Blood Song

by Eric Drooker, Joe Sacco (Introduction)

Escaping a military assault and journeying across the ocean to the Big City, a young woman falls in love with a saxophone player who is later arrested for making music, which is forbidden. By the American Book Award-winning author of Flood! Original. 25,000 first printing.

Genres: Graphic Novels, Comics, Fiction, Art, Fantasy, Graphic Novels Comics, War

304 pages, Paperback

First published November 1, 2002

Reviews

[Bogdan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Nice drawing style...

I guess that the story wants to be more than you may see in the first place...

If you`re in that kind of game I guess you`ll enjoy this one, If not, you will not loose anything if you miss this one...

[StrictlySequential · Rating 5 out of 5]

Hauntingly beautiful and evocative in it's extreme vision of the world's undoing.

I feel sorry for the Drookers because they are tragedy personified. When you are so determined to change politics you must do so scientifically. The art of politics is the use of the science whereas no politics are changed by art even close to directly. Putting your ideas out for others to morph into workable science will only let you down. As a GREAT ARTIST he is uncompromising yet to effect change in politics one must at least be able to envision the other sides to be able to bring causes to the MIDDLE where successful politics are shaped.

I don't remember what I rated Flood! but this is proof of an artist at maturation.

[Ryan Mishap · Rating 2 out of 5]

A graphic novel with no words, only pictures, most of which are beautiful. The story--a native (probably) girl from the southern hemisphere survives an army's attack on her village and travels to the big city up north.
I liked the idea of this and just to look at some of it, but the story itself wasn't executed well and the ending was trite.

[Kellie · Rating 5 out of 5]

The artwork is so simple, but conveys so much. The story truly is a ballad -- bittersweet, hopeful.

[Lianne · Rating 4 out of 5]

Such stunning artwork!

[Britarya · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved that so much it was so beautiful! and it was just pictures; really gorgeous pictures too :)

[Jackie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Without words and yet the story it tells is beautiful and universal. I highly recommend this graphic novel.

[Drew Canole · Rating 3 out of 5]

A silent comic with some really beautiful pages. The story was of a young woman who goes for water in what appears to be a Vietnamese village. Her village is attacked by armed men and she flees, eventually ending up in a city that brings to mind Manhattan. There she meets another oppressed person, a young black man who plays saxophone on the street corner (when he's not being harrassed by the police). He brings her back to his rooftop living space where he raises pigeons. They make love, the next day he's taken to prison while she realizes she's pregnant.

The story was a bit basic, but it is nice to read a silent comic that is simple! Those Lynd Ward woodcut novels I've been reading are hard to follow. This is a silent comic that doesn't need text at all.

[Neha]

One of the graphic novels I read for this unit was “Blood Song” by Eric Drooker and Joe Sacco. The genre is fiction, but the number of pages was not shown in the book. The setting of the book varies from the beginning to the end. At first, she is on an island covered in trees, and by the end she is in the big City. The novel starts off on an island, where a young woman walks around the woods with her bog. Suddenly, she realizes that there is a military assault on the island, and she quickly escapes by sea. In a small canoe with her dog, they row across the ocean into the unknown. Little does she know that she is heading towards the Big City. When she arrives, she walks around, looking out of place compared to the other people in the village. Soon, she meets a saxophone player and falls in love with him. Music is banned in the Big City; therefore, when the man she loves gets thrown into prison, the future of the young girl from the island is a mystery.

In my opinion, this graphic novel was extremely interesting. The settings were completely different, and the ending was a surprise to me. Each time I turned the page, I would be curious to see what will happen next. I really like the fact that her dog was with the main character at all times. I believe he represents a guard of some sort, or a good companion. The only thing I disliked about this novel was that I felt the beginning dragged on. For example: there were about ten pages illustrating the young girl and her dogs running in the woods. Overall though, I enjoyed this picture book, and even without words, it illustrated a powerful story.

[Loyd · Rating 4 out of 5]

A young girl fetching water in the tropics is transformed by the intrusion of invaders. The girl escapes to an industrialized city and finds common threads of love, loss and the essential continuity of life. The specifics (a dog, a forest, a man playing saxophone on a street corner) become universal. And what's universal is the true point of Blood Song. But this makes the story sound simple, which it isn't.

Blood Song, like the American Book Award-winning Flood before it, is a beautifully conceived wordless story by New Yorker cover artist Eric Drooker. Even without any prose to lead the way, you never get lost in the narrative--it's clear as spring water. Drooker's scratchboard-and-watercolor illustrations are incisive and vigorous, with a roughness that shapes and enhances the story.

