IRAN PETITION, from Marjane Satrapi

This email came in this morning—

Dear Friends

To all who believe in freedom and democracy 
Please sign this petition to the United Nations to stop the violence, arrestations and torture in Iran.
The situation is really really bad.

Please forward it to whoever you know
Best and lots of love
Marjane Satrapi

http://www.petitiononline.com/12June/petition.html

ANGELINA JOLIE on THE PHOTOGRAPHER

"An unflinching and gripping photographic memoir, The Photographer takes you on a breathtaking journey through the best and worst humanity has to offer in times of war. Turning its pages, the reader begins to understand what it means to lose everything as a refugee of war, to cross mountains to help someone you never met, to feel the intense responsibility of being the only one able to capture the last moments of a child's stolen life. Suddenly Afghanistan, a distant land, a foreign culture, a courageous and resilient people seem closer, more familiar—more human. I love this book."

—Angelina Jolie, UNHCR Goodwill Ambassador

 

From Mark Siegel's night table: Mazzuchelli's ASTERIOS POLYP (from Pantheon)

Asterios Polyp is one of the most remarkable graphic novels I’ve read.

 

David Mazzuchelli takes the form to new heights, reinventing its language as the very best do. He also plumbs human, narrative, emotional depths that even fewer comics can touch. And to top it all off, he delivers all that in one of the most pleasurable, accessible reads of all.

 

Formally as daring and brilliant as Chris Ware, Mazzuchelli’s Asterios Polyp turns art and design idioms into a unique new comics syntaxe. Every single character speaks in a distinct typeface (which could have been a disastrous decision in lesser hands.) In different modes, characters appear more figurative or more abstract, or as architectural schematics. Colors become a code, expressing balances of power and the inner nature of a character. And there’s more, all of which dazzles by its thoughtfulness, its care, and its intelligence.

 

Sounds daunting?

 

It isn’t!

 

Mazzuchelli, this virtuoso dude, whisks his reader on and on, for a startling, delightful experience—an oddly clear, attractive, effortless ride. (And yet, one that greatly rewards those who do enjoy putting a little effort into their reading. Its themes snuck up on me, staying with me, coloring my view of the world.)

 

Far from a purely cerebral pleasure, Asterios Polyp also manages to take its reader by the hand and lead the way to things mightily poignant. There is a story thread between Asterios and Hana, told in action, dialog and above all color, that is intense, real, moving. An unforgettable Orpheus and Eurydice sequence is overwhelming. As with great characters who live on forever in novels or film or anywhere Asterios Polyp’s transformation feels both startling and inevitable.

 

And it’s so often hilarious—all of it bathes in Mazzuchelli’s rich humor, the humor of an experienced man, a mature author, a true literary and artistic mountain goat, at his ease scaling, hopping around and delighting himself at these great heights. Though most characters are at times pathetic or laughable, Mazzuchelli peers into human nature with kindness and endearment.

 

It’s also a beautiful object, and here Pantheon does what it shines at. The silky blueish-white paper stock is a perfect setting for the clever CMYK magic Pantone spot color magic that unfolds in Asterios Polyp. I was told the rare paper is only produced by one mill in Japan—a nice selling point that underscores the loving attention this book exudes in all of its attributes.

 

Editing First Second authors, I sometimes worry about the pressures the publishing world (contracts, deadlines, release dates) can exert on the creative life. We live in the age of the forced fruit. Some books, it’s true, only need a short gestation period and labor. Others need longer. Alison Bechdel took seven years to make Fun Home. Art Spiegelman gave his total Maus thirteen years.

 

Asterios Polyp feels like it’s had the time to cook, to grow in layers, to take on a life of its own, one that conceivably escapes even its author’s full grasp—or at least has had a chance to surprise him, and revealed itself along the way. It’s been ten years waiting for David Mazzuchelli’s new work. It would have been worth waiting another ten for this.

 

What puts a graphic novel into every reading household? What delivers it to the ages, to outlast its creator, its generation?

 

It isn’t some clever new premise, or some new creature, some bizarre special effect, or some new titillating shock—the gimmicks all too many new works (in every medium) reach for in the absence of anything else. What lets a comic join the timeless best of the human heritage lies somewhere in an artist’s ability to think deeply, to feel deeply, and to have the skill to give that a fitting portrayal. Asterios Polyp is one of those. It’s excellent and magnificent.

 

 

 

 

Teaching Comics

Check out Jessica Abel and Matt Madden's Summer Comics Intensive!

First Second at BEA

If you happen to be attending this year's Book Expo America (at the Javits Center in New York City) and are hoping to stumble upon a First Second author, here's a handy guide to aid you in your quest!

