Most Outrageous author Bob Levintalked to Tom Spurgeon over at the Comics Reporter yesterday. This is your must-read interview of the day, from an author you probably haven't read, about a subject you probably thought you had no interest in. Why, then? Because in Most Outrageous, as Spurgeon so aptly put it, "Levin has written what may be the first completely unforgettable book about a modern cartoonist."
Lizz Hickey is one of the reasons I decided to do another anthology this year. Working with a mythology all her own, her work is the kind of world I love to be let in on and the more I've looked at her portfolio the more she's become one of my favorite young artists. Primarily a printmaker, there is definitely an aspect to Lizz's work where an understanding of traditional print processes reinforces the awesome nature of what she does. Although there's an impulsive quality to her style nothing she makes is easy, nothing is throwaway. It's pure elbow grease. On the other hand, her work is personal and compulsive and can't be scrutinized on just some technical level.
The best part of the art is the way it works as a cummulative force, where every piece is an elaboration on a bigger universe. One piece may be dense with details (full of complicated social systems with that you can't even make out in that jpg up top) and another will just be some amorphous hand floating on the page, holding a ghost. But even then, most likely, the latter print will be printed and drawn upon a dozen different times, each time revealing more about the creatures and their world. And I can't say what it reveals, specifically, but I'm comforted by her playful characters who thrive in a world of mutual suffering and soothing and exploration.
April 28th-May 3rd Lizz has her Senior Show happening at Purchase College in New York. I'm a shut-in but if I were in the area I'd go to the reception April 30th if only to get ahold of the inexpensive silkscreened goodies she's selling.
Visit her Flickr page for updates to her portfolio.
Here's some more original art that's lurking in our Art Department: Rick Altergott's painting for the cover of The Troublemakers, Gilbert Hernandez's forthcoming follow-up to his widely acclaimed graphic novel Chance in Hell, which also features a cover painting by Rick.
The 2013 Fantagraphics Ultimate Catalog of Comics is available now! Contact us to get your free copy, or download the PDF version (9 MB).
Preview upcoming releases in the Fantagraphics Spring/Summer 2013 Distributors Catalog. Read it here or download the PDF (26.8 MB). Note that all contents are subject to change.
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