Tim Lane (1)

Relats hereus de Ramon Carver i un dibuix que toca a Robert Crumb. Però la depressió americana ha pogut amb mi, costant-me sang, suor i llàgrimes la lectura. En aquest cas no és un problema de l'obra (depriment, noir, cinematogràfica, excel.lentment editada), és un problema de l'estat anímic-lector. És una lectura que no entra amb facilitat, de les que cal trobar el "mood" i el moment.

I rarely give a perfect score to anything but this graphic novel had me in a trance from the very first page. Tim Lane is fantastic illustrator and storyteller both and these glimpses of film noir kinds of lives were nothing short of fascinating. He sets a perfect cinematic mood..sort of an eerie in the middle of the night kind of feeling and there were times I felt my hair stand on edge quite literally. Lane's vivid imagination can really leave an impact...I can't wait to find more novels show more by this author. I felt this awful emptiness but somehow I just wanted more.

As a comparison point, some of Daniel Clowes work will have to do-Like a Velvet Glove Cast in Iron for example. Black Hole by Charles Burns gives off a similar mood at times, too though more Clowes. show less

If you want to know about the night life in St. Louis, Missouri, in the 2000s, this is the book for you . . . and since I don't, it's definitely not for me.

Produced for a local publication in St. Louis, Tim Lane shares what caught his eye or ear when he was out at wrestling or boxing matches, bars, music venues, or just hanging with his friends. The first 160 pages consist of two-page spreads with a full-page illustration on the left side and a block of typeset text floating in the middle of show more the page on the right. It's all vignettes, all the time, with dull attempts at capturing the profundity of the common man or some-such crap.

Once you get past the chaff, there are about 50 pages of actual comics telling the history of Stagger Lee, the "Millionaire Hobo," a champion woman wrestler, Steve McQueen, and the Mississippi River that are a bit wordy but actually pretty engaging.

But to kill any momentum, the book finishes with two text-based short stories with some highlight illustrations. Bah.

This is one of those books that gets crammed in the graphic novel section of the library because of all the illustrations, but it is not what I want when I'm expecting a graphic novel.

FOR REFERENCE:

Contents: Preface / Scott Phillips -- Read This First -- Illustrated Vignettes -- Experimental Vignettes -- Graphic Feature Stories | • Mississippi Meditation | • The Story of Stagger Lee | • Welcome to Hopeville, USA | • Remembering the Millionaire Hobo | • St. Louis' Own Penny Banner, the First A.W.A. Women's Champ | • Steve McQueen in Slater, MO | • The Spooky River -- Short Stories | • The Ghost of Eduardo | • Goin' to California show less