Thursday, September 14, 2017

A Maus in Profile: Art Spiegelman's Comix, Essays, Graphics and Scraps

A copy of Art Spiegelman's scarce Comix, Essays, Graphics and Scraps (1999) is personalized with an original drawing of his Maus in profile. It's simple and delicate.

Inscribed with a drawing of his Maus in profile
"FOR STEPHEN + AVIVA
W. WARM WISHES
Art Spiegelman
2000!"

The book's cover I interpret as a surrealistic comics riff on the David and Goliath story with the title character of Frederick Opper's Happy Hooligan grieving, a monumental pipe and that chin from E. C. Segar's Popeye, a lightning bolt straight out of C. C. Beck's Captain Marvel, not to mention a stray brick reminiscent of George Herriman's Krazy Kat. The landscape recalls the work of Giorgio de Chirico and René Magritte. Your results may vary.

Art Spiegelman. Comix, Essays, Graphics and Scraps (1999)


Note:  My thanks go out to Stephen Kroninger for providing this scan of a wonderful copy of a Spiegelman book I didn't know existed. Shazam!

I'm always looking for scans or photographs of uniquely personalized books by Art Spiegelman and other New Yorker artists. Go ahead, surprise me!

What's more annoying, Spiegelman's spelling of comix or his avoidance of the Oxford comma? I think it's the spelling. Keep your comments under 500 words please.

By the way, the new American Bystander #5 will carry the very first classified ad for this blog. My wife told me it won't drive any traffic here and—you know what?—she's absolutely right!

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