Yay, we got our first review for the long awaited Pogo book:I got my preordered copy in the mail yesterday, and it was well worth the wait. It's absolutely gorgeous. The strips look great, and the colorful dust jacket is far superior to the one in the early ads. I've read about a quarter of it so far, and it's pure gold. I'd only ever read Pogo in a few collections from the sixties, so, it's great to see his art and humor was as advanced at the beginning as it was at the end. I especially enjoyed reading the introduction of Beauregard the hound dog. like I said, pure gold. Highly recommended for Kelly fans, Pogo fans, comic strip fans, fans of beautiful ink lines, people who like perfection, people who like to laugh, people who can read, hell, everyone should get a copy! — Anonymous
Would love to hear from anyone else with a review, even if it's similar!
Well, I just got a look at a preview that Fantagraphics has here: http://www.fantagraphics.com/images/stories/previews/cpog1-preview.pdf
ReplyDeleteI hate the re-coloring. It's garish and distracts the eye from the artwork. Even the oddest color choices in the original pages are preferable to this.
This is why I value what you do here so much, Thom... The original pages are just so lovely. There's no need to "gild the lilly".
I won't be buying the Fantagraphics books.
Glen
Thank you for the compliment Glen.
ReplyDeleteAnd I know where you're coming from, color-wise.
But to be honest, in my mind, early Kelly with garish color is better than no early Kelly color at all.
I prolly won't live long enough to see the perfect coffee table book of Kelly, so count me in for a purchase.
Thom, I see your point. But, I'd actually rather see the Sunday strips in black and white than with that coloring. I particularly don't care for the yellow highlights on Albert.
ReplyDeleteI don't know why, but reprints of comics very often feature dreadful color. Perfect registration, finally, but for for some reason, someone always makes the decision to jack up the color saturation... or add needless modeling.
I scroll down from the re-colored sample here to your pristine original page, and there is just a world of difference!
Glen
J'étais très soupçonneux. Mais mes doutes sont levés.
ReplyDeleteLa ré-édition de Pogo par Fantagraphics, en tout cas le premier volume, est excellente.
Et comme chaque cm2 est un pur chef-d’œuvre de graphisme, d’anatomie vivante, de perspective profonde et onirique, de satire empathique et de pamphlets philosophiques et politiques rugissants, ça fait au total un sacré bon bouquin et un réconfortant évènement.
Les reproductions sont de bonnes à très bonnes.
Et tout (de ce qui est paru dans les quotidiens!... car, c'est loin d'être tout Pogo... Mais c'est une autre histoire) est ou sera là.
2 seuls petits défauts (mais le moyen de faire autrement?...):
— Les planches du Dimanche sont en fac-similés des pages des quotidiens. Pour quelques unes d'entre elles, on en a vu, donc, déjà, de meilleures reproductions, d'après les bromes du syndicate-distributeur. Mais elles ont l'avantage de nous présenter les couleurs telles que Kelly les avait conçues et telles qu'il les estimaient reproductibles pour l'époque.
L'ennui, c'est que dans Pogo, quand un personnage s'appuie sur un arbre, l'arbre change d'essence, de feuillages, de fruits, d'architecture, à chaque case. Sans parler des costumes des personnages qui font de même, aussi. Ou de la perspective!
Alors comment veux-tu colorier ça?
La solution de Kelly, c'était de faire quelquechose de très fou et vibrant avec des couleurs très fortes. c'est parfois très réussi, mais souvent bien criard et bouffant les dessins. Mais de temps en temps, magnifiques, aussi. Je ne sais pas comment les éditeurs auraient pu régler ce problème-là. ?!? Peut-être j'aurais mis en parallèle quelques unes des plus finement dessinées planches du dimanche version-noire-et-blanc, aussi? Mais si un livre a trop de doublons, le public ne l'achète pas, j'imagine...
Je te joins 2 planches du dimanche pour te donner une vague idée. Celle en couleurs est typique d'une qui a besoin des couleurs, même si pas satisfaisantes...
— La reliure (maquette et papier aussi) est presque trop belle. C'est (presque) trop luxueux pour une œuvre qui se voulait accessible, populaire et right-in-your-face. Ça place Walt Kelly au musée... Mais bien sûr, d'un autre côté, ça fait des décennies que nous voulons qu'il trouve sa place dans les musées!... Alors, bon...
http://www.amazon.com/Pogo-Complete-Sunday-Strips-Through/dp/1560978694/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1322389762&sr=1-1
Ce qu'il ne faudra surtout pas manquer c'est le(s) volume (s) avec l'année 1966. Là Kelly rend sa bande déjà psychédélique et surréaliste encore plus psychédélique. On y voit des êtres presque humains (?), des animaux compliqués à dessiner, notamment des créatures mythologiques et des dinosaures, et surtout, surtout, exceptionellement, la continuité continue (!) le Dimanche.
Yves Ker Ambrun
This is a rough translation of the previous comment :
ReplyDelete"I was very suspicious. But my doubts are removed. The re-edition of Pogo by Fantagraphics, at least the first volume, is excellent. And as each cm2 is a pure masterpiece of design, anatomy alive, perspective and deep dream, satire and empathetic philosophical and political pamphlets roaring, it's a total damn good book and a heartwarming event. The reproductions are good to very good. And all (what is published in the newspapers! ... Because it's far from any Pogo ... But that's another story) is or will be there. Only two minor flaws (but the means to do otherwise ?...): - The boards of Sunday are facsimiles of the pages of newspapers. For some of them, we have seen, therefore, already, better reproductions, according to the bromine-dealer syndicate. But they have the advantage to introduce the colors such as Kelly had designed and just as he felt reproducible for the time. The trouble is that in Pogo, when a character based on a tree, the tree changes its essence, foliage, fruit, architecture, each box. Not to mention the costumes of the characters who do the same, too. Or the prospect! So how do you color it? Kelly's solution was to do something very crazy and vibrant with colors very strong. it is sometimes very successful, but often much screaming and puffing drawings. But occasionally, beautiful, too. I do not know how the editors could have remedied that problem. ?!? Maybe I would have paralleled some of the most finely drawn plates Sunday version-black-and-white, too? But if a book has too many duplicates, the public does not buy it, I guess ... I am enclosing two planks on Sunday to give you a rough idea. This color is typical of that needs color, even if not satisfactory ... - The binding (model and paper as well) is almost too beautiful. It's (almost) too luxurious for a work that was meant accessible, popular and right-in-your-face. This place Walt Kelly at the Museum ... But of course, on the other hand, it's been decades since we want it finds its place in museums! ... So good ... What you really do not miss is the (s) volume (s) with the year 1966. Kelly then makes his band already psychedelic and surreal even more psychedelic. We see human beings almost (?), Complicated to draw animals, including dinosaurs and mythological creatures, and especially, especially, exceptionally, continuity continuous (!) On Sunday. Yves Ker Ambrun"