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GRAPHIC CLASSICS: MARK TWAIN
edited by Tom Pomplun
($9.95,
www.graphicclassics.com)
Review by Rick Bradford
The thing that first got my attention about the
Graphic Classics line was the impressive diversity of talent. This volume alone (the eighth in the series) contains work by Rick Geary, Milton Knight, Evert Geradts (Dutch underground artist), Anton Emdin (great Australian cartoonist finally starting to show up more in the States), Lance Tooks (
Narcissa), William L. Brown ("President Bill"), Simon Gane, Mary Fleener and Skip Williamson, to name just a few.
Of the adaptations there are several that I particularly enjoyed. The first – and by far the longest piece at 36 pages – is Geary's "The Mysterious Stranger", a blasphemous story about a 16th century village's encounters with a young man who, unbeknownst to them, is the Devil. I find it amusing that Twain's view of religion at the turn of the 20th century fairly matches my own in 2004. Coming in at a close second to "Stranger" is Gane's take on "Is He Living or Is He Dead?", a tale about a group of painters who staged a hoax in order to get rich. Gane's work has been the subject of buzz lately thanks to the recently-published
All Flee! (Top Shelf), but the truth is that he's been doing interesting work for years. And, finally, the third is Emdin's "A Ghost Story" about the ghost of the Cardiff Giant, one of many fraudulent oddities made famous by PT Barnum. Emdin's exaggerated cartooniness is just what the doctor ordered.
This review only scratches the surface, of course. In addition to the adaptations, there are also a few text pieces, my favorite of which is Twain's address to an audience on the occasion of his 70th birthday in 1905. Be sure to check out the website for more info and a healthy selection of art samples.
[ Link to this review ]
