Re-reading Daniel Clowes

Last summer when Daniel Clowes was promoting the release of his book Wilson, I went to hear him talk at Powell's Books.  I was struck by his comment that he thought Wally Gropius was the best comic book of the year.  Later he stated on The Daily Beast that the book was "a brilliant, hilarious, deeply complex and wholly original work that rewards a fifteenth reading as much as a first."

Since then I've read Wally Gropius, and was enthralled by the art, but wondered at the story. It seems to be led by a waking dream, from one absurd episode to the next. I wondered what Clowes saw in the book on the fifteenth reading.  So, I promised myself I'd re-read Wally Gropius, but first I wanted to align my viewpoint with Daniel Clowes.  To do that, I figured I'd re-read all the Clowes books I could get my hands on.

This weekend I spent a couple hours reading and re-reading "Ice haven" and "David Boring." The former is much more closely related in format to "Wilson," in that it's a  series of two-page stories focusing on a particular character from the town, with an artistic style particular to the character.  For example, Vida Van Der Platz is a teenager in the story, and her first appearance includes panels with love letters to her "Dear Penrod" and is titled "Seventeen."  A more baffling episode is the Blue Bunny sequence, evidently related to the thoughts of the toy blue rabbit owned by a child named George.

One thing that struck me after re-reading "Ice Haven" and "David Boring" in the same sitting was that the geologic formation in the center of the town of Ice Haven is the same shape as the hairdo of David Boring's ideal woman Wanda Kraml.  The rock appears throughout the book, including the cover, and this last page.

Compare it to this shot of Wanda's hair

 Is there something about this shape that Clowes has fixated on? Or, is it just too many re-readings on my part?  From what Clowes has said about Wally Gropius, and also from his "internal dialog" on comics via the character Harry Naybors, my guess is that it's not coincidence.

Even more curious is the fact that most of David Boring was drawn prior to 2000, and yet many of the girlfriends are perfect likenesses of Scarlett Johansson, but I'll leave that tangled thread until another time.

Related articles

• Some Light Reading to Complement "The Pale King" (omnivoracious.com)
• Hanna-Barbera's Ghost World (laughingsquid.com)
• Graphic Novel Friday: Mister Wonderful by Daniel Clowes (omnivoracious.com)

Tintin in Black and White - Part 2

 In an earlier post I mentioned that when Hergé published Tintin in color he revised his work, tweaking the pacing and creating more polished and skillfully told stories.  The example I gave was The Cigars of the Pharaoh, which was drawn from 1932 to 1934, and then redrawn in 1955 for color (the first English edition was 1971).  So, Hergé had over 20 years to consider this work and make a list of changes. But the first color editions made their way into publication during World War II, when Hergé was already well-known across France and beginning to enter the European market.  The earliest color editions were stories that had been printed in B&W only a couple years earlier.  This raises the question "What changes, if any, did he make on the war-era stories as they moved from B&W to color?"

The Crab with the Golden Claws was drawn (with several interruptions) during WWII, and was published in a black & white volume in 1941. With the color edition appearing in 1943, it was among the earliest of the editions to be reprinted.  It makes sense that this story would have fewer difference between the B&W and color editions, a comparison of the two shows some interesting differences.

It's tough to compare different editions, since it seems that tweaks are ongoing.  Other than the obvious change of translating the story from French into the local language (English, in my case), other changes that have been made are revised fonts, cropping of panels, and the addition of the hors-texte (full page wordless panels).  For this article I compared a reprint of the 1941 "Le Crabe Aux Pinces D'Or" with a mid-80's version of the color edition from Metheun / Magnet.

According to this article on Wikipedia, most of the changes made to the color edition were later, at the request of the American publisher:

"In the 1960s, the book was published in America with a number of changes. In the original, the sailor Tintin leaves bound and gagged in Captain Haddock's cabin, and the man who beats Haddock in the cellar, are black Africans. These were changed in the 1960s to a white sailor and an Arab due to objections by American publishers of having blacks and whites mixing together. [1] However, Haddock still refers to the man who beat him as a "Negro" in the English version. Also at the request of the Americans, scenes of Haddock drinking directly from the bottles of whisky on the lifeboat and the plane were taken out."In an interview, Hergé sarcastically stated that these moves were "justified" because "Everyone knows that Americans never drink whisky(!)" and "that there are no blacks in America(!)".

