The Beats: A Graphic History

InThe Beats: A Graphic History, those who were mad to live have come back to life through artwork as vibrant as the Beat movement itself. Told by the comic legend Harvey Pekar, his frequent artistic collaborator Ed Piskor, and a range of artists and writers, including the feminist comic creator Trina Robbins and theMadmagazine artist Peter Kuper,The Beatstakes us on a wild tour of a generation that, in the face of mainstream American conformity and conservatism, became known for its determined uprootedness, aggressive addictions, and startling creativity and experimentation. What began among a small circle of friends in New York and San Francisco during the late 1940s and early 1950s laid the groundwork for a literary explosion, and show more this striking anthology captures the storied era in all its incarnations—from the Benzedrine-fueled antics of Kerouac, Ginsberg, and Burroughs to the painting sessions of Jay DeFeo’s disheveled studio, from the jazz hipsters to the beatnik chicks, from Chicago’s College of Complexes to San Francisco’s famed City Lights bookstore. Snapshots of lesser-known poets and writers sit alongside frank and compelling looks at the Beats’ most recognizable faces. What emerges is a brilliant collage of—and tribute to—a generation, in a form and style that is as original as its subject. show less

This comic feels like a celebration to me. Pekar's writing is telling and spare, saying what needs to be said yet leaving room for the artist's visual (and the reader's) interpretation. The history of the 'beats' is fascinating as well as the unsung heroes of the era who finally get some form of recognition in the latter half of the comic. All in all a necessary read for any of the following: Harvey Pekar fans (me), history buffs, counter culture aficionados, jazz enthusiasts, lit enthusiasts, sex enthusiasts....the list goes on and on...

The Beats:A Graphic History🍒🍒🍒
2009
Hill & Wang/ Farrar,Straus & Giroux

This was a fun, simple overview of The Beat writers and their influence on other writers and artists. Focussing mainly on SF and NY, the obvious choices, I was glad to see Chicago mentioned as well.
The bios are brief and look at their lives at large, the graphics are fantastic. My favorites are the first three: Jack Kerouac, Allen Ginsberg and William S. Burroughs. Diana DiPalma and Michael Mc Clure were good also.
The Beat movement was an interesting and intriguing group of thinkers, unfortunately most were cruel to women and abused drugs. The stories they tell fascinate and horrify.
Recommended.

I read On the Road five years ago, my first (and so far only) foray into the collective oeuvre of the Beat Generation. It wasn’t a huge success. But I’ve always had it in my head that I want to explore their work more, and I’m really into graphic biographies right now, so I was pretty excited about this. I liked it a lot, and I think the format was good, but the amount of focus given to the big three (Kerouac, Ginsberg, Burroughs) was a little much. Everyone knows those names already, and there were so many other artists involved in that movement who just got short little blurbs at the end. I especially wish there had been more about the women of the movement, because as it is, they really feel sidelined and lumped together as a show more subset. By which I mean there is a section called “Beat Chicks,” toward the very end of the book, where they are completely sidelined and lumped together as a subset. Obviously women artists weren’t respected in that time, and of course it’s normal for history to ignore them too, but if you’re making a point to include them already, how about really including them? My general impression after having read this: I want to read Ginsberg, Diane di Prima, Hettie Jones, Joyce Johnson, Joanne Kyger, Denise Levertov, Kenneth Patchen, Philip Whalen, and Lawrence Ferlinghetti. I’ll probably give some more of Kerouac’s work a try. And I would really like to not read anything by that asshole William Burroughs, though I might still try Naked Lunch if I feel obligated to. show less

Actually the first "graphic" book (history or otherwise) I've read. I had mixed feelings about it. It's pretty breezy, the graphic aspect means there is not a lot in the book by way of actual words. Some of the illustrations seem kind of dumb. For example, in a panel where Kerouac is in the Merchant Marine, a dialog bubble says "Washing pots and pans isn't my idea of fun, but I'm learning, getting more experience." And there's more like that. The book covers lots of ground and lots of writers, and it seemed pretty shallow at times, but on the other hand I've read worse surveys of literature, and they did work hard to give you at least a superficial feel for each author's work. But I would have liked even more poetry.

Reading this book has been a labor of love. I really really really wanted to like it,and there were definitely parts that stood out but man was it a chore to get through.

The major fault of this book was definitely that it tried to accomplish too much. It tried to provide way too much information, which caused it to lose the "story" and high readability that nonfiction graphic novels usually have going for them. I also just felt overwhelmed by information at some points. The book is divided in two halves which are then further divided into information on different people, places and organizations.

However, it's not all bad. A lot of the book (especially towards the end of the second half) was beautifully illustrated, and the show more illustrations were terrific examples of Beat culture within themselves. Several of the stories near the end made me want to find out more about those particular places or people.

Basically I guess I feel like this book is a mixed bag. Some of it's great and some of it sucks. Also keep in mind who the Beats were and what they exemplified when reccommending this book to younger teens. show less

Reading this book has been a labor of love. I really really really wanted to like it,and there were definitely parts that stood out but man was it a chore to get through.

The major fault of this book was definitely that it tried to accomplish too much. It tried to provide way too much information, which caused it to lose the "story" and high readability that nonfiction graphic novels usually have going for them. I also just felt overwhelmed by information at some points. The book is divided in two halves which are then further divided into information on different people, places and organizations.

However, it's not all bad. A lot of the book (especially towards the end of the second half) was beautifully illustrated, and the show more illustrations were terrific examples of Beat culture within themselves. Several of the stories near the end made me want to find out more about those particular places or people.

Basically I guess I feel like this book is a mixed bag. Some of it's great and some of it sucks. Also keep in mind who the Beats were and what they exemplified when reccommending this book to younger teens. show less