Put the Book Back on the Shelf: A Belle and Sebastian Anthology

by Eric Stephenson (Editor), Rick Spears, Kako (Author/Illustrator)

With their infectious brand of Scottish indie pop, Belle & Sebastian have been cult and critical favorites for years. The band's colorful lyrics and gorgeous, full bodied melodies have provided Image Comics with the inspiration for a new kind of comic anthology. With Put the Book Back on the Shelf, a stellar collection of independent comic creators and cartoonists put their own spins on a cross section of Belle & Sebastian's songs, crafting stories inspired by the band's music, drawn from the band's entire catalog.

Genres: Comics, Graphic Novels, Music, Short Stories, Anthologies, Fiction, Art

213 pages, Paperback

First published March 7, 2006

About the author

As Publisher for Image Comics, Eric Stephenson has helped foster the creator-owned projects of numerous bestselling writers and artists, including Robert Kirkman, Ed Brubaker, Matt Fraction, Jonathan Hickman, Kieron Gillen, Jamie McKelvie, Kelly Sue DeConnick, and Brandon Graham, as well as a well-known pair of award magnets whose names rhyme with Frian and Biona. He is also the Eisner-nominated writer and co-creator of NOWHERE MEN and THEY'RE NOT LIKE US.

Reviews

[Andrew Miller · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'm a huge B&S nerd so when my partner bought this book for me (which I hadn't previously heard about) I was incredibly touched by her thoughtfulness and resource for finding it. The book itself is a great piece of B&S fan-fiction (I think that's the best description) but as its own thing, well, it isn't great. I mean, the art is fantastic, and some of the pieces that have great art hung on the lyrics themselves are good, but with only a couple of exceptions, the stories that expand upon the lyrics are not so good. Kudos to the graphic artists in this collection I suppose is where I should leave it.

[Thara · Rating 2 out of 5]

If you're not a quasi or completely obsessed Belle & Sebastian fan, you should skip this. You should really skip it even if you are quasi or completely obsessed, but you won't... I know I didn't (even though I often forget this book exists). So, I'll just end this with a snarky/obvious pun: put the book back on the shelf (and walk away).

[Beverly · Rating 2 out of 5]

I was really disappointed by this book, but that was to be expected for me. I was already attached to the images I assigned to the songs that inspired the comics in this anthology. The characters in these graphic interpretations of Belle and Sebastian songs kind of help me understand why some people find it really easy to make fun of Belle and Sebastian. They're all these drippy, American-seeming emo kids. Feh.
The protagonists in the Belle and Sebastian songs in my head are scrappy, working-class Scottish kids. Waaay more fun. See?

[Ryan · Rating 3 out of 5]

a collection of comics from multiple writers and artists based on belle and sebastian songs, ranging from "tigermilk" to "dear catastrophe waitress". some are really good (marx and engels), some not so much (dog on wheels). the farther away the comics get from the actual lyrics, the better - minus "lazy line painter jane", but maybe i say that because it's one of my favorite songs. you can't expect me to be totally dispassionate.

[Caitlin · Rating 4 out of 5]

this book is awesome: they had all these artists write comics based on belle and sebastian songs. make a playlist of the table of contents and read on through; it's an experience. i wished it wasn't belle and sebastion, tho. radiohead would be better. those would be some apocalyptic comics.

[Jordan Phizacklea-Cullen · Rating 3 out of 5]

Anthologies are generally hit and miss by their nature, and with a group that inspires such passionate devotion as Belle & Sebastian, an anthology of mini graphic novels inspired by their works is always going to be potentially controversial. How you approach this collection will depend on your taste in comic book artwork and at times the stories appear to be loosely inspired by the source material, but there's plenty of charm as well and will delight all B&S completists who have fallen in love with their beautiful, moving, witty records.

[Damon · Rating 3 out of 5]

ANthology

[Mia Cervantes · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this anthology of comics inspired by Belle & Sebastian songs. I had never heard of the band to be honest and I haven’t heard any of their songs, therefore I don’t have any personal meaning or interpretation to the songs that inspired these artists.
I think it is a very interesting concept to have many wonderful comic artists and cartoonists come together to create an anthology inspired by music. I really enjoyed the mixed art styles, they were all beautiful, although I do have some favorites. Some of the stories were very beautiful and touching but others were a bit less interesting, and a couple made no sense to me. I am curious and interested enough now to listen to some of this bands music and make my own interpretations of their songs.
Overall I found this anthology to have a very cool concept, eclectic and beautiful art, as well as some short yet touching stories.

