Page 78 - Publishers_Weekly

Review_FICTION

Montreuil” is a straightforward depic- ters like Popeye and Nancy together to real historical figure, the priest takes bat-
tion of the occupation of an employment unique off-kilter effect. Love is a many- tered boys to the hospital, feeds them, and
agency by Malian laborers. “Sand splendored thing within these pages— clothes them. He has also been accused of
Niggers” ties the 1961 Paris massacre of but it is also mightily odd. (Mar.) pedophilia. When a boy who snitched on
Algerians to the current migrant crisis, a fellow gang member is found dead, the
then ties it off with a mystical flourish. Total Jazz police seize their chance to arrest Chincha,
The more sprawling, Flaubert-inspired Blutch, trans. from the French by Barbara given the rumors that surround him.
title story weaves together the experiences Appleby. Fantagraphics, $19.99 trade paper Two of the boys who first attacked El
of a white French woman whose father (90p) ISBN 978-1-68396-086-7 Güerito seek him out, asking for help in
hates her seeing “a black” with her boy- French cartoonist Blutch explores the freeing their benefactor. When the
friend’s trouble finding work and security history of jazz in this alternately poi- earthquake hits, the focus on this plot is
(“pain and pride are two needles under gnant, humorous, and surreal collection widened to take in broader tragedies as
his skin”) and his family’s harassment by of comics originally created for the maga- El Güerito navigates the chaos across the
a lonely old white man who fought in zine Jazzman. His wordless, expressive city. The rough, scrawling linework and
the African colonial wars. Alagbé’s black-and-white comics capture the diagonal panel stacks suit the broken
unstructured storytelling makes as transporting effects of music and depict landscape of shantytowns, but they also
strong an impression as his artwork’s musicians’ lives. Blutch’s art is best when make following the narrative a challenge,
contrast between dramatic black slashes it is bold, with swaths of black and dense and the simple renderings of facial fea-
and negative space. His imagery and text cross-hatching, but loses depth when tures becomes repetitive. While the book
together create haunting narratives in his trademark scratchy line becomes a offers a thoughtful critique of religious
which a past of racism and guilt keeps scribble. The weakest section is the hypocrisy and socioeconomic inequality,
overwhelming the present, and also the opening, where the humor doesn’t trans- the poorly executed sequential art doesn’t
reader. (Apr.) late well to the match its literary ambitions. Art not seen in
contemporary color by PW. (Jan.)
Bizarre Romance American cul-
Audrey Niffenegger and Eddie Campbell. tural context; The Lie and How We Told It
Abrams ComicArts, $24.99 (168p) ISBN 978-1- Blutch may Tommi Parrish. Fantagraphics, $19.99 (130p)
4197-2853-2 appear racially ISBN 978-1-68396-067-6
A magical-realist kaleidoscope, this tone-deaf when In lovingly painted pages of comics
volume of romance comics and prose he depicts him- art, with black and white intermissions,
stories, from husband-and-wife team self as a Native Australian cartoonist Parrish tells a
Campbell and Niffenegger veers wildly American “brave,” deceptively simple story of friends grown
between whimsy, horror, and the utterly and pokes fun at his own deep identifica- apart, who run into one another by
banal. A girl becomes queen of a fantasy tion with black jazz musicians (“When I chance and spend an evening catching
realm, only to lose it all in an instant. A put in a CD, I hear myself... I’m Coltrane! up. Cleary and Tim bump into each other
man’s attic becomes infested with angels. I’m Miles Davis!” he proclaims). In the at a grocery check-out and reconnect.
Fairies levitate ocelots. At its strongest, pages that follow, however, where Blutch Over the course of the evening, as much is
the book has much to say about the concentrates on the music and musicians, concealed as is revealed, but what is left
beauty and devastation of seeking com- these comics pay passionate homage to at the end is the stark understanding that,
panionship in any given human life—the jazz and the revolutionary artists who at the threshold of adulthood, one person
grace and alienation of photography, for made history with their instruments and has made emotionally honest choices and
example, is memorably captured in a por- voices. (Feb.) the other struggles with his sexuality
trait of a 19th-century model’s morning, and with his own heart. Interwoven with
as she reminisces about a lover while Angelitos this gorgeously colored tale is another,
waiting between poses. At its weakest, it Ilan Stavans and Santiago Cohen. Mad Creek more austere story, an illustrated novella
relies too much upon cleverness rather Books, Ohio State Univ., $17.95 trade paper drawn in satisfyingly precise black line,
than content. Fairies encountered at a (128p) ISBN 978-0-8142-5459-2 attributed to “Blumf Mcqueen” and
bar is charming on its own, and their Set in the mid-’80s, this slim graphic dedicated to “pure, unconditional, ever-
subsequent manipulation of a patron has novel follows a college student’s encoun- lasting love.” This orchestration and
potential—but Campbell and Niffenegger ters in a poverty-stricken Mexico City interplay of refined visual language is
end what might have been an intriguing neighborhood before and after a devastating never overworked. Lovers of fine art
exploration of codependency before it has earthquake. After the student, nicknamed comics will delight in this worthy dis-
a chance to go anywhere. Still, taken as a “El Güerito,” is mugged by homeless covery. (Jan.)
whole, their collaboration is winningly youth, a mixture of curiosity and bravery
strange, especially in its use of collage; leads him into the slums searching for his Editor’s note: Reviews noted as “BookLife” are for
Campbell smashes photography, purpose- stolen notebook. What he finds instead is self-published books received via BookLife, PW’s
fully sloppy abstraction, and even charac- a shelter run by Padre Chincha. Based on a program for indie authors.

70 PUBLISHERS WEEKLY ■ JANU AR Y 22, 2018