Blab! Vol. 17

Blab! #17

by Amy Crehore (painter), Monte Beauchamp (Editor)

The preeminent anthology of contemporary painting, illustration, and cartooning. Blab! is an annual coffee-table showcase of fine art, illustration, and comix, and a gold- standard in the work of the professional visual arts. Most of Blab ! 's contributors through the years have gone on to huge success in the gallery world (Chris Ware, Camille Rose Garcia, Joe Coleman, Gary Baseman, etc.) and the current volume sharpens Blab ! 's cutting-edge like never before.

This volume of Blab ! features a cover by Jonathan Rosen, and: the Blab ! debut of popular artist Shag!; a full-color tribute to Bazooka Joe; Sue Coe and Judith Brody's " And Not a Drop To Drink," an exploration of the destruction of New Orleans and the Gulf Coast by angry gods of wind and water against a backdrop of war; Greg Clarke's "The Pungent Gaul," a surprisingly harrowing story of a Frenchman who smuggles illegal cheeses from his homeland into the United States and sells them on the black market; Michael Dougan's four-page color story about homeland security, paranoia, technology, international intrigue, and anxiety; "Nine Lives," Peter Kuper's story of the various ways he's almost died; more "Fetal Elvis" from Mark Landman; "Max Vesta, Matchbook Artist," the true story of the art and life of the unsung and little known (except to a few collectors and connoisseurs) master of the matchbook cover; Lou Brooks invites us into his "Garden of Tongue- listing Twimericks"―your mouth will never be the same; Peter and Maria Hoey's "Out of Nowhere," the story of Coleman Hawkins and Django Reinghart's years in pre-WWII Paris; plus stories by Tim Biskup, Gary Baseman, Fred Stonehouse, Marc Rosenthal, Spain, Mats!, and Sergio Ruzzier.

Blab! is conceived, edited and designed by five-time New York Festival of Advertising award-winner Monte Beauchamp. Illustrated throughout in color and black-and-white

Genres: Comics, Graphic Novels

120 pages, Paperback

First published December 18, 2006

Reviews

[StrictlySequential · Rating 2 out of 5]

Can't shelve by country because there's no creator information and the names that look like they could be foreign are too obscure. Humbug.

Worst of the 5 I've read- only Spain saves this more-of-less turd and I'd already read his upstate New York antics in a different book.

[Susan · Rating 2 out of 5]

This collection was not a narrative but rather just that, a collection of different graphic comics/stories, little snippets/vignettes. The artwork was simple, not half as vibrant as I've become accustomed to when reading graphic novels. Perhaps that is the point of the whole thing.