Françoise Mouly

I appreciated all the comics in this anthology but I have to be honest. I bought a copy just for "Inferno Joe" Dante's Inferno adapted to the format of Bazooka Joe comics. I ... I have seen few things in my life that compare to the beauty of this conceit.

"Why do you only paint faces?"

"Why doesn't anyone in your art smile?"

"When you were paralyzed, were you afraid you wouldn't be able to paint again?"

These are some of the questions artist Chuck Close answers in his new autobiography for children. Filled with his portraits of mostly ordinary people, this book let's readers into Close's extraordinary life.

Born right here in Washington state in 1940, Close began taking art lessons at age 8. His severe dyslexia and prosopagnosia (face blindness) show more made school difficult, and so he put the full force of his attention into art. Over the years, Close developed his distinctive portraiture style featuring giant canvases filled with neutral faces, including many self-portraits. One great feature of this book is a section of Close's self-portraits divided horizontally into thirds so readers can mix and match his different works (you can see an example of this on the book's cover).

For 8- to 12-year-old budding artists and art lovers, there's no better non-fiction to read this summer. It's an inspirational story of an artist who overcame significant hardship to achieve success and fame. show less

I was fascinated by this book. It's structured as a Q&A with Chuck Close where he reflects on his process and his work. The book is beautifully designed. Starting with his problems in school, dealing with dyslexia and prosopagnosia, and then later after "the event" left him unable to move from the chest down.
Loved this quote from Close, "Inspiration is for amateurs. Artists just show up and get to wrok. Every idea occurs while you are working. If you are sitting around waiting for show more inspiration, you could sit there forever." (36) show less

Awesome comp of some awesome comics. I guess "American" comics means comics from U.S & Canada (and one person living in Germany) but not Mexico & South America. Six of the twenty-four featured adult creators identity themselves as living in Brooklyn, New York. Do humanity a favor the skip the Adrian Tomine section. Chris Ware remains the Borg of comics - completely heartless and evil. I've never liked it when pathology becomes confused with art. As the android Ash says of the Alien, "A show more perfect organism. It's structural perfection is matched only by its hostility. ... I admire its purity."

Joyce Farmer, Jim Woodring, and Chester Brown are all revelatory though I'm forced to note that Paying For It was an emotional let down but I admire its revolutionary spirit.

If great fiction is based on characterization, Jaime Hernandez remains an American master. show less