So, first let's look at the characters who are no longer black in the color editions.  When Capt. Haddock is captured by the smugglers he's tied up and beaten by one of the crew members.  Later the Captain escapes, and chases his tormentor down the street yelling "You have to arrest that Negro!"  In the color edition the man has been change to look more like a Spanish sailor, but the text still refers to him as a Negro.

Another character named Jumbo is also changed from black to pink.  The name "Jumbo" is a variation on a Swahili word that means "hello" or "chief." Also, the father from "Little Black Sambo" is named "Black Jumbo", so it seems that Herge meant for the character to be black.  The Tintinologist site has a color version of the black character from 1958, which reinforces the suggestion that the change was made for American markets.
A less striking change is that someone decided to remove the names of the cafes in the color editions.  Maybe this was just an overzealousness on the part of the translator.  But it seems to me that if your story is set in Paris and Morocco, both Francophone countries, it's acceptable for the cafes to have French names.

In the B&W edition, at the beginning of the book, when Tintin sees the Thom(p)sons on the street, it's at the "Cafe du Sport." Later, in Morocco, the Captain waits for Tintin at the "Cafe du Port."  In the color version both signs have been erased.  As a side note, I like the way the letters are shown backward, as if seen through the sign via the sun.

Another translation-related change is where "Au Secours" has been erased, but still shows over the window frame.

A more artistic revision is evident in the scene where Tintin and the Captain start out across the desert after their plane wreck.  In the original edition the handkerchiefs suddenly appear on the heads of Tintin and the Captain between the frames, as they also rapidly lose their coats.  The revised edition has them still in their coats, sans hats.  Then, the larger desert panel gives the space to suggest some time has passed, and shows them coat-less and wearing their handkerchiefs.

Another change requested by the American publisher is to omit panels where Captain Haddock has his lips to the whiskey bottle. The "Golden Claws" is the first time Tintin meets the Captain, and he's introduced as a drunken wretch whose alcoholic life has led to the point where he's working for smugglers.  So, it's especially odd to include all the other pages where the Captain is stumbling and rambling from intoxication, yet to decided to hide two simple panels of him actually drinking from a bottle.  Nevertheless, the change was made. In my opinion the edit neither helps nor hinders the story.

The final change is the one that has the most impact on the story: two sequences have been swapped for dramatic effect.  The B&W version starts with Tintin in disguise, on the trail of Mr. Allan, to see if he can find where the first mate is holding Captain Haddock.  Then, it has the humorous sequence where the Thom(p)sons accidentally stumble into a mosque.  In my opinion the color version works much better, showing the Thompson's antics for comedic effect, and then heightening the tension for the final acts of the story with a furtive chase through the alleys of the port city.

So, what does it all mean?

Well, for one thing it tells me that editors aren't omniscient.  It's significant that, while the American publishers were concerned about racial issues, they weren't concerned enough to pay attention to the character names, or how the characters are referred to in the story.  Also, if they meant to sanitize the story to avoid offending people with racial stereotypes, why weren't other questionable caricatures, such as the Japanese agent, and the Arab shopkeeper altered?
More significantly are the changes done, and not done to the plot.  The fact that most of the story and art is completely intact between the B&W edition and the color edition shows an artist at the height of his career, with the skill to render his imagination into a fully-realized world.  But the willingness to swap the sequences at the end of the story also indicates an artist who can recognize faults in his own work, and take steps to improve it.  The will to revise, coupled with the ability to render, is at heart the basis for most great artists.

I'd like to thank the Tintinologist.com site, who provided a great chart of the publication dates of the Tintin library.

Read Tintin in Black & White Part 1 - The Cigars of the Pharaoh. Also check out my review of Tintin in the Land of the Soviets.

Related articles

• Anthony Horowitz Writing Tintin Sequel 'Prisoners of the Sun' (slashfilm.com)
• Starting with the Basics... THE CHARACTERS! (aotintin.wordpress.com)
• Natalie Hill: Brussels: Tintin's playground (PHOTOS) (huffingtonpost.com)

Dear Comics Diary, 2010

Cover of J. Edgar Hoover: A Graphic BiographyBetter late than never, here's my twitter diary of comics I read in 2010.
This list doesn't contain many of the single issue comics I read, just the compendiums and TPBs.

