Local graphics publisher does good
Coming to work to find a big package marked "Drawn & Quarterly" waiting on your desk is a sign that life is sweet. The local publisher of graphic arts goodies has been putting quality work into expertly executed packages of all shapes and sizes for 14 years now, and continues to expand its roster every year. In addition to comics, they publish graphic novels, art books and unique series like their Petits Livres. Here are a few of their summertime releases.
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| Lady Pep, by Julie Doucet |
Joe Sacco studied journalism in university, which doesn’t come as a surprise if you’ve read either of his most famous books, The Fixer and Palestine. War’s End: Profiles from Bosnia 1995-96 predates both these works, but is here published for the first time. The book brings us his perspective on the Serbian conflict via two profiles: that of Soba, a Sarajevan artist and musician who recounts his work as a mine planter on the front lines, and that of Radovan Karadzic, head of the self-declared Bosnian Serb state Republika Srpska, and the man responsible for one of the worst genocides in modern history. Even in this early work, Sacco’s perspective on this fascinating political situation was in a vanguard all its own. These are two rich little stories.
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| A Village Under My Pillow, by Luc Giard |
Of the pack I received, War’s End was the only narrative comic. Julie Doucet’s latest outing points to a whole new venture for D&Q: the art book. Lady Pep is the first work I’ve encountered from the author of Dirty Plotte since she stated a few months ago that she was leaving the world of comics. Her focus shifted into the visual arts, where, patronized by Galerie Graff, she has been busying herself with small graphic works of a more abstract nature.
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| The Chronicles of Lucky Ello, by Peter Thompson |
This collection gathers together a series of her Sophie Punt mini booklets – homemade handbooks made of recycled materials apposed with drawings of characters and common objects, created in honour of the Slow Action Movement she inaugurated, and occasionally distributed via a kind of Distroboto in Helsinki. It’s a fun opportunity for those of us who haven’t seen the originals to leaf through these booklets and to catch up on the new work of an influential local comic artist, but Lady Pep is a bit of a mixed bag; it feels like leafing through someone’s sketchbook, which is not always the honour it seems like it should be.
D&Q’s Petits Livres series is a great initiative on their part to make the work of their artists accessible to a greater (poorer) public. All priced very reasonably, I received three such books, focusing respectively on Luc Giard, Marc Bell and Peter Thompson.
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| The Stacks, by Marc Bell |
In A Village Under My Pillow, Giard is interested in a wider variety of subject matter than I thought possible, although the work nevertheless remains the product of an obsessive, repetitive man. A taste for rehashed Tintin is a must. Marc Bell’s collection, The Stacks, is a morsel of beauty and my favourite among these releases; his work is infinitely richer in colour, and published in this quality, than it is on newsprint. The Stacks also introduces amazing expressions of his crazy creature world in collage, paintings, mixed media… a treat. And it’s no wonder Thompson’s The Chronicles of Lucky Ello was produced in part by Bell – the influence is clear. But Thompson’s characterization is all his own, and this comic is filled with a poppy perception that’s a pleasure to discover.
2 comments
I would urge all of you to give esteemed publisher Drawn & Quarterly a try. In the comics world, they are almost seen as a higher echelon to reach by the comics community – making comics “art” rather than just simple kid’s stuff. The nearest companies in North America that put out this kind of stuff is Fantagraphic books –or Art Spiegleman’s “Raw” compilations & spin-offs.
And of course – they are Canadian !!!
And not afraid of promoting & supporting locals in the international market. A talented roster includes such talented canucks such as Chester Brown, Seth ( of New Yorker fame ), Julie Doucet, Joe Matt & others. The book on Louis Riel by Chester Brown – should be a staple in each and every high school accross the country as far as I’m concerned. Their stuff is pretty easy to find at Chapters & Indigo – but also easily available on their website at drawnandquarterly.com
If I have one complaint about the company, it’s their relatively small output – but that
seems par for the course for most “vanity presses” of this type – at times they seem more concerned with the actual product than making that profit. What I’d like to see is more local support of this company go on. Pick up your Peepshows, try out your Dirty Plottes, thrill to Louis Riel.
Drawn and Quarterly have published some of the greatest comics ever in the past several years, including the works of Chester Brown, Seth, and Joe Matt, all of which are still available and worth reading, and ongoing as well. Chris Oliveros and Marina Lesenko are the pair behind the success of this unique publishing company. What is remarkable is that this world-class publisher is located here in Montreal.
Drawn and Quarterly can safely be called Literary Comics, as all of their offerings are arthouse-style comics. As far as I know no films have yet been made of the works of a D&Q published creator, but such a work would probably be reminiscent of something like American Splendor or Ghost World.
Some highlights include Chester Brown’s The Playboy and Seth’s Palookaville, and of course Joe Matt’s Peepshow. Julie Doucet’s New York Story as well as her earlier art book Long Time Relationship, and Chester Brown’s Riel is receiving wide critical acclaim. Joe Sacco is a unique comics-journalist, and his experiences in Bosnia are incredible to read. Adrian Tomine is another storyteller at D&Q whose work merits serious reading, as does James Sturm, and of course David Collier. Many of the finest names in comics are associated with D&Q, including Crumb, Chris Ware, Dylan Horrocks and Jason Lutes.
When we think of comics in the West we still view them primarily down the ladder when it comes to narrative. Many arthouse or non-mainstream publishing houses reinforce this by focusing on alternate versions of juvenalia that end up as silly as the stuff they approximate.
D&Q publishes the real deal, comics that are not simply anti-hero comics, but narratives that touch upon universal experience in the worlds we share. The fact they do this via the medium of gorgeously rendered comic art is proof that there is hope for a more integrated view of comics as a worthwhile art and entertainment.