Pamphlets and Graphic Novels: Seth's Clyde Fans (A Case Study)

Gregory Gallant (aka Seth) and I were both born in the early 1960s. This means that we lived the end of the pamphlet, as a vehicle for the serialization of alternative comics, and the rise of the graphic novel era in which we are living in. I have no qualms with that. On the contrary: who, being sound of mind, wants to go into those awful spaces known as comic book stores in order to buy great comics? They don't fit in there (the comics, I mean), discriminative buyers don't fit in there either...

What's my problem, then? (It's not with the term "graphic novel," that's for sure.) My problem is that during pamphlet days, when it started being serialized, I thought that "Clyde Fans" was a masterpiece in the making. Meanwhile I've been deceived by years and years of useless waiting...

Let's go to the cold facts:

"Clyde Fans" started being serialized in Palookaville # 10 (dated April 1997 and published by Drawn & Quarterly). It appeared regularly in the next issues (# 11, October 1997; # 12, May 1998; # 13, July 1999; # 14, May 2000; # 15, May 2001; # 16, December 2002; # 17, July 2004; # 18, October 2005; # 19, February 2008). It's not exactly a fast pace, but it is a pace (once a year, more or less), after all...

But, then... Seth started churning out meaningless graphic novels like Wimbledon Green (2005), George Sprott (2009), The Great Northern Brotherhood of Canadian Cartoonists (2011). "Clyde Fans" continued in Palookaville (# 20, September 2010; # 21, September 2013), but the hope of seeing it complete is getting dimmer and dimmer...

Seth, Clyde Fans Part One, Drawn & Quarterly, August 2000 (The first in a projected five booklets - which means that, initially, at least, Seth planned 5 parts; the fourth part is currently being serialized in Palookaville.) 

Seth, Clyde Fans Book One, Drawn & Quarterly, June 2004 (Clyde Fans is now projected for two books - graphic novels; four parts instead of five? Since this book was published, ten years ago! Nothing! Is it reasonable to expect this kind of loyalty from readers?)

What happened exactly? Maybe I should have asked Seth when we met in Oslo, Norway, in 2012, but I didn't, sorry! What I can do, then, is to speculate: was "Clyde Fans" being poorly received by Palookaville readers provoking a massive drop in sales? Did Seth lose interest? As I said, I really don't know... What I do know is that another comics masterpiece gets a more than erratic publishing history. 

A similar thing happened to Jason Lutes' Berlin... Continuing talking about Drawn & Quarterly I should also write a post about how Chester Brown didn't meet my high expectations, but that's another story...

Ugo

Meanwhile, to be a bit childish myself (it happens), here's one of my favorite covers drawn by Hugo Pratt. Design wise (unfortunately I don't know who the designer was; Fred Zulauf, Juan Herliczka?) I love how the fire destroys the logo.

Hugo Pratt (the logo is by Pablo Pereyra), Hora Cero # 26, June 1959.

What Is a Hero?

Héctor Germán Oesterheld (w) and Francisco Solano López (a), "Amapola Negra 'Black Poppy': Octava misión", Hora Cero # 24, April 1959.

I said on this blog already that my all time favorite comic is "Amapola Negra 'Black Poppy'". In the page above (number 86 in the mini series) lieutenant Hugh Probst (former co-pilot of the Black Poppy, a B-17 bomber fortress) is being buried. The priest calls him a hero. Here's what lieutenant Abner Stiles (Black Poppy's pilot) is musing: "[...]Hugh was no hero./ Why did I say that he was not a hero? What is a hero, after all? A hero can't be a superman.../ Being a superman he can't be a hero. A hero must be simply a man like all of us. A man like all of us with a valuable life or a valuable death. [...]" 

How far we are from the fascistic superhero!... How far we are from comics juvenile subculture!...

Root Hog or Die (trailer) -- a film about John Porcellino

See also John Stafford's blog.

Tom Gill's Three Classic Manga by Yoshiharu Tsuge

‘Chiko,’ ‘A View of the Seaside,’ and ‘Mister Ben of the Igloo’: Visual and Verbal Narrative Technique in Three Classic Manga by Yoshiharu Tsuge

Tom Gill at The Hooded Utilitarian explains why Yoshiharu Tsuge is, by far, the greatest comics artist that has ever lived.


On the other hand just look at these original pages! It makes a comics original art collector green with envy! I know I am...

Frontera Las revistas de Oesterheld by Carlos Altgelt

More great news from Argentina! I can't wait to get my anxious mitts on it!
By the way, one of Carlos' ancestors is Richard Felton Outcault. Confused? It's easy to explain: in time the family name Altgelt became Outcault...

Héctor Germán Oesterheld's Swipe File - Coda

From left to right: Philadelphia Thursday (Shirley Temple), Emily Colingwood (Anna Lee), Mary O'Rourke (Irene Rich) in Fort Apache (1948) by John Ford (director), Archie Stout and William H. Clothier (cinematography).

That, up there, is an image with a meaning. It proves that the often posed question, "is film a literary or a visual form?" makes no sense. Ditto for comics.

To contextualize: the men went to war leaving the women behind suffering in silence, and waiting... The minimalist set (clouds in the morning sky) and the low angle shot give the scene an epic, mythical tone. I'm tempted to say, as it was said of Ernst Lubitsch, that this, right here, is John Ford's poetic touch. 

"Poetic" is a literary term, so, am I being abusive applying it to an image? Maybe I am, but then, to avoid cathacresis, what word do you suggest to convey what I mean? Maybe there's none and that's why I'm using the above one, but then, didn't Horace say "ut pictura poesis"? Lessing denied it, but I'm a firm believer in the former's opinion, not the latter's...

And, that, in a nutshell, is why the question "is film a literary or a visual form?" (and what about sound?) makes no sense. Because, you see, we shouldn't judge an image by its surface alone. Technical skill is important, but it is far from being the most important part of an image's judgement.
What I'm saying is that I don't get comics exceptionalism or the annoying habit comics fans have to laud eye candy (if there's such a thing; every image has a content of some sort...) while considering that any idea behind a comic is a literary judgement. Are images just fun and superficial while words are serious and profound? Is the visual artist just a machine, showing instead of telling? Bête comme un peintre?...
I say no to all that, of course, as John Ford's imagery clearly proves. Images convey ideas and tell stories as much as words. There's nothing exclusively literary in stories. A literary comic doesn't necessarily mean a wordy one. Another problem may be that, in spite of being swamped by images of all sorts, most people remain mostly image illiterate. (And here I go again needing to borrow a word from another field.) Modern visual artists and  critics are to blame for this: in their relentless search for purity they denied any connection with narratives. Trees and stones, as Cézanne would put it, shouldn't tell any stories, but the fact is that they do, either we want them to or not...

In the foreground: Madgelana Martin (Claudette Colbert) in Drums Along the Mohawk (1939) by John Ford (director), Bert Glennon and Ray Rennahan (cinematography). 

In the foreground: Clementine Carter (Cathy Downs) in My Darling Clementine (1946) by John Ford (director), Joseph MacDonald (cinematography). In the background, Agathla's Needle: imposing mythical symbol or just another phallic symbol, or both?... Didn't I tell you that rocks tell stories?...