There’s always a hit-or-miss quality to such projects, and some question over the selections, but what’s great here is...
Graphic biographies of 16 of the most influential cartoonists by some of the great cartoonists they influenced.
It’s difficult to argue with the concept: Commission some of the finest contemporary graphic artists to pay homage to their heroes, the ones who inspired them to pursue their vocation. Editor Beauchamp (Krampus: The Devil of Christmas, 2010, etc.) has done a fine job in selecting subjects and matching them with acolytes (as well as collaborating as writer on a few of the bios). The pinnacle is Drew Friedman’s deeply personal appreciation of R. Crumb, in which he not only celebrates Crumb’s style, but demonstrates his influence. Other stylistic highlights include Mark Alan Stamaty’s visceral rendering of the legacy of Jack Kirby (“Captain America”), Owen Smith’s sepia-tone commemoration of Lynd Kendall Ward (“Father of the Graphic Novel”) and Sergio Ruzzier’s depiction of Charles M. “Sparky” Schulz as Charlie Brown. There are also revelations: Dr. Suess took his mother’s maiden name as his pen name, and the correct pronunciation—or the way her family pronounced it—was “ ‘Soice’ as in ‘Voice,’ but it quickly became ‘Soose’ as in ‘Goose.’ ” Harvey Kurtzman’s role as creator of Mad is just part of what he achieved before and after, when his editorial assistants included Gloria Steinem, R. Crumb and Monty Python’s Terry Gilliam. A major void is the lack of female cartoonists as subjects (and only two as contributors), and even within the stable of white male cartoonists, there are top artists who are glaringly absent. While it’s hard to argue about the cultural significance of either Walt Disney or Hugh Hefner, both of whom have contributed greatly to the profession, at least the latter would have never made the cut on his drawings alone. Common themes include broken marriages and artists not given their due, especially financially.
There’s always a hit-or-miss quality to such projects, and some question over the selections, but what’s great here is really terrific.Pub Date: Sept. 2, 2014
ISBN: 978-1-4516-4919-2
Page Count: 128
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: June 24, 2014
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2014
Well-told and admonitory.
Young-rags-to-mature-riches memoir by broker and motivational speaker Gardner.
Born and raised in the Milwaukee ghetto, the author pulled himself up from considerable disadvantage. He was fatherless, and his adored mother wasn’t always around; once, as a child, he spied her at a family funeral accompanied by a prison guard. When beautiful, evanescent Moms was there, Chris also had to deal with Freddie “I ain’t your goddamn daddy!” Triplett, one of the meanest stepfathers in recent literature. Chris did “the dozens” with the homies, boosted a bit and in the course of youthful adventure was raped. His heroes were Miles Davis, James Brown and Muhammad Ali. Meanwhile, at the behest of Moms, he developed a fondness for reading. He joined the Navy and became a medic (preparing badass Marines for proctology), and a proficient lab technician. Moving up in San Francisco, married and then divorced, he sold medical supplies. He was recruited as a trainee at Dean Witter just around the time he became a homeless single father. All his belongings in a shopping cart, Gardner sometimes slept with his young son at the office (apparently undiscovered by the night cleaning crew). The two also frequently bedded down in a public restroom. After Gardner’s talents were finally appreciated by the firm of Bear Stearns, his American Dream became real. He got the cool duds, hot car and fine ladies so coveted from afar back in the day. He even had a meeting with Nelson Mandela. Through it all, he remained a prideful parent. His own no-daddy blues are gone now.
Well-told and admonitory.Pub Date: June 1, 2006
ISBN: 0-06-074486-3
Page Count: 320
Publisher: Amistad/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2006
This autobiography might almost be said to supply the roots to Wright's famous novel, Native Son.
It is a grim record, disturbing, the story of how — in one boy's life — the seeds of hate and distrust and race riots were planted. Wright was born to poverty and hardship in the deep south; his father deserted his mother, and circumstances and illness drove the little family from place to place, from degradation to degradation. And always, there was the thread of fear and hate and suspicion and discrimination — of white set against black — of black set against Jew — of intolerance. Driven to deceit, to dishonesty, ambition thwarted, motives impugned, Wright struggled against the tide, put by a tiny sum to move on, finally got to Chicago, and there — still against odds — pulled himself up, acquired some education through reading, allied himself with the Communists — only to be thrust out for non-conformity — and wrote continually. The whole tragedy of a race seems dramatized in this record; it is virtually unrelieved by any vestige of human tenderness, or humor; there are no bright spots. And yet it rings true. It is an unfinished story of a problem that has still to be met.
Perhaps this will force home unpalatable facts of a submerged minority, a problem far from being faced.
Pub Date: Feb. 28, 1945
ISBN: 0061130249
Page Count: 450
Publisher: N/A
Review Posted Online: Oct. 7, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 1945
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