Drooker has obvious precedents, most notably Lynd Ward (Gods' Man: A Novel in Woodcuts) and Frans Masereel (The Sun, The Idea & Story Without Words: Three Graphic Novels).

While far more politically-correct-left-of-center than I'd prefer (all the good people are people of color; all the villains are white men, police or soldiers), Eric Drooker is a true artist and well worth experiencing.

[Louis Monem · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a book with no words, it might seem like a book for little kids because it doesn't have any words but I can guarantee to you it is not for little kids. Since this book does not have any words you can make each image whatever you want it to be. In my opinion the book was about a young woman who escaped a military attack on her island. When she saw the military coming on to her island she bravely got in a boat with her dog and went across the ocean to get to the big city. In the big city she meets a saxophone player, in the book you can tell through the pictures that when he plays music it is joyful and it comes from the heart. When the police find him playing on the side of the road they told him he has to stop. The saxophone player does not stop he continues playing his music the police find out that he is still playing music and they put him in prison. Not sure what is going to happen next with the saxophone player and the young woman who loves him the book shows us the women pregnant at the end of the book.

I thought that this book was a very good book. I liked how there was no words, it was a new type of book that I have never tried before. I really enjoyed looking at the pictures and trying to understand what is happening in the book.

[Bradley · Rating 3 out of 5]

Comics that don’t use any dialogue attract me on principle. It’s sexy. Essentially it’s an art book. An art book trying to tell a story. When the style stays the same and you don’t jive with it that can break the back early on. Fortunately, I like the way this one panned out.

It’s simple and even the color scheme (predominately black and white) plays on the larger narrative of positive and negative that I see. And there’s a swap in colors. I also appreciate when the (brighter ) colors come out to play.

In terms of a narrative it speaks to the larger humanity. Yet I find that this is much like a Hero’s Journey where the sweetness lies in the journey itself. Plus there’s a dog which literally adds a star for me.

I could dive deeper, but to honor the simplicity of the art and style I’m gonna` keep my review just as short and sweet. I probably could, and should, have given the pages more attention. I liked it.

[Rosa · Rating 5 out of 5]

The artwork is beautiful and the story is moving and sad. There are no words in this book and each illustration speaks for itself. The illustrator manages to convey a lot of movement and emotion in his illustrations which make the story just leap of the page. The majority of the color palette is very monochramatic; drawing attention to the few splashes of color and helping keep the mind focused on the action. Just make sure you force yourself to slow down because there is a tendency to try to speed through it because of the lack of words.

[Peacegal · Rating 2 out of 5]

There's not much to say about this wordless graphic novel, other than it seems to be a heavy-handed parable about the Vietnam War and the police state. The artwork is pretty, but the story is just way to corny and simplistic for me, and the ending is terrible. Skip it.

[VJ · Rating 5 out of 5]

The world keeps turning.

[Flora · Rating 4 out of 5]

Absolutely beautiful artwork. Neat storytelling, conveyed without words.

[Heidi · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fantastically told graphic novel. What a journey this young woman and her dog have gone on! The overwhelming theme for me, was LIFE.

[Andy · Rating 2 out of 5]

Beautiful art. Great until the end, when it was clear it was written by a cisman.

Girls often have their first period very young. First period = You're a Woman Now kills girls.

[Pavel Pravda · Rating 4 out of 5]

cz&en

“Kde to jsme? V jihovýchodní Asii? A kdy? Možná v idylické době, kdy si vesničané brali jen to, co potřebovali, a nechali své prostředí tak, jak ho našli. Drookerovy snímky evokují situace, které jsou spíše univerzální než konkrétní. Nevyprávějí jen příběh jednoho nebo dvou daných míst, ale příběh bitvy mezi vitálními a ničivými silami, která zuří všude, kde lidé na naší planetě žijí.” - Joe Sacco

Knihu Blood Song jsem si chtěl pořídit hned po přečtení jeho skvělé Potopy! Erik Drooker dělá komiksy technikou škrábání a následně je vybarvuje akvarelem. Ve spojení s jeho scénáři to má vážně něco do sebe. Problém však byl s dostupností této knihy. Vydání od Dark Horse je absolutně nedostupné. Mě se nakonec podařilo sehnat knihu od francouzského nakladatelství Tanibis. Předmluvu ke knize napsal Joe Sacco.

