FROM MY LIBRARY: Third Reading

Comics May 11, 2022

Welcome to another visit to my modest library collection of titles related to comics where I hone in a small section of books on my shelves, select a book or two or three or more from that section and take a closer look…and, as I stated in the previous post on this topic, the books are not shelved following normal library rules i.e. detailed categorisation…they are stacked instead more by size than specific subject…however they generally all have something to do with comics, being either comics, collections of comics or histories and critiques of comics.

It’s a bit of a mixed bag in this post, from Gahan Wilson’s PLAYBOY cartoons out of North America, across to France and the classic comic art of Emile Cohl, then down to Asia and surveys of manga including one from Great Britain! Finally, back to the USA for an appearance by the work of Ivan Brunetti. (Photo-©2022 Dr. Michael Hill)
One book of a three volume set from Gahan Wilson of Playboy cartoon fame and below a photo I took of him when I attended his session at the Comic Con in San Diego in 2000. It was good to get to Comic-Con and excellent to see Gahan’s presentation. (Photo-©2022 Dr. Michael Hill)
He said some wonderful things about his job with PLAYBOY Magazine about the generous amount of time he was given to produce his cartoons, and the supportive management he received from Hugh Hefner. He also approved of the remuneration provided. I think that’s another cartoonist, Sergio Aragones, sitting right upfront opposite Gahan. (Photo-©2000 Dr. Michael Hill)
There’s my Professional Pass to COMIC-CON with the Gahan Wilson illustration. (Photo-©2000 Dr. Michael Hill)
The wonderful illustrative style and humour of William Steig can be studied in abundance in this large volume. (Photo-©2022 Dr. Michael Hill)
A biographical study of the French artist Emile Cohl, an important figure in the development of comic art and film. (Photo-©2022 Dr. Michael Hill)

And now for a brief visit to the field of manga, from a British perspective this time, with a detailed publication based on an exhibition of manga staged at the British Museum from 23 May to 26 August 2019 and I just happened to be in London that month. Oh joy! Cited as “the modern graphic art of storytelling” by the Museum’s Director Hartwig Fischer in this book of 350 pages manga is both celebrated and studied in this volume.

And to finish this post the Ivan Brunetti book, Misery Loves Comedy. The dust jacket was missing from this book when I bought it…probably stolen according to the bookshop staff…but I bought it anyway. I wasn’t going to deprive myself of his brutal humour over a cover…and being a collection of his work it had three covers in it in any case!

The Brunetti book contains a complete collection of his early work, namely the first three issues of his comic SCHIZO published by Fantagraphics Books. Above is the cover of Issue No. 1. (Photo-©2022 Dr. Michael Hill)

My LIBRARY posts form part of my graphic based material that includes the fields of painting, printmaking and cartooning including artwork for my comic and graphic novel BLOTTING PAPER: The Recollected Graphical Impressions of Doctor Comics, plus my scholarly research and study of the comics medium.

          

by

Creator and former Director of the Master of Animation course at the University of Technology, Sydney, Dr. Michael Hill has a Master's degree in animation and a PhD in comics studies, prompting his introduction on ABC Radio as “Doctor Comics”. A member of the editorial board of the International Journal of Comic Art, and former member of the Comics Grid Journal of Comics Scholarship and the Advisory Committee of the Q-Collection Comic Book Preservation Project, he has delivered public lectures on Comics, Anime and Manga and held academic directorships in Interdisciplinary Studies, Animation, Design and Visual Communication. Having donated his collection of research materials on Australian alternative comics to the National Library of Australia he is now active in the artistic domain, writing, drawing and printmaking, creating art postcards and prints and his own graphic novel Blotting Paper: The Recollected Graphical Impressions of Doctor Comics.

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