Madman's Drum: A Novel in Woodcuts

Woodcuts #2

by Lynd Ward

"Ward is ranked among the finest American wood engravers of the 20th century." — artoftheprint.com
One of the finest American wood engravers of the twentieth century and an outstanding artist of any era, Lynd Ward (1905-85) created a series of fantastic visual novels. The powerful imagery and psychological intensity of his wordless works have elicited comparisons to the writings of Hawthorne, Melville, and Poe, and they have exercised an enormous influence over latter-day graphic novelists.
Ward's tutelage included studying under the direction of German woodcut and engraving master Hans Alexander Mueller. He published his first book, Gods' A Novel in Woodcuts, in 1929. Like its successors, including Mad Man's Drum, Gods' Man consists solely of Ward's woodcuts, telling its story through imagery alone.
Ward's hauntingly rendered works have been honored with such prestigious awards as the Library of Congress Award, the National Academy of Design Print Award, the New York Times Best Illustrated Award, the Caldecott Medal, and the Regina Award.

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

144 pages, Paperback

First published September 8, 1930

About the author

LYND WARD (1905-1985) illustrated more than two hundred books for children and adults throughout his prolific career. Winner of the Caldecott Medal for his watercolors in The Biggest Bear, Mr. Ward was also famous for his wood engravings, which are featured in museum collections throughout the United States and abroad.

Married to May Yonge McNeer, several of whose works he illustrated. https://www.goodreads.com/author/show...

Reviews

[Mahdiye HajiHosseini · Rating 5 out of 5]

قبلا تو مجموعه سه تایی اول خونده بودمش و به حد کافی حرف زدم در موردشون، اما این داستان روایتش پیچیده بود و منم تایم کافی روش نذاشته بودم و احساس میکردم بخش‌هاییش رو نفهمیدم. دوباره خوندم و بیشتر فهمیدم. حقیقتا چشم نواز.

[Drew Canole · Rating 4 out of 5]

The story is a bit hard to follow, but should reward repeat reads. The artwork is second to none, wonderful detailed work.

[Jeff · Rating 5 out of 5]

I’m making my way through some wordless books (some woodcuts, some scratchboards) courtesy of a friend and comics collector. This is a whole new world for me!

Lyn Ward’s “Gods’ Man” was my introduction to the medium. This one is just as good, though I think I like “Gods’ Man” a bit more. This is another stark black and white woodcut story. It tells the story of a slaver who kills an African, steals his drum, and brings it back home to Europe. He dies and the focus of the story shifts to his son, who is driven mad by the drum. He rejects Christian religion but seems to embrace some kind of mystical beliefs. All of his family dies. At this point the narrative gets a bit difficult to decipher.

I had to reread it 2-3 times to fully get it. I think this is going to be my new norm when reading wordless texts.

[Jim · Rating 4 out of 5]

Sometimes a pictures is worth a thousand words. Sometimes, on the other hand, a sentence or two is needed to explain a picture. This is the case with Lynd Ward's Mad Man's Drum: A Novel in Woodcuts. It tells the story of a slave trader who marries and lives a respectable life in what appears to be a New England town. His child becomes a bookworm and marries in turn. Here the story becomes a bit murky: Is it his son in turn who is arrested for labor unrest and hanged?

Whatever the machinations of the plot, Lynd Ward's woodcuts are phenomenal; and the woodblock prints are wonderfully designed. Unfortunately, it is not always easy to tell a detailed story with them alone.

[Curmudgeon · Rating 3 out of 5]

Some striking images, but after the rather straightforward beginning, it becomes nearly impossible to figure out what is going on, or what relation the new characters that appear have to the protagonist. (What's with the crazy guy with the clarinet? Surely he didn't steal it off some soon-to-be-enslaved African as well?) I think part of the problem is that Ward's art style tends to make all the characters look similar, rending their clothing and hairstyles the only things distinguishing them from one another. It is also hard to tell what precisely is going on in some of the images at certain points in the story. I suppose it might make more sense after multiple very slow, very close readings, but it seems to be a bit too much work to put in for a story that does not seem particularly deep, due to the natural limitations of the medium.

