AutobioGraphixby Rose CurtinReviews may contain information that could be considered 'spoilers'. Readers should proceed at their own risk. Publisher
Credits Grade: 9 Frank Miller is snubbed by Marvel but gets to be an extra for the Daredevil movie. Bill Morrison admits to a lifelong Batman obsession. Sergio Aragones meets Richard Nixon. Fabio Moon and Gabriel Ba go to France. Stan Sakai goes to France. Metaphrog travel from France to Scotland. Welcome to Dark Horse's AutobioGraphix, a collection of 16 short stories from a variety of comics creators.As a whole, this is a strong collection with plenty of different styles and tones to keep many sorts of readers interested. The creators involved range from William Stout, an illustrator I'd never heard of, to Linda Medley, whose presence sold me on the book in the first place, to Will Eisner, who has been making comics since before most of the other contributors were born. If you fly through it the way I did at first, the transitions between stories (especially in the France sequence) can seem jarring, so I recommend a more leisurely pace. In fact, a slow, thoughtful reading is appropriate since even the most action-oriented stories are meditative and well-paced. My particular favorites include Matt Wagner's Comic Book Chef. I didn't know drawn chicken parmigiana could look so appetizing, but it does! And then there's the unforgettable Nixon/Aragones meeting, and more good-looking food in Stan Sakai's France, although I didn't necessarily want to eat after reading it. My favorite story, Eddie Campbell's I Have Lost My Sense of Humour, was fascinating and beautiful, but hard for me to read because of its painful honesty, and I appreciated the reminder that not all stories in life can be summed up tidily in anecdotes with satisfying endings. Equally strong was my ambivalence toward some of the other stories. Paul Chadwick's The Building That Didn't Explode, started out well, since I've always been a sucker for before they were famous stories and this one manages to toss in quite a who's who of big-name creators in many genres, and the story at its core is a compelling one. However, summing it up defied and undermined the stated moral of the story, that things don't happen for any reason except in fiction. Similarly, The Tree, by Richard Doutt and Farel Dalrymple, didn't seem as much like an autobiographical piece as a seize-the-day character sketch, with the narrator making appearances only in the first and last few panels. I would have enjoyed the story if the narrator had been a character in an ongoing comic, so I'd learn more about him later, but it seemed frustratingly vague. Then again, I really liked Linda Medley's Recess! because my own life had overlap with those of the characters, while other readers might dismiss it as just two people talking for seven pages. This is a collection where there's plenty of room for different tastes. AutobioGraphix seems like a good introduction to any of the creators involved. I'll be seeking more work by Brazilians Moon & Ba after reading their angular, inky, kinetic Qu'est-ce Que C'est? and Bill Morrison, my new Bat Hero, with his cleanly drawn yet lumpy kids and off-kilter smiles. There's some profanity, but nothing else that would make the book inappropriate for mature teen readers. AutobioGraphix works as an accessible overview of varied styles of comics art and writing, showcasing many storytelling potentials of the medium. I highly recommend it for comics fans as well as readers new to the genre. Written: January 31, 2004
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