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Under stjernerne
- GenresComics
104 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2014
3 people want to read
About the author
John Porcellino
55 books211 followersJOHN PORCELLINO was born in Chicago, in 1968, and has been writing, drawing, and publishing minicomics, comics, and graphic novels for over twenty-five years. His celebrated self-published series
King-Cat Comics
, begun in 1989, has inspired a generation of cartoonists.
Diary of a Mosquito Abatement Man
, a collection of King-Cat stories about Porcellino’s experiences as a pest control worker, won an Ignatz Award in 2005, and
Perfect Example
, first published in 2000, chronicles his struggles with depression as a teenager.
Thoreau at Walden
is a poetic expression of the great philosopher’s experience and ideals, and
King-Cat Classix
and
Map of My Heart
, published by Drawn and Quarterly, comprise the first two volumes of a comprehensive King-Cat history.
According to cartoonist Chris Ware, "John Porcellino's comics distill, in just a few lines and words, the feeling of simply being alive."
According to cartoonist Chris Ware, "John Porcellino's comics distill, in just a few lines and words, the feeling of simply being alive."
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Displaying 1 of 1 review
July 10, 2014
A best-of collection of all the comics that the American john Porcellino has published in his record breaking, long.running self-published mini comic King Cat Comics & Stories.
Story:
This books contains over forty short comics, varying in length form one page to twelve, presented in chronological order, from the oldest, which was drawn in 1989, to the newest from 2011. The subject matter is often autobiographical, with short, slice-of-life contemplations, but there are also stories about greek philosophers, Jesus and other notable figures of history/myth.
Art:
The black and white art is crude in the earliest stories, and not surprisingly, becomes more polished as the years roll by. Porcellino works himself towards a stripped down, naive style, seemingly drawn with the same thin pen, without any crosshatching or areas of black. The result is enticing, and very distinctive. You recognise a drawing by Porcellino immediately, which is something I really appreciate. Art in comics can be like handwriting, and I always like it when the art is distinctively unique, which it is here.
Critique:
The early stories were sometimes interesting, sometimes just strange and/or uninteresting. But the further I got, the better the comics got, and at the end I was really taken by the visual poems that Porcellino can create. His contemplations on everyday occurrences, often without a traditional narrative are beautiful to behold and are the kind of comics that I would like to show to people not reading comics, as proof of what can be done in this art form, even though it's sadly very rarely anyone actually does.
So, the books can be read as an insight into the artistic journey of Porcellino, and as such it's fine. I would have liked it to focus more on the latter comics, though.
Comments:
I have really enjoyed the books from the Danish publisher Damgaard that I have read and reviewed these last few days, but here I stumbled upon a problem. The longer I got into this book and these stories turn into visual poems with a few, well-chosen words, I find that the comics seems to loose something in translation. It's not that the translations are bad, it's just a feeling that I end up further away from the original ideas. I will try to get a chance to read the big English language collection of King Cat Comics that has been sitting on my to-read shelf for a long time, in a few days and see if this hunch is actually true.
Story:
This books contains over forty short comics, varying in length form one page to twelve, presented in chronological order, from the oldest, which was drawn in 1989, to the newest from 2011. The subject matter is often autobiographical, with short, slice-of-life contemplations, but there are also stories about greek philosophers, Jesus and other notable figures of history/myth.
Art:
The black and white art is crude in the earliest stories, and not surprisingly, becomes more polished as the years roll by. Porcellino works himself towards a stripped down, naive style, seemingly drawn with the same thin pen, without any crosshatching or areas of black. The result is enticing, and very distinctive. You recognise a drawing by Porcellino immediately, which is something I really appreciate. Art in comics can be like handwriting, and I always like it when the art is distinctively unique, which it is here.
Critique:
The early stories were sometimes interesting, sometimes just strange and/or uninteresting. But the further I got, the better the comics got, and at the end I was really taken by the visual poems that Porcellino can create. His contemplations on everyday occurrences, often without a traditional narrative are beautiful to behold and are the kind of comics that I would like to show to people not reading comics, as proof of what can be done in this art form, even though it's sadly very rarely anyone actually does.
So, the books can be read as an insight into the artistic journey of Porcellino, and as such it's fine. I would have liked it to focus more on the latter comics, though.
Comments:
I have really enjoyed the books from the Danish publisher Damgaard that I have read and reviewed these last few days, but here I stumbled upon a problem. The longer I got into this book and these stories turn into visual poems with a few, well-chosen words, I find that the comics seems to loose something in translation. It's not that the translations are bad, it's just a feeling that I end up further away from the original ideas. I will try to get a chance to read the big English language collection of King Cat Comics that has been sitting on my to-read shelf for a long time, in a few days and see if this hunch is actually true.
Displaying 1 of 1 review