[Orçun Güzer · Rating 4 out of 5]

"Wordless novel" or "a novel without words" is the precursor of modern graphic novel. The first examples were produced by woodcut technique, which was re-popularized by German expressionists at those times. American Lynd Ward, as his two masters in visual storytelling, Flemish Frans Masereel and German Otto Nückel, relies heavily on expressionism of black & white figures. His style is less sharp than Nückel & Masereel, and his ability to give emotions in facial expressions is incredible. Here we have an ambitious story of curse like the ones I read in several stories of classical writers . Social criticism is not as strong as that in Masereel's work and tragedy is not a punch-in-the-face like the one I read in Nückel's work. As an artwork, surely it is a masterpiece, but the story is not the best.

[ComicNerdSam · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ward's diorama of human suffering is illuminated by a consuming darkness. When even the sun radiates shadow, all you can do is lose your sanity.

[Iamthesword · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm fascinated by Ward's style. It is absolutely impressive what he can communicate without using a single word. Like German expressionism films and paintings, his panels have a dark eerie quality, mixing the modern world with medieval and magical elements. Its like reading modern fairytales highlighting the (bad) qualities of those portrayed. In this case it's about a white slave trader stealing a drum from an African man which curses his whole family until his son, old and brought down by grief, becomes the titular madman. There are a lot of characters so I needed to read some parts twice until I figured the whole story out, but that is a pure pleasure if you consider how beautiful the pictures are. A clear recommendation for everyone interested in visual storytelling.

[Carol · Rating 5 out of 5]

A totally wordless graphic novel creates a powerfully macabre story. No color, using only simple lines these woodcut pictures tell an amazing story. Imagery is masterfully used to create strong emotions within the reader. Full understanding takes multiple readings to grasp the greed, deceit, deception and revenge. Powerful is the best word that can be used to describe this unique reading experience.

Ages 12-100 years
Theme comparison with Poe, Hawthorne and Stephen King
Power of symbolism
Journaling on connections
Foreshadowing

[Robert Davis · Rating 5 out of 5]

A mysterious and macabre story described in woodcuts without narration. This is Lynd Wards' second wordless novel, following his debut Gods' Man. Here, Ward expands his storytelling ability, creating an epic family story of a bookish man who is the son of a slave trader. The author weaves a complex plot and with rich symbolism and detailed pictorial composition. Understanding the complexities of the story will take the reader much more than one sitting to fully comprehend.

[liza · Rating 5 out of 5]

this story line was more difficult for me to suss out than his other works, but the woodcuts were each and every one spectacular. it takes quite some time to "read" ward's books even without words as it is easy to become enraptured with the detail in his artwork.

[Bryan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Watch as one man slowly losses faith in religion, law, science, and love. Creepy and disheartening, a gothic masterpiece.

[Robert · Rating 1 out of 5]

Academics and those aping intelligence are the only ones who like crap like this. Quotes like these from the introduction prove it to be so:

"Ward’s novels require the reader to unconsciously create the needed closure in the flow of action."

"Ward was pressed to make his characters identifiable with distinct physical features, clothing, or other familiar objects."

Expecting the reader to 'fill in' the story doesn't make you innovative, it makes you lazy. Not bothering to draw distinct and identifiable characters and only doing so at the insistence of your publishers and editors is another artistic failure.
Don't bother reading it, or do if you need to prove it to yourself. But remember (as you'll see for yourself), anyone claiming to understand or like it, doesn't.
They just want others to think they're smrt.

[Ray · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is the second graphic novel by Lynd Ward I've read and unlike "Gods' Man", here, Ward fails to convey a satisfyingly complete story with his images. Towards the end of the novel, the panels seemed rushed and several key images were missing, particularly involving his return to the drum. This isn't to say though that the novel doesn't create a wide and rich canvas. The book covers the life of a man from boyhood to old age, and contains several vivid and allegorical images depicting a struggle between intellectual pursuits and emotional desires. This complexity alone earns the book 3 stars, but in the end I found it unsatisfying and asking "is that all?"

[M. · Rating 3 out of 5]

This one was a little more difficult to follow, but the intricacy in the artwork and just the sheer creativity that must have been required to depict these scenarios nonetheless more than carried me over.
I am having a hard time separating the faces of the characters too, especially when they are not front and center. It might simple be due to the limitations of the medium or the art style.