1/4/2010    Start the new year right with 'The Golden Age of DC Comics: 365 Days' by Les Daniels & Chip Kidd      
1/17/2010    "Reading ""Crisis on Infinite Earths"" compendium. ridiculously complete history of the creation"  
1/30/2010    "Iron Man vs Dr Doom... explosions, intrigue, Camelot and time travel. Should be great, but I'm just not that into it."       
1/30/2010    Read Hunter X Hunter #3 last night. Related to Battle Royale?
1/31/2010    Reading 2 vol. set of Humbug magazine. I <3 the annotations @ end. Exclnt companion to this. 2/4/2010    "Reading ""The Rough Guide to Graphic Novels"" Nice basic list of 60 graphic novels + discussion of  graphic novels
2/4/2010    "Read 'The Flash: Emergency Stop' last night. Fun story with ""The Suit."" Also the ""Speed Force"" uniform."
2/10/2010    "The ""Incal Noir"" by Moebius & Jodorowsky is one of the best sci-fi graphic novels IMHO"   
2/16/2010    "Reading 'Uncle Sam & the Freedom Fighters: Brave New World'. Good story, despite mutations. A luscious Phantom Woman."   
2/18/2010    "Just discovered Naoki Urasawa's ""20th Century Boys"" #manga series. I'm hooked"
2/18/2010    20th century boys...for some reason I want to relate this to Patrick McGoohan's The Prisoner. Why?      
2/18/2010    About to read Batman: R.I.P. by Grant Morrison       
2/18/2010    "I'm 1/2way thru ""Big Man Japan"". Mockumentary re: bygone days of monster fighters. sad,funny, odd #manga #japan"
2/20/2010    "The 2nd reading of Batman RIP makes more sense, but the story still has some odd gaps"   
2/20/2010    "You caught me looking at "The Devil's Panties Volume 2"    
2/20/2010    Kim Deitch is always a master. The art & story on 'Alias the Cat' enthrall me. Waldo is a devil!     
2/21/2010    "Finished "Big Man Japan" The ending confused the kids--they haven't seen enough old monster movies vis a vis Ultraman"   
2/24/2010    Nosing around TFAW in Milwaukie. Picked up the last copy they had of Stumptown #2. 2/25/2010    Reading comics w/the covers over my head: Countdown to Final Crisis. Mary Marvel just got powers back frm Black Adam      
3/5/2010    Blog post: Reviews of what I read in February
3/6/2010    "On Vol 4 of Naoki Urasawa's 20th Century Boys -- getting intense, building obstacles"
3/7/2010    Reading "J. Edgar Hoover: A Graphic Biography" by Rick Geary. 100 pg bio of the FBI "director for life."  
3/7/2010    Fact: In 1960 the FBI had only 5 black employees, all servants to the director.      
3/7/2010    Fact: in 1920 Hoover oversaw the detention of 6,328 immigrants as subversives. Only 1000 found ""guilty"" & none deported
3/7/2010    Geary's artwork on "Hoover" manages to be both utilitarian & occasionally impressionistic!    
3/7/2010    what would Kirk do? 'Goats The Corndog Imperative' by Jonathan Rosenberg   
3/11/2010    Reading "Diana prince:wonder woman" in Comics Journal #299."   
3/16/2010    picked up Green Lantern #47 at #eccc10. Convoluted story by John Broome, art by Gil Kane . Loved it.       
3/16/2010    I'd never read any of the "Pol Manning" GL stories
3/19/2010    BridgeCityComx Hey-o! Scott Pilgrim fans, listen up... the wait is over Vol. 6 is coming on July 20!
3/20/2010    Got this by Rucka & Lieber at #eccc10. Lieber said he was paid to stay away during film production
3/20/2010    Reading Stumptown #2 by Greg Rucka & Matt Southworth. Lots of #pdx scenery in the detective story       
3/20/2010    "Reading Siege #1. Allusions to Iraq intel, Oklahoma city bombing, religious right"       
