Von Spatz

by Anna Haifisch

Walt Disney is exhausted both physically and mentally. After a breakdown where he trashes his office, his wife Lilian brings him to a retreat to recover—the Von Spatz Rehabilitation Center. With a campus that includes studio buildings, a gallery, an art supply store, a hot dog booth, and a penguin pool, the clinic is a paradise for artists in crisis. There Disney meets Tomi Ungerer and Saul Steinberg, and together, they embark on a regimen of relaxation and art therapy.

Haifisch looks at the fervent drive and crippling insecurities of the average artist and places those same issues on the shoulders of three celebrated 20th century artists. Part study of isolation, part tale of a begrudging camaraderie, daily life at the center mixes with reminiscences from the world outside. Wryly written, precisely composed, and glowingly colored, Von Spatz is a hilarious, heartwarming absurdist tale.

Genres: Comics, Graphic Novels, Graphic Novels Comics, Graphic Novels Manga, Art, Adult

68 pages, Paperback

First published October 1, 2015

Reviews

[Dave Schaafsma · Rating 3 out of 5]

A strange comic about a fictional retreat or sanitarium where Walt Disney goes to stay, assuming a nervous breakdown. It's a pretty elite place where artists get personal studios, and penguins. Two other great artists, Tomi Ungerer and Saul Steinberg, are also there with Walt. Is the story about the art that pushes the artist to the brink? The art that comes with insecurity and anxiety and mood swings for most artists? Von Spatz (also the name of the rehab place) is a kind of wry love and sympathy letter from one emerging artist to her chosen profession.

[Derek Royal · Rating 4 out of 5]

An interesting text. That's not the most profound assessment, but Von Spatz is something that I'll have to reread -- or re-reread -- in order to appreciate it further. The marketing material with the book describes this as absurdist, and perhaps it is. Maybe that's an appropriate way to frame my appreciation. I like this book, but I'm not entirely sure why I like it as I do. I'll have to fish out more of Haifisch's works. We'll be discussing this on an upcoming episode of The Comics Alternative, and I'm betting a conversation on this text will enhance my appreciation.

[Przemysław Skoczyński · Rating 4 out of 5]

Walt Disney, Tomi Ungerer i Saul Steinberg z objawami depresji i wypalenia zawodowego spotykają się w ekskluzywnym centrum rehabilitacji "Von Spatz". Brzmi wystarczająco abstrakcyjnie? To dobrze, bo całość to właśnie trochę śmieszna, trochę smutna, ale przede wszystkim absurdalna relacja z próby chwilowego ustabilizowania życia płodnych artystów. Po części jest to list miłosny i hołd Anny Haifisch oddany jej idolom, po części granie znanymi postaciami, by wykreować ulotną słodko-gorzką rzeczywistość, którą momentami naprawdę trudno dookreślić. Nie każda historia ma tu pointę, nie każdą da się literalnie "zrozumieć", często czytelnik musi odczytywać te miniaturki bardziej intuicyjnie niż "na logikę", ale jest coś cholernie intrygującego w tym maleństwie. Być może to efekt operowania ograniczoną paletą kolorów, która wynika z fascynacji autorki techniką sitodruku i zestawianie barw pozornie "gryzących się"? Może to te enigmatyczne postacie noszące w sobie mnóstwo zagadek i smutku? Nie wiem, ale jakaś forma snobizmu każde mi napisać, że to rzecz dla specyficznego odbiorcy, szukającego w komiksie czegoś absolutnie unikatowego, co trzeba sobie z treści i formy po kilkukrotnej lekturze dosłownie wygrzebać. Jestem zauroczony

[Fabian · Rating 4 out of 5]

Artist and their art. Starring Walt Disney--and other cute creations. Some episodes take a while to develop, while others are 1 page fables/anecdotes. Choosing the medium of cartoons to depict these will/would be masters was smart from as an idea--and the artist just went with it!

[Iva · Rating 4 out of 5]

Zanamcem povejte: ljubil je miši in rad jedel hot dog.

Genialno!

[Maia · Rating 3 out of 5]

A very strange but enjoyable comic about a fictional rehab center which takes in famous artists, including Walt Disney, who have suffered mental breakdowns. Artists are given therapy and Prozac, but also personal studios, art supplies and pet penguins.

[Aljoša Harlamov · Rating 3 out of 5]

Zanimiv umetniški strip, ki pa me je pritegnil bolj s samosvojo avtorsko ilustracijo in povsem neznačilno barvitostjo kot zgodbami, ki zelo variirajo - od pretencioznih ezoteričnih splošnih mest do liričnih miniaturnih mojstrovin.

[Karl · Rating 4 out of 5]

What if Walt Disney had a breakdown and was sent to a rehabilitation centre? Haifish proposes an answer to that question in this interesting, well drawn book.

[Nia · Rating 4 out of 5]

In tole tukaj...tole so flamingi.