[Velocity RaZz · Rating 3 out of 5]

I love strawberry jam. I also love onions. This book was like eating a strawberry marmalade and three kinds of onions (spring, red and white if you have to know) sandwich. Now, I don't condemn the idea behind the recipe -after all, I'm known to like weird stuff like ice cream with mustard and fries and comics like King of the Flies- but its execution. Could have been magnificent, unfortunately it falls short of substance. Ultimately it's a two-star, but gets one extra just cuz I'm a shameless fangirl when it comes to Belle and Sebastian and I will forever go all awww and have my heart skip a few beats when I come across some of my favourite songs.

[dirt · Rating 3 out of 5]

A few of the interpretations were too artsy fartsy/life is grim for me, but most of them portrayed the excitement for love and life that Belle and Sebastian capture so well in their songs.

Asleep on a Sunbeam was top notch. Kudos to Bannister and Corentin Jaffre.

[Ana · Rating 3 out of 5]

Given that it's taken me years to finish reading this, it's safe to say that this is not my favorite Belle and Sebastian related book ever.

Lots of good art, but the stories didn't always mesh well together.

Still, if you're a big fan, do go out and read it for yourself :o)

[Dan · Rating 2 out of 5]

Bunch of short stories based on songs from a band I have never heard of before.

[Dwij · Rating 3 out of 5]

I finished this in a day.
While reading a specific comic entry based on a specific song, I was also listening to the song.
I think that's a great concept, to write comic stories based on a band's songs.
I wish more bands publish comic books inspired by their songs. I would love to read a Coldplay, Oasis or Blur or Arctic Monkeys Anthology.
'Put The Book Back On The Shelf' itself, although with a great concept, was a collection of hit-and-misses. Some entries were heart touching ("Asleep On A Sunbeam"), heartbreaking ("The Model"), or just cute or charming ("If You Find Yourself Caught In Love"). Others were less so. The weaker ones were a bit cliched, or confusing ("The Fox In The Snow", "The Chalet Lines"). Some didn't have appealing art ("Beautiful") while others did ("Get Me Away From Here I'm Dying").

Anyway, I'm sure B&S will learn from this and I hope they keep releasing more and more anthology comics. Next time I pick up their book, I wish to see stories inspired by their songs 'Dress Up In You', 'Another Sunny Day', 'The Stars of Track and Field', 'Family Tree', 'Nobody's Empire', 'Sleep The Clock Around' and 'The Power of Three'.

So go, Belle and Sebastian!

[Garrett Zecker · Rating 3 out of 5]

Really enjoyed this short comic anthology inspired by the work of Belle and Sebastian. It was funny happening upon it at the library book sale as I haven’t listened to them in some time – one of those anthologies that collects different artists work on some obscure or eclectic subject with a limited audience. Belle and Sebastian’s melancholic melodies and confounding esoteric lyrics all hearken to some emotional mood in each piece, so this is a pretty topical subject to combine artists work in making short visual narratives. Not sure if I am going to revisit it, but I enjoyed my time with it. My favorite pieces in the book were Carney and Edwards Step Into My Office Baby, Brownstein and Crosland’s Beautiful, Magraw’s Fox in the Snow, and Butcher and Andrasofszky and Perez’s Expectations.

[Elizabeth · Rating 3 out of 5]

I haven’t listened to Belle and Sebastian in a long time, but I found this after looking for more of Leela Corman’s work, and I’m glad I did. Even though this is a very mixed anthology, I really enjoyed my nightly ritual of reading a story and listening to the song at the same time. It reminded me of how much I enjoy a lot of their music. I wish there were more tribute comic anthologies like this. The stories I liked the best were the ones that stuck closest to the lyrics.

[(a)lyss(a) · Rating 2 out of 5]

Personally this wasn't my jam. Even as a Bell & Sebastian fan this book mostly felt like written out music videos. It's worth maybe flipping through but I wasn't particularly wowed.

[Ruadhan Ward · Rating 4 out of 5]

Lots of fun. A good read for any fan of B&S, especially fans of their older albums. As with any anthology, some hit better than others, but it’s worth the time spent!

[Preston · Rating 3 out of 5]

Comic creators and cartoonists putting their own artistic spin on various song titles. A really interesting and fun concept!

[Kamila Mullen · Rating 2 out of 5]

I liked the graphics, but wasn’t a fan of the content :/

[Greg · Rating 1 out of 5]

Put the Book Back on the Shelf is the equivalent of a pack of two dozen postcards of abstract modern art by shitty artists. The (very) short "stories" are apparently based on songs by Belle & Sebastian. Okay, sure. I'm not certain of who Belle & Sebastian are, but I'm promised "a collection of stories by independent comic creators and cartoonists. (...) crafting narratives inspired by the band's music" The problem is, very few of these are narratives or even stories. There is one good story with pretty good art, ("If She Wants Me) but the rest are bad. The art varies from Newspaper comic to "I cried on my shitty water colors and that made me cry even more and now no one can tell what I've drawn, but the deadline is in 15 minutes and whatever, I don't care." The writing is often even worse, being what appears to me nothing but song lyrics 80% of the time. The biggest problem is that these two coincide to create the most indulgent, narcissistic, "indie" garbage. Besides that one great story, everything just oozes arrogance and comes off so pretentious. It's like bad middle school break up poetry. There are maybe three or four actual stories and only one is good (but again, it's really good and it's a shame that it is among the rest of the junk). Maybe if you are the Number 1 Belle & Sebastian fan, then this might give you your fix, but I can't see anyone else being remotely interested.

