Fantagraphics 2008
Web:
http://www.fantagraphics.com
Deitch’s
Pictorama is a new type of graphic fiction. While it has graphic art throughout,
it offers a mixture of text, handwritten text, cartoons, illustrations and
other styles. It is quite an innovative format and not only includes fiction
from Kim Deitch but from his whole rather creative clan. The book opens with an
introduction from the Academy Award-winning animator, cartoonist and
illustrator Gene Deitch (of Tom and Jerry fame), who happens to be the father
of the trio.
The
first tale is Kim’s “The Sunshine Girl” which explores a brother and sister's
obsession with collecting bottle caps. Along the way exploring the mentality of
the collector and ultimately leading into the author's own late-'60s artistic
development with a decided psychedelic feel.
"The
Golem " written by Seth and decorated with a series of superb pencil illustrations
by Simon is a prose novella about the mythical Jewish creature. It is packed
with fascinating history, mythology and folklore and is an astounding piece.
“Unlikely
Hours” is a conspiracy tale which is dark and paranoid exploring sentient rats.
It is written by Seth and illustrated by Kim.
The
stories in this volume are fascinating as they mix a lot more fiction that
found in a traditional graphic art volume and this combination of very strong
and intriguing fiction mixed with superb illustration makes this quite an
unusual volume.
Next
we have Seth’s short story “Children of Aruf”, about a man and his dog, but
this has tale has a twist; it is set in a world where dogs talk.
Kim
wraps with "The Cop on the Beat, the Man in the Moon and Me," and is
an autobiographical piece.
This
"picto-fiction" pocket book is a delight to both read and see and
offers a superb array of fiction and graphic art. There are all sorts of
different forms of fiction as well as different artistic styles, from the fine
pencil work of The Golem to traditional comic style, it is presented in a nice
pocket book size with a great colour cover and high quality printing.