[Nate D]

Puzzling scenes from the artist's retreat / psychiatric home, as a conversation between Walt Disney, Tomi Ungerer, and Saul Steinberg. Maybe I don't know my relevant art history as well as I should, but I actually have no idea why these three in particular were embodied in the story, as they seem more or less like arbitrary avatars of the artists grappling with creation. Nice low-key but well-composed art and color though.

[Online Stig · Rating 1 out of 5]

Som en dålig kopia på deforge

[Frejola · Rating 4 out of 5]

Unusual, sparse, evocative of many artists I admire.

[Jordan · Rating 4 out of 5]

The life and process of the artist as both carefree leisure and dysfunction in need of treatment. Haifisch's settings are perfectly playful and ever so slightly soulless. There are single page gags, slow wandering vignettes and almost an overarching narrative. It's not as beautiful and poetic as Drifter (her masterpiece) but it holds us better as a book than The Artist.

[Nick · Rating 3 out of 5]

- Very weird, hard to follow, much nonsense (debatable minuses), why does this book exist? Some lame humour, 'inside' jokes

+ Artsy, creative, imaginative, kind of interesting, explores depression/burnout/mental health, features the 'Wolf, Goat and Cabbage Problem' in a rather droll way, 'inside' jokes

*From reading others' reviews, I feel I may not be 'visual artist' enough to truly appreciate this. It is perhaps more of an artists' art piece than a lay-reader's, but I did get some enjoyment and thoughtfulness from the work.

3.4 Stars, for what it's worth

[Jeff Lewonczyk · Rating 4 out of 5]

Walt Disney, Saul Steinberg and Tomi Ungerer walk into a rehab center... No, it's not the setup for an obscure joke aimed directly at, um, me. It's the premise of Anna Haifisch's brief, fragmented graphic novel, which explores the vagaries of the creative life through a distinctly surreal lens. There are some wonderful passages here, some stuff that I'm still chewing on and some stuff that flat-out doesn't make sense to me - all of which leads me to want to check it out again sometime soon.

[Comics Alternative · Rating 4 out of 5]

http://comicsalternative.com/episode-...

[Liz Yerby · Rating 4 out of 5]

Nice

[Špela · Rating 2 out of 5]

Strip deluje čisto simpatičen in barvit.

Vseeno pa dajem stripu nižjo oceno, ker se nekako ne strinjam z novo reklamo za psihiatrijo. Stripu uspe prikazati, da ljudem v stiski uspešno pomaga psihiatrična pomoč. Menim pa, da je pri tem preveč posploševanja, denimo psihiatrična pomoč se predstavi kot najbolj super stvar na svetu, brez nekega kritičnega uvida v tovrstno pomoč. Ravno tako se zdi, da bi se opisane stiske dalo 'pozdraviti' tudi brez uporabe farmacije.

[Brian · Rating 1 out of 5]

This was a pretty pointless graphic novel, I think I just may have missed the point. Walt Disney goes to a rehab facility where he meets other artists. The plot was incoherent, the art style was very strange and it was kind of too short. No thanks!

[Vera · Rating 1 out of 5]

Der relativ minimalistische, ulkige, bunte Zeichenstil hat mein Interesse geweckt. Aber ich hab's einfach nicht gecheckt. Was ist hier die Geschichte?? Muss man irgendein Hintergrundwissen haben, um was zu verstehen? Ohne war es absolut langweilig und zusammenhangslos.

[Brian · Rating 3 out of 5]

I really like Anna Haifisch's art. But I didn't really get the narrative here. If I hadn't read the introduction, I'm not sure I would have gotten it. And even having read the introduction, I still didn't get it. But I liked it.

[miha · Rating 3 out of 5]

Fouš sem ljudem ki takole sproščeno rišejo, no vsaj izgleda neobremenjena risba. Zgodba pa je tudi zelo... lebdeča, ne vem če sem čisto vse zastopil, ma se da prebrat.
Mi je pa zelo všeč haiku 2 - Slab umetnik sem. Celo mojim risbam gre na jok.
Krasno!

[Rachel Davies · Rating 5 out of 5]

absoooolutely wonderful

[Wendya · Rating 1 out of 5]

Although i enjoy the idea of this book (Walt Disney goes through an artistic melt-down and has to visit a therapy rehab clinic) it's actual contents fail to impress.

[Jennifer Williams · Rating 3 out of 5]

Strange and trippy

[Vrinda · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesting and quirky comic/graphic novel. It was strange (in a good way) and funny and sweet. Very creative premise!

[Beth Huddleston · Rating 3 out of 5]

My husband recommended this little indie to read. It definitely felt like an indie graphic novel.

[Sydney · Rating 4 out of 5]

pass this on:
he loved mice and
happily ate hot dogs

[Isaac Bouyack · Rating 2 out of 5]

Meh, not for me.

[Amy Novak · Rating 5 out of 5]

Amazing! I fell in love with this sensitive soul.