[Cody · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fascinating wordless novel which must have been painstaking to create (printed with carved woodblocks). It mostly works and is sometimes shocking. There are parts that are too ambiguous—I guess that’s why it kinda works for the TAT. But overall, completely worth reading.

(The story itself is a relatively straightforward morality tale with a human rights/social justice theme)

[Wayne · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ward’s ‘novels without words’ are masterpieces, and early precursors to today’s graphic novels. Gothic and dark, Mad Man’s Drum’s woodblock images are detailed and captivating. A confusing narrative showing how our worst decisions and impulses can curse generations.

[Aislinn Evans · Rating 2 out of 5]

i love love love lynd ward and i love this book in theory but its just... incomprehensible. some stunning images, but they lack the refinement of his later work, which is only clearer in the incomprehensibility.

he’s still my boy though. i’ll try this again another time.

[Mitchell Friedman · Rating 3 out of 5]

Sure it's cool. But I did not find a follow-able story here. Sure there were snippets of sense. And black-and-white woodcuts are not my art of choice no matter how cool. But as semi unrandom art definitely kind of amazing.

[Jordan · Rating 5 out of 5]

The art work is phenomenal as always but the story has an interesting theme. I think the story is about the consequence of slavery and the legacy it brought a family. I would write more about that but I feel like its the type of book that is hard not to spoil.

[Canavan · Rating 4 out of 5]

✭✭✭½

[Brendon · Rating 2 out of 5]

Amazing artwork, but the story was not always very clear.

[ComicNerdSam · Rating 3 out of 5]

Hmmmm. I like the art more than Gods' Man, but honestly this one was kind of hard to follow. Still, Ward is phenomenal.

[Eitan]

Very cool!

[Daniel Oster · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another great wordless novel- the follow-up to God's Man, this one has a more complex plot, more developed characters, and good social commentary on greed and power. Nicely done

[Corey · Rating 4 out of 5]

Not quite as good as Gods' Man--it's too dark, too convoluted--but still compelling.

[David Edmonds · Rating 3 out of 5]

Lynd Ward's Mad Man's Drum is a graphic novel in the truest sense of the word; told through the use of 128 woodcut prints, and using no written text, Ward tells a story of obsession and the tragedy that can be a result of succumbing to that obsession.

Given that there is no text, the reader must rely on the imagery and symbolism that is presented in each woodcut; therefore, I believe that each reader may take something different from the story. Perhaps I am not the person for this story, but it took me several "readings" to feel that I was beginning to come to an understanding of what was happening, and I still don't believe that I have a true grasp on all of the nuances of the story. This is why that I feel a true review of the story would almost be impossible for me to write.

Mad Man's Drum was Lynd Ward's second graphic novel, and is an amazing piece of art; however, given that the drawings are all in black and white and limited with the amount of detail woodcut prints can offer, I found it difficult to follow the characters and what was happening in each frame. While the basic principle is easy to understand, I felt the subtle nuances of the story are lost somewhere in the telling. I give it three stars for the complexity of the project alone. Perhaps someone with a better understanding of the psychological symbolism and imagery would be better suited to this book.

[Chris Miller · Rating 3 out of 5]

Beautiful images, so much detail. I keep thinking, "I can't believe these are woodcuts." The story was a bit hard to follow; I had to read up on the plot online afterwards, and then skim back through. The wordless graphic novel is a tricky medium, and when you're not careful the story gets turned around. Seeing as how this story spans several generations and involves many different characters this was especially true. If each character were more easily distinguishable from the others this would help some.

[James F · Rating 3 out of 5]

Somewhat more ambitious than his first book and not entirely successful, this symbolic novel tells the story of three generations, the father a slaver who makes a fortune but brings back a curse symbolized by the drum in the title, his son who becomes an intellectual, and his two granddaughters and their tragic loves, the first with a communist labor agitator who is executed, the second with a scoundrel.

[SmarterLilac · Rating 4 out of 5]

I didn't think I'd read any more books from this author after the last one (God's Man.) This one was actually more intriguing, though.