Art Spiegelman's Maus - Coda #1

1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

6.

7.

8.

9.

Images:

1. Raw, Volume 1, # 1's cover (July, 1980) by Art Spiegelman ("The Graphix Magazine of Postponed Suicides," quotes my favorite philosopher, E. M. Cioran, who said: "A book is a postponed suicide," The Trouble With Being Born, Viking Press, 1976 [De l'inconvénient d'être né, Gallimard, 1973]: 99 - translation by Richard Howard; the colored scene on the window - and logo - is a collage; sorry for the low resolution);

2. Raw, Volume 2, # 1 (1989; cover by Gary Panter; another type of "collage;" yes, those are Popeye's, huh, nuts...);

3. page by Cathy Millet as published in her book Show (Le Dernier Terrain Vague, 1980); the same story was published in Raw, volume 1, # 2, December, 1980 ("09.26.79. In the hall. It's hot and I feel like a vantage" / "01.07.80. (4 P. M.). I finally get to the living room. No cigarettes. I leave." / "04.21.80. Nor are they in our bedroom whose stucco ceiling is painted salmon. The bed is covered with a whiskey-colored polyester and cotton quilt. Only the cat is there."); slightly skewed geometrical drawings, half-tone dots and text used to create a nouveau roman (Robbe-Grillet) effect;

4. another European artist who published in Raw was the Spaniard Mariscal (image from "Little Mr. Horseman," Raw, Volume 1, # 4, March, 1982); charming as his work may be sometimes, Mariscal created some of the frivolous trendy imagery which was the worst of the eighties' visual culture;

5. on the opposite side from Mariscal, Yoshiharu Tsuge is one of the best artists who ever drew and wrote comics; without wanting to reveal too much: capital page from "Red Flowers," Raw, volume 1, # 7 (May 1985);

6. Jimbo tells it like it is: "Subtlety has no place in this world!!!"; Raw one-shot # 1: Jimbo by Gary Panter (1982);

7. Raw one-shot # 3: Jack Survives by Jerry Moriarty (1984), frontispiece page (detail); here's what Jerry himself had to say about his character: "Jack died in 1953. He was my father. [...] I see Jack as a witness of constant change adapting to each newer world with less understanding. Former values become obsolete and are a burden to him. Yet they remain underneath it all. My Jack forgets experiences so he innocently repeats mistakes.";

8. page from Sue Coe' X (Raw one-shot # 6, 1986; Art Spiegelman participated in the writing - the credits don't explain how, but, anyway: great text!);

9. first page from "The Bowing Machine" by Alan Moore (w) and Mark Beyer (a); Raw, Volume 2, # 3 (1991).