Friday, May 29th:

:01 Editorial Director Mark Siegel will be participating in the YA Buzz Panel, talking about one of our forthcoming young adult titles, Refresh, Refresh, by Danica Novgorodoff. 
[Panel info: 1:30 - 3:15, in room 1E15)

James Sturm, Andrew Arnold, and Alexis Frederick-Frost will be signing copies of their new book, Adventures in Cartooning. 
[Signing info: 2:00 - 2:30, at Autographing Area Table 10]

George O'Connor and Adam Rapp will be signing copies of their forthcoming book, Ball Peen Hammer.
[Signing info: 4:00 - 4:30, at Autographing Area Table 10]

Saturday, May 30th:

James Sturm, Andrew Arnold, and Alexis Frederick-Frost will be participating in the Speed Dating with Childrens' Authors program, meeting as many booksellers as possible within an hour and a half period.  Coloring activities included!
[Speed Dating info: 11:00 - 12:30, at room 1A10]

Adam Rapp will be participating in an author stage program called 'From Stage to Page' about the transition from writing plays to writing comics. 
[Author Stage info: 12:00 - 1:00 at the Downtown Stage]

Danica Novgorodoff will be discussing her forthcoming graphic novel, Refresh, Refresh, in the YA Authors of YA Editor's Buzz program. 
[Author Stage info: 2:00 - 3:00 at the Downtown Stage]

We hope to see you there!

The Photographer in the New York Times!

Don't miss this week's New York Times Book Review for a fierce and moving review of The Photographer by Mideast expert Chris Hedges.

"How do you explain that the very proposition of war as an instrument of virtue is absurd?  How do you cope with memories of children bleeding to death with bits of iron fragments peppered throughout their small bodies?  How do you speak of war without tears?

"The power of “The Photographer” is that it bridges this silence.  There is no fighting in this book.  No great warriors are exalted.  The story is about those who live on the fringes of war and care for its human detritus.  By the end of the book the image or picture of a weapon is distasteful.  And if you can achieve this, you have gone a long way to imparting the truth about warfare."

And for more from Hedges on the topic, he's written a remarkable essay about the current war in Afghanistan, where he talks at length with Juliette Fournot, who headed the Doctors Without Borders mission depicted in The Photographer:

"The U.S. fuels the bonfires of war. The more troops we send to Afghanistan, the more drones we send on bombing runs over Pakistan, the more airstrikes we carry out, the worse the unraveling will become. We have killed twice as many civilians as the Taliban this year and that number is sure to rise in the coming months.

“I find this term ‘collateral damage’ dehumanizing,” Dr. Fournot said, “as if it is a necessity. People are sacrificed on the altar of an idea. Air power is blind.  I know this from having been caught in numerous bombings.”

Play

[from the drawing boards of Leland Myrick and Lark Pien]

Listen to Chris Mautner

Over at ROBOT 6, THE PHOTOGRAPHER is Chris’ pick of the week—

(...)

"It is one of the best things First Second has ever published and I’m hard pressed to imagine any other title topping it as my favorite comic of ‘09. You must read this book. You must read this book.You must read this book."

The Photographer: The World Has Only Just Begun to Be Witness to Its Awesomeness

Can there ever be enough news round-up posts on The Photographer?  To our delight, the answer (as yet) seems to be no: more people are talking about this book every day. 

"This isn't just a great photography book, it's a great novel, a great comic, a great memoir, and a great history text." -- boingboing

"The Photographer will make you weep, laugh, and empty your pockets to donate to the extraordinarily courageous Doctors Without Borders, which won the 1999 Nobel Peace Prize." -- The New Haven Advocate

"To follow these doctors, as Lefevre follows them, is to wonder about these things. The doctors -- and the young girls they find broken in the fallen light -- are the indelible characters in The Photographer. To ponder what sends them out and what keeps them going, as Guibert does, is to ask how we might find the place that both exhausts us and our sense of what we have left to do." -- The Oregonian

"Lefèvre spent four gruelling months with the Doctors without Borders team in Afghanistan. It took a toll. He returned to France in bad shape. He was exhausted and malnourished. He lost 14 teeth. But he carried with him some 4,000 photographs. Lefèvre considered himself lucky to get six of them published in a two-page spread in the French daily Liberation. He boxed up the rest of the photos, and went on to other photo jobs. Until 1999: that's when a childhood friend of Lefèvre's prodded him a bit. That friend just happened to be graphic novelist and comics artist Emmanuel Guibert." -- PRI

"'Photographs and drawings are like oil and water. They're always fighting,' says Mr. Guibert. 'In the drawings, I've put only what I thought was necessary to fill in the blanks where Didier did not take photos.'" -- The Wall Street Journal

Check out The Photographer on the radio!

PRI's THE WORLD will air a piece on Emmanuel Guibert's THE PHOTOGRAPHER today.  For those of you in New York, it'll be on WNYC-AM in New York at 3pm est.  Full list of stations is on theworld.org, and a slideshow based on the book is here on their website as well.

Try to check it out if you can -- PRI is a great resource, and Emmanuel is always a pleasure to listen to.