Criticism & Comics

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041) Arts and Inspiration: Mormon Perspectives, edited by Steven P. Sondrup, finished May 18

In the early days of the pandemic, I cleaned off an unused back porch and set it up as a nice little reading nook for myself. For a while, when I went out there, I was completely invisible, disappeared to my family. (You can see it here.) But then it was discovered and I went to school to teach and the oldest son took over that area for his going-to-school and now it is completely packed with junk again.

Anyway, when that was my space, I read an essay or more from Arts and Inspiration every Sunday. I didn't love ever essay equally but certainly they are all fascinating. This 1980 volume might not hold up as stop-the-presses criticism, but it does succeed as a timecapsule and it often succeeds as a call to action. The authors include some names still remembered well today (Wayne Booth, Merrill Bradshaw, Reid Nibley, Richard Oman, Boyd Packer, Trevor Southey), as well as some we probably should. One cannot fail but note that some of these less remembered people (Yoshie Akimoto Eldredge, Johann Wondra) are either not white or not male or not American. I might also note that the exciting-sounding Native American artists Oman discusses were utterly unknown to me and largely difficult to find in-depth information on in 2025. But that's not what my review is about. In fact, if it were to be about this, I would have to commend it for seeking across the world and finding artists and thinkers in all media, all of whom are articulate and intelligent and worth listening to.

The book is here, if you want to read it:

The nature of reading a series of distinct essays over five years is that I have no idea what to say about this book now. Except it's under 200 pages and still worthy of your time. I'm glad I read it. And the final essay, the one I read today, is a provocative argument for how today's LDS artists should should move forward and what we should aspire to. Pep talks still welcome.

a hair over five years

 

042) The Waiting by Keum Suk Gendry-Kim, finished May 19

I read Gendy-Kim's Grass, a stunning book about comfort women. This one takes place a bit later, during Korea's partition, as families were separated in the desperate run to the south. The story contains a lengthy flashback set at that time but largely takes place in the last ten years, the story of a daughter and her mother who longs for her three-year-old son who was lost on the trail.

 It's a solid piece of work.

perhaps a week

 

043) Odessa by Jonathan Hill, finished May 22

Disappointed to learn this is a volume-one sorta deal but that's how it goes sometime. I did like what was here. It's a postapocalyptic West Coast with enough details to feel real but not bogged down. I appreciated a note Hill left at the end of the book:

I think two-tone or a limited palette fits comics better. Comics exist and function in the in-between places. In comics, we're given some information, but the reader is required to participate in bringing it to life.... Two-color works in the same way. There is generally enough information there to help create things like form, shadows, and atmosphere, but the reader is still an active participant in filling out those details.

Wise words. 

one day

 

044) Barnstormers: A Ballad of Love and Murder by Tula Lotay and Scott Snyder, finished May 22

The first point I wanted to make is how similar the art was to Somna and, whaddaya know, it's the same artist. So a very insightful observation. Thank you, Theric.

But then I was going to talk about what made this art feel so different from that art. 

In both cases the lead characters are stunningly beautiful women, the skin seemingly lit from within. They are composed of perfect lines filled with flesh begging to be touched. These are women impossible to turn away from.

But Somna's protagonist, while a reasonably interesting character, never possessed an internal life real and compelling enough to overcome the fact that her entire purpose was ultimately to be lusted after. The story and character were mere scaffolding propping up a series of pornographic images.

Tillie of Barnstormers however is more incidentally beautiful. No doubt her adventures could not have been rolled out as they did had she not been such a perfect specimen, but the story has it's own drive and her character has its own backing and momentum. The purpose of the book is more than just look at the pretty lady. And thus it also grants her her privacy (or, if you prefer, modesty).

The story's pretty simple and straightforward but it does have some clever and compelling twists on what could have been a tired genre piece. The first time a robot appeared I was shocked and wondering just what this book actually was. In the end, yes, it's a story about crime and the lam and mental health and class struggle and domestic abuse, but the actual core is what it is like to fall in love and what falling in love demands of the participants. And the nature of paying that bill.

It's a lovely little tale. Whether they actually die in the end or not.

three days

 

045) Bingo Baby, finished May 26

This is a curious one. Initially improvised according to the rules of a role-playing game and then assemlylined into a comic. It's . . . fine. I liked it okay. I would call it more a worthy experiment than a great success, but, you know, definitely a worthy experiment.

one day

 

 

earlier this year..........

 

Bro! Tell me we still know how to speak of kings!

001) Beowulf translated by Maria Dahvana Headley, finished January 1
002) Cthulhu Is Hard to Spell: Volume Three, finished January 1
003) Fever Dream by Samanta Schweblin (translated by Megan McDowell), finished January 8
004) My Favorite Thing Is Monsters by Emil Ferris, finished January 11
005) You're a Good Sport, Charlie Brown, finished January 12
005) Into the Headwinds: Why Belief Has Always Been Hard—and Still Is by Terryl Givens and Nathaniel Givens, finished January 24
006) My Favorite Thing Is Monsters: Book Two by Emil Ferris, finished January 25

Maybe we should just pretend this set begins and ends with Wednesday Addams

007) Chas. Addams Half-Baked Cookbook, finished January 29
008) Monica by Daniel Clowes, finished February 3
009) The Unexpurgated French Edition of Fanny Hill: Memoirs of a Woman of Pleasure by John Cleland, finished February 19
010) Peach and the Isle of Monsters by Franco Aureliani and Agnes Garbowska, finished February 20
011) Klara and the Sun by Kazuo Ishiguro, finished February 28
012) Comic Poems edited by Peter Washington, finished March 7

Love, Beauty, and a complete lack of sasquatch 

013) Love that Dog by Sharon Creech, finished March 11
014) Beauty by Sheri S. Tepper, finished March 21
015) Antelope Spring by John Bennion, finished March 24
016) Shelley Frankenstein by Colleen Madden, finished March 28
017) Nancy Drew and the Clue Crew #21: Double Take, finished April 5
018) The Wood at Midwinter by Susanna Clark, finshed April 8
019) Rave by Jessica Campbell, finished April 13
020) The Creeps: A Deep Dark Fears Collection by Fran Krause, finished April 14

Do not ask what she does with the babies.

027) Victorian Psycho by Virginia Feito, finished April 21
028) Somna: A Bedtime Story by Becky Cloonan and Tula Lotay, finished April 23
029) Shadow Life by Hiromi Goto and Ann Xu, finished April 24
030&031) The Importance of Being Earnest by Oscar Wilde, finished April 25
032) Raised by Ghosts by Briana Loewinsohn, finished April 26
033) Ephemera by Briana Loewinsohn, finished April 26

Brighter and brighter until we all get our heads lopped off 

034) Brighter and Brighter until the Perfect Day by Sharlee Mullins Glenn, finished April 27
035) Lords and Ladies by Terry Pratchett, finished May 3
036) The Tragedy of Julius Caesar by William Shakespeare, finished May 5
037) Equus by Peter Shaffer
038) Travesties by Tom Stoppard, finished May 8
039) The Art of Intimacy: The Space Between by Stacey D'Erasmo, finished May 10
040) A Man for All Seasons by Robert Bolt, finished May 16

 

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