[Tom · Rating 3 out of 5]

I got this volume as part of a subscription box service, and probably wouldn't have read it otherwise. Due to a constant ringing in one year dating back to my childhood, I've never really developed much of an ear for music. As such, my knowledge of Belle and Sebastian begins and ends with knowing they are a Scottish Indy Pop duo.

Anyway, this book was done with a series of short stories inspired by their work. Most of it works out fine, but I couldn't help but think I might have enjoyed it more if I, say, knew anything more about the band. What lyrics that appeared in the book were lovely, and some of the stories were sweet and emotional, but if I'd known more, I think I would have appreciated the book more.

[Whitney · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is a bunch of short comic stories based off of song lyrics. While an interesting concept, I didn’t feel that many of these stories were worth reading, particularly if you’re not a fan of the band in question. My problem with this book is that I’m incredibly particular about the style of graphic novel illustrations that I enjoy, and very few stories in this collection fit the bill. Now, that’s entirely on me, and I’d recommend you flip through yourself before deciding to nix the collection outright based on my assessment of the art, but if you don’t know the band Belle and Sebastian you should probably walk away.

[Jennifer · Rating 2 out of 5]

i am sad to say that i was disappointed with this collection. i am huge b&s fan, and it was interesting to see where each artist and/or writer took a song, but somehow the whole thing came off as too quick. like there wasn't enough time to get into a story when suddenly it was over. also a lot of the stories seemed too angst-ridden and juvenile, much different than the feelings evoked in me when listening to the b&s songs.

there are some definite beauties in the anthology though, and i encourage anyone to check it out for themselves, a belle and sebastian fan or not.

[Ginny · Rating 3 out of 5]

Try as it might, this anthology doesn't capture the quirkiness of Belle and Sebastian, often relaying on the song lyrics in a way that seems too expository. Some stories are bleak and adult, but there is some creative and fun art in the bunch. If you like Belle and Sebastian already, you may find the different takes on the songs interesting, otherwise the mixed offerings might not be worth reading.

(Note: I almost gave this two stars, but giving it a quick second read-through made me realize I liked elements enough to give it three. But maybe that was just the music's influence.)

[Tyler McGaughey · Rating 3 out of 5]

It's hard for me to resist anything B&S-related, so I think I would probably like whatever they slapped between the covers of this books. Some of these comics seem to miss the point, the heavy-handed take on "If She Wants Me" being the most cringe-inducing example, but most of them are almost as funny, sweet and unassuming as the music that inspired them. My favorites: the gorgeous, dizzying "Fox In The Snow;" "Marx & Engels," (love those Godard references!); and "Nice Day For A Sulk."

[Karen · Rating 2 out of 5]

2.5?

I'm struggling a tad on where to rate this. There are lots of very cool things about this book and I'm genuinely glad I picked it up because it was an interesting and unique reading experience. But in the end, I have to admit that the stories I disliked greatly outnumber the ones I enjoyed. I honestly don't think a single story in this collection can stand up on its own. So, yeah. A bit middling on this one.

[Kate · Rating 2 out of 5]

Some creative writers and artists took Belle & Sebastian songs and made them into short stories in this graphic novel. My suggestion would be to sit yourself down, listen to the B&S song (the song list is the table of contents) and then read the story as portrayed in the graphic novel. Some of them are really good and some are not so good. But, it's a fun idea.

[Julie]

I'm not going to rate this for the simple fact that I am not very familiar with Belle and Sebastian.I am not the target audience. That said, like most collections some are hit and some are miss. Obviously not the intended format for songs, this makes it extremely difficult to pull off but at the same time really interesting to examine.

[Northern K Sunderland · Rating 3 out of 5]

Any time I hear these songs now, I see the stories unfold as the artists depicted them in this Volume.(particularly Piazza New York Cathcer)
I love Bell and Sebastian, and I thought the Illustrators did their songs Justice.

[Karen · Rating 2 out of 5]

Favorites: Get Me Away From Here I'm Dying; You Made Me Forget My Dreams

Song that I most wish had been in the anthology, but would have probably ended up disappointed by whatever the artists came up with: Judy and the Dream of Horses