"Open Source," a public radio show hosted by Christopher Lydon, spends an hour talking graphic novels with Chris Ware, Charles Burns, and Henry Jenkins in "The Dark Pages." The show looks at the history of graphic novels and wonders why this medium is the place where dark things dwell. The latest release from Ware is The Acme Novelty Library, and the newest one from Burns is Black Hole.
In the early 90s the underground scene got an upgrade when Art Spiegleman received a Pulitzer Prize for Maus, an illustrated narrative of Holocaust survival. Maus gave birth to the genre and there have been numerous graphic novels that have been documenting the dark side ever since. Whether its the Bosnian war or the aggressive banality of the everyday, the graphic novel has revealed itself to be an exquisitely effective medium for portraying physical, psychic and emotional devastation.
What well be discussing this hour is why. Is it the immediacy? Is it the interplay of the visuals and text, which can range from sublime harmony to utter dissonance? Is the graphic novel a cerebral experience or does it bypass that cortex and go straight to the gut?
I saw Chris Ware and Charles Burns, along with book designer Chip Kidd, at the Philadelphia Free Library. I don't know about Charles Burns, but Chris Ware gave the impression that 95% of the misery in his comics is completely autobiographical, or based on experiences he witnessed. He is quite possibly, the most hilariously self-deprecating artistic genius I've ever met.
I just picked up the big hardbound Acme Novelty Library anthology yesterday. Great stuff...
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rozehead
Providence, RI
April 2003
FEB 18, 2007 09:34 AM
does anyone know how to obtain original art by Charles Burns? i've searched and searched and i'd really like to have one of his pieces. does he ever sell?
susannah_breslin
I'm lost
June 2005
OCT 29, 2005 09:41 AM