Erik Drooker je levicový aktivista, a to se projevuje i na jeho scénářích. Příběh Blood Songu je o útlaku. Ať už mluvíme o útlaku domorodých obyvatel a vykořisťování třetího světa, nebo o útlaku “západního” obyvatelstva policií a represivními složkami. Příběh Blood Songu je vlastně hrozně jednoduchý, a přestože má kniha přes 300 stran, tak s ní budete hotovi za 10 minut. Stránky velmi často obsahují jen jeden panel a i dvoustrany jsou rozděleny do dvou panelů s tlustými černými okraji. Každý Drookerův panel je v podstatě umělecké dílo a mohl by viset v galerii. Drooker skrze ně vypráví spíše atmosféru, než dějem. Snad po celou třetinu knihy hlavní hrdinka jenom utíká. Utíká před vojáky a před zkázou, a vy otáčíte stránky jednu za druhou a nasáváte její strach, který ji žene stále dál a dál. Z tropického ráje až do betonové džungle velkoměsta. I přes velmi jednoduchý příběh mi ten komiks uvízl v hlavě na docela dlouho.

—

“Where are we here? South-East Asia? And when? An idyllic time, perhaps, when villagers took only what they needed and left their surroundings as they found them. Drooker's images seem to invoke settings that are more general than specific, emphasizing that this is not the story of one or two places, but of the opposing life-affirming and life-crushing forces that rage wherever people live on our planet.” - Joe Sacco

I wanted to buy the book Blood Song just after reading his great silent comics Flood! Erik Drooker makes comics using the scratch technique and then colors them with aquarel. In combination with his scripts, it's really amazing. However, the problem was with the availability of this book. The Dark Horse edition is absolutely unavailable. I finally managed to get the book from the French publisher Tanibis. The foreword to the book was written by Joe Sacco.

Erik Drooker is a far-left activist, and this is also reflected in his scripts. The story of Blood Song is about oppression. Whether we are talking about the oppression of indigenous peoples and the exploitation of the third world, or the oppression of the "Western" population by the police and repressive forces. The story of Blood Song is actually very simple, and although the book is over 300 pages long, you will be done with it in 10 minutes. The pages very often contain only one panel, and even double pages are divided into two panels with thick black borders. Each of Drooker's panels is essentially a work of art and could hang in a gallery. Drooker uses them to tell a story of atmosphere rather than plot. One third of the book, the main woman character is just running. She's running from soldiers and from destruction, and you turn the pages one after the other, absorbing her fear that drives her further and further. From a tropical paradise to the concrete jungle of a big city. Despite the very simple story, the comic stuck in my head for quite a while.

[Zach · Rating 3 out of 5]

First of all: Beautiful artwork.

Story wordlessly touches on far reaching and important themes including war, imperialism, the effects of a inequity in policing, consumerism, the importance of art and artistic expression owned by disenfranchised people; but it didn't really add anything new to any conversations. Perhaps that would be expecting a bit too much since it is entirely image based; but I felt like it had a lot of ideas and images but nothing new to say.

[LadyCalico · Rating 2 out of 5]

This was the literary equivalent of a bad street-mime performance art of shooting flies with cannons. This absurdist hyperbole without words, beyond the introductory quote, appears to have been done under the influence of excessive brain altering substances. The story stunk, but the graphics were commendable; the dude does exceptionally good dogs.

[Shannon · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a very quick read despite the physical thickness of the book. The graphics are simple and do not contain a lot of detail. I appreciate the lack of dialogue; this is a beautifully quiet book. However, it did not resonate strongly with me, and I felt outside of the characters.

[Brian · Rating 4 out of 5]

Drooker's work, like his predecessor Lynd Ward's, reads almost TOO fast. Wordless woodcut-like comics, telling a story of war crimes and metropolitan brutality, and the love that can be found in their midst. This one is pretty sparse compared to Drooker's FLOOD, but I liked it.

[Colleen Coughlin · Rating 3 out of 5]

Stunning graphics and intriguing occasional use of color. Oft-told tale for those familiar with internal colonization, coming of age, deforestation, and urbanization. Nothing particularly new or surprising in the tale. But the art makes the telling unfold in a solid approach.

[João Moura · Rating 4 out of 5]

Sem palavras, só ilustrações, um simples mas belo poema visual, sobre o ambiente, a indústria, a arte e o amor...

[Aurora · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not quite sure how to feel about this one. At least it’s very quick!

[Silvio · Rating 4 out of 5]

Life.

The dance of life.

Feel it.

[Robert Beveridge · Rating 4 out of 5]

Eric Drooker, Blood Song: A Silent Ballad (Harcourt, 2002)

I knew this book was going to annoy me while reading Joe Sacco's introduction (which, by the way, is excellent); he introduces Drooker as “hard-left” and goes on to explore the themes found here in light of that. And, as I expected after reading that-- I had no idea what the book was actually about when I grabbed it off the library shelf-- yeah, I found it intensely annoying. So why does a book that drove me bats get four stars?

