Michel Rabagliati's upcoming book is the perfect distraction
What a stroke of luck that I remembered to throw the advance copy of Michel Rabagliati’s Paul Moves Out into my bag before flying out of the office for the holidays. Turns out I spent most of my first days off in a year and a half – sigh – on my back, and not in a fun way. I, like many of you I’m sure, spewed phlegm and hacked the lungs right out of my chest from December 25 to January 2, inclusively. Oh cruel fate! But it gave me a lot of time to read.
Paul Moves Out is the third instalment of Rabagliati’s Paul series, which began with Paul in the Country in 2000 and Paul Has a Summer Job in 2003. The originals were published in French by Les Éditions de la Pastèque, but Drawn & Quarterly, that most efficient of local comic providers, has set out to translate them all for our multilingual reading pleasure.
Rabagliati’s Paul series is the kind of clean, easy comic that unsuspectingly whiles away the hours by engulfing you in its universe of innocence. The stories are set in Montreal, where the character Paul lives. The city is represented with much more intimacy and detail than one would expect from Rabagliati’s pared down, stylized form; as Paul walks down the street we see a background of Boulevard St-Laurent, Mount Royal, St-Léonard. The stories told are the anecdotes that make up a happy, secure life – nothing dramatic or spectacular, but readably discreet and charming. Unlike other biographical comics, the Paul series is not autobiographical, so it maintains a refreshing distance from Rabagliati and the fashionable (and often cloying) self-referential exploration of the creative process.
Paul Moves Out updates readers on Paul’s life as a 19-year-old design student who has just moved out of his parents’ home to live with his girlfriend Lucie. The book builds a generously rounded out narrative illustrating this time in the character’s life, from his meeting of Lucie to his relationship with a life-changing professor early in his studies, to his inner debate of sexual identity issues, to the death of a cherished aunt. These are small parables, in the grand scheme of things (or compared to a comic series like Marjane Satrapi’s Persepolis), but they make up most of our lives, and as such are relevant and unsentimentally important.
Rabagliati only began drawing comics at age 36, after working as a graphic designer for 20 years; when he was asked to design a logo for Drawn & Quarterly he encountered the whole new world of comics. He counts as his (highly recognizable) influences Tintin, Spirou and Gaston Lagaffe. Like them, he has an implacable sense of storytelling.
Look for the release of Paul Moves Out in early spring, that glorious time when, with the melting snow, colds flow out of our thawing bodies to become distant memories. Achoo!
4 comments
How does DOG enter into describing the Winter. Some people enjoy the winter and so do some dogs. It is unclear what Isa is trying to say.
The book Paul Moves Out sounds like an intersting book to read. Fun to read something that actually was written in Montreal and that the story takes place in Montreal. Isa writes that it is readalble , discreet and charming, it didn’t sound like the book was his choice. I on the other had love to read Biographies and Autobiographies so It will be great for me. I have to thank Isa however for bring up the book title so I can search for it. As for the review I think I will read the book and make my own , cause I got very little from this review, but then we must excuse Isa this time for being sick and it might have clouded his vision at times and his thoughts.
When I first stumbled upon Rabagliati’s work in a bookstore, I was drawn away by the cover and, most of all, the drawings. In fact, I disliked the drawings so much that it took me 2 years before I would touch again his books. Too bad for me, because he has a great sense of storytelling, making us laugh or cry (almost!) with his gentle writing.
I picked up the book again when I met him at a conference on comics. He was talking about his second book (Paul has a summer job), and he was so sympathetic and enthusiastic telling us how he wrote it, or how many times he could draw each panel before being satisfied. It showed me an author who may not be the greatest drawing artist, but is a dedicated one. So don’t be afraid of the “crudeness” of his drawings, and go further to enjoy the storyline. And who knows, you might even end up liking the way he draws !!! Of course, the same could be said about many graphic novels or comic books that too often get disregarded because the style isn’t like this or like that.
After reading about this comic I would never want to read it. I mean it sounds rather dull. To think this is the third of a series, what will the next one be Paul gets a haircut? To me comic books serve as works of pure fantasy and comedy.
I do think that its great that its set in Montreal and we get to see familiar locales, but honestly my day to day activities keep me quite busy. I don’t need to read about someone elses.
I’d like to start by correcting the author: all the albums in the Paul serie are autobiographies, even more so than poeple might think (his editor, my teacher, tells us it’s 90% truth and 10% fiction). However, it is still a charming story that will make tour heart light. I strongly suggest reading Paul has a summer job as well. True, the art might not be what poeple expect, but albeit the characters look simple, it is full of details in the background. Also, when the story is good, poeple will forget the drawings. Simple drawings even help identification with the main character!
I do agree that the titles might out you off, however, you should not let that prevent you from reading Rabagliati’s Paul serie!