3/20/2010    "Earlier I re-read Ellie Connelly ""preview"" --like a Victorian mystic tintin in america"    http://www.ellieconnelly.com
3/24/2010    Reading the "New Avengers, Vol. 1" by Brian Michael Bendis"
3/27/2010    Reading 'A Wrinkle in Time' to my 4th grader
3/27/2010    Finally reading 'The Bizarre Comics of Boody Rogers.' Seen 'em as a kid. Yes, they're still bizarre."
3/27/2010    Just read 'Avengers Disassembled.'
3/27/2010    Next up: 'Whiteout Vol. 1' by Rucka & Lieber. I just read why she killed her husband...sort of.
3/29/2010    The bizarre book of Boody Rogers   
3/31/2010    Still reading Naoki Urasawa's 20th Century Boys. Finished 5,6,7. Getting 8 & 9 next. How many volumes are there?"
3/31/2010    While I'm reading Naoki Urasawa's, I figured I'd also try his "Monster" Anyone hooked on that?"
4/1/2010    with Identity Crisis, Brad [Meltzer] was working out some serious personal issues heh."   
4/4/2010    Nice turn of the story by Gaiman on "Whatever Happened to the Caped Crusader?" Did not disappoint a tried & true fan
4/4/2010    Also liked addt'l material esp. "Pavane" & "Black & White World". All stories tended to be a bit talky."
4/12/2010    Avengers on the brain! "Secret Invasion" last night, Avengers, Vol. 2 tonight"
4/21/2010    Looking forward to the release of 'Wally Gropius' by Tim Hensley. Reminds me of European "BD"s like tintin"
4/23/2010    Get the 1st chapter of Sarah Oleksyk's story "Ivy" free. Sarah will be at stumptown comics fest #pdxcomics"  
5/18/2010    Read Yoshihiro Tatsumi's 'Black Blizzard'. Cinematic, I can see why he called it #gekiga, not #manga"
5/18/2010    Here's an excerpt from 'Black Blizzard'.
5/18/2010    gekiga -> manga is akin to Will Eisner calling his work 'graphic novels' as opposed to "comic books""    
5/20/2010    Surprised by "The Farewell Appearance of Daphne Dean in 'The Flash Archives Vol 4'. Thot I'd read all the early Flash"
5/2/2010    Reading Veitch's 'The Maximortal,' a twisted vision of a "real" superman incl. Einstein, Oppenheimer & a faux Disney
5/12/2010    Finished Deitch's 'Shadowland'. Holy crud! "DaVinci Code"? More like a "Dali Code"! Amazine story & art!
5/12/2010    Reading 'Shadowland'. One review on Amazon says "This is Deitch's DaVinci code.""   
5/14/2010    So, I started to read the #manga Old Boy. Vol 1 was intriguing. Maybe the female lead gets more believable    
5/23/2010    Reading Chris Ware's 'Jimmy Corrigan: The Smartest Kid on Earth'
6/1/2010    Looks good! RT: @comicinfo: As FEAR AGENT Ends, Writer Rick Remender Reveals Secrets"  
6/1/2010    Read 'Ghost World: Special Edition' last night. Good, but essentially GW + screenplay with some extras. 
6/1/2010    re-reading the comic makes me want to watch the movie again...'Ghost World'
6/1/2010    Also read 'Mercury' by Hope Larson. Good story. The art style grew on me as I read it.   
6/1/2010    Just read 'Brat Pack' by Rick Veitch --  definite talent for the gross & twisted. A mature tale of sidekicks gone bad
6/5/2010    Got 'Pluto: Urasawa x Tezuka' @ the library. Did not realize it was vol. 6. Great stuff    want to start from beginning
6/5/2010    I read 1/2 of 'Persepolis' today. Surprisingly full of insight & humor. The art is honest & clean
6/6/2010    Saw they've got "20th Century Boys" dvd out. I'll have to rent it at Movie Madness #manga
6/8/2010    Reading 'Tales of the Fear Agent'-- great! 2-4 page sci-fi/noir tales reminiscent of 50's EC comics, with a bite."
6/13/2010    Reading 'Nightwing & