Books what I like.

UNMATTER - Dominic Kesterton (Self- published)

I bought this comic/book/zine at the 'Print Stuff' print fair in York, after being introduced to his work through the lecture he gave at college.

The main aspect of Kesterton's work, which drew me to it, is just the actual images themselves. There is an interesting dynamic between what seem to be very biologically inspired/ organic shapes and the way they're depicted, in a very crisp, clean and almost clinical style. It feels to me like looking through a microscope, the way the pages are filled with little symbols and strange shapes drifting around. I think what I like the most about it though is actually the cover. It was definitely that which drew me to it, it's a really nice electric blue, and I like the all over pattern, which, whilst not depicting anything as specifically as the panels inside, just appears very pleasing to me aesthetically, and also alludes well to the content of the book, capturing it's essence without giving to much away  


During the lecture he mentioned that this book was the product of a new conceptual focus on small/short actions and their consequences, so it is made up of lot's of small sort of stories, built from sequential panels. I think conceptually the book is lacking a little, some of the short sequential narratives seem much more more thought out and there are some that are so simple they come across almost as filler. For me the 'stories' which have some more abstract ideas, and which are expressed in a more abstract way visually work a bit better. I have more fun with the ones which I have to sort of figure out a bit because I'm more engaged in the work in those instances. Overall I think this feels like a little experiment to test out this new conceptual direction so it's bound to have some inconsistencies and I wouldn't judge it too much because of this. Whilst I was only really attracted to it because of the images themselves (irregardless of plot/narrative) I do think it could lead his practice in an interesting new direction if he refined the ideas bit more.  


Persepolis - Marjane Satrapi (Non-fiction)

'Persepolis' is an autobiographical graphic novel, which tells the story of the author's life growing up in Iran and, unsurprisingly, deals with a lot of quite complex emotional, social and political issues. I am not actually a big fan of the drawings themselves, but I do think it's an interesting medium through which to discuss the (often very earnest) issues the book is concerned with, and it definitely helps break down some of the more involved political and contextual information into more easily digestible chunks. 

Despite not liking the style of the drawings, I do think they do a good job of reflecting a child like innocence, and juxtaposing that with what are actually quite harrowing events in a way which emphasises how far removed this childhood is from the audience's (particularly a western audience) using the clear and familiar language of comic panels. So actually, whilst I would have thought that expressing this story through such simple, crude depictions might impede it's ability to stir an emotional, sympathetic response in the reader, I found that actually, the opposite is true.        



Captain Slaughterboard Drops Anchor - Mervyn Peake (Picture book)

This is a kid's book I got when I was really young so nostalgia probably plays a bit of a part in why I like this, however, I'm still blown away by the illustrations in it today and I would probably count Mervyn Peake as one of my favourite illustrators. Obviously, he is a very skilled draughtsman and can draw anatomical shapes etc. incredibly convincingly, but, he doesn't just draw in a purely representational way, he still creates all kinds of wacky landscapes and characters. He also includes a tremendous amount of detail in the landscapes and character profiles in the book, which is why i enjoyed it so much when i was little, I think. There's a lot to notice in his drawings.  

He also has quite a fun interplay happening between the words and images in this book, whereby he references something by drawing it, and then just writing "like this..." 

Like this...

    
Or this...

Sin City (Any from the series) -  Frank Miller (Fiction)

I don't think there is anything particularly profound about the 'Sin City' franchise and whilst the noir/detective/gumshoe style narratives are enjoyable and quite funny, I don't think they're particularly strong. I just think the imagery is so stylish, and really very well thought out. For images which are often quite complex, and usually completely black and white, it's always very clear what's happening. The way in which light and it's effects are illustrated is also always very dramatic and atmospheric. But not only that, it's also often used to actually aid the narrative (for example, the second image above) and in a very effective way, the stark lighting helps draw attention to the important information in the panels and isolates only that, removing all the clutter that might potentially exist.