind when he created this, ummmm, interesting?... collection of stories ( I think perhaps some serious weapon's grade magic 'shrooms were involved with this particular ...ahem... Journey?).

As odd as this was ( and downright crude at times ), once all sense of any kind of reality is suspended you are in for some giggles. Three is too low.. Four is too high...but I would definitely read this one again for the sheer absurdity within its pages.

[Nora · Rating 5 out of 5]

Really strange graphic novel, with nipples that shoot lasers, I love it

[Brent · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is super awesome. Shrimpy has a smug face.

[Arpad Okay · Rating 5 out of 5]

ironically the least high of all the marc bell books