Because it's not the tale, it's the way you tell the tale. Had I not first read Sacco's introduction, I might not have glommed onto everything Drooker was on about here, and thus, it wouldn't have annoyed me. Because Drooker knows how to tell a tale and let the politics bleed through. Which I find amazing, not because he did so, but because this is the second book I'm reviewing this week where a message writer actually gets it right (the other being China Mieville's Un Lun Dun).

Drooker's book-- which other than a Melville epigram on the opening page is entirely wordless-- concerns a young woman who lives in a small village somewhere. The first few pages show us a day in the life; a father catches fish and takes it home to the family, where it is cooked and eaten, and everyone goes to sleep. Normal stuff. The next morning, the girl goes off to get water. When she gets back to the village-- well, this is why I didn't know what was coming. The back matter doesn't spoil the story, so I'm not going to. I'll just say that things are not at all what they seem in this world. From there, the girl finds her way to a much larger city, and the latter half of the book concerns what happens to her there.

Drooker's genius lies in his ability to make a very muted palette of colors (with a few notable exceptions; there's a yellow butterfly who recurs throughout the story, for example) convey so much information, with no words involved. The girl is walking back through the forest with the water, and her trusty canine companion is chasing that yellow butterfly. Then, suddenly, both dog and butterfly stop at the edge of the woods. It seems like such a small thing, but subtle differences in the dog's posture, the sudden closing of the gap between them, hint at something momentous. That's good stuff right there. Very effective storytelling. Drooker also has a wonderful eye for pace (and reflecting the pace in the characters, such as the closing of the gap between the dog and the butterfly), and that, more than the wordlessness of the book, makes the pages fly by, for you will stop at regular intervals just to appreciate what it is Drooker is doing with the way his characters are portrayed. This is not to say Drooker doesn't get heavy-handed now and then (the framing pages of starting with the Milky Way, then drilling down to the scene, and going back up at the end), and my perverse conservative imp wants to intentionally misinterpret the final scene before that last pullout, but despite my distaste for the story itself-- which is manipulative and predictable-- when I closed the book, I knew I'd been in the presence of someone who does, surely know how to tell a story, and tell it well. ****

[Souheil Moufarrej · Rating 5 out of 5]

Throughout my reading lifetime I have always been an avid Graphic Novel reader. I have read a wide variety of Graphic Novel's, ranging from Manga to French Graphic Novels of Asterix and Obelix. But never have I read a Graphic Novel that has come close to such a novel. Blood Song is one of the most intricately drawn books that tells the story of an innocent young woman from a small island off the coast of the city, but finds herself in a predicament when her house is burnt down and must run away from the military that is storming her quaint innocent village. Such a woman is one of the only to escape and makes her way with her dog off to the city. As she walks through the city she is dumbfounded by most of what she sees but suddenly hears music that sounds familiar. She directs her attention to such a sound only to discover a tall dark figure of a man playing the saxophone. He sees her within the crowd and notices that she is out of place. He takes her to his place where they together share stories. She soon falls for this man vice versa and they begin to get intimate (if you know what I mean). The next morning he goes off to play for more tips as she stays in. The man is arrested and finds himself in prison. The woman on the other hand is confused as to why he hasn't come back and eventually just goes back to sleep. Time passes and the woman is pregnant, but still does not leave the house. The book ends calmly with the birth of a boy who resembles his father. All of this was told with simply illustrations, no words. Spectacular.

[John Hornbrook · Rating 3 out of 5]

Another graphic novel but this time its completely composed of graphics. There is not a single word in the entire book which is a refreshing change but it causes me to flip through the pages too often and the action becomes tiresome. Blood song is an artistic book with a distinct style throughout the book. The color and texture are what really gives the pictures its personality. The color, which always is a ghostly green, sets the mood for this dark events. The book starts focusing on a male fisherman but when he goes back to the house it switches to the female. She goes to get water and comes back to see her village being destroyed. She then runs away, something she does constantly through the story. She is always running away from the uniform whether it be policeman or soldier. Anyway she flees to a large city where the only happiness she finds is the of a singer who releases color into the bleak world thought his musical abilities. She is immediately drawn to him. They fall in love but once again the uniform steps in and takes her love away. She is left alone but by the end of the book a glimmer of hope arise, she has his son and the colorful notes come from his mouth as well. This sends a clear message; however hard the uniform tries to take away freedom/happiness they will never succeed. The book has a strong hippie, anti government feel to it. I felt it was an enjoyable read or rather a watch. The art did not particularly seem magnificent to me, it was almost repetitive and un necessary at times but by no means bad. Its a good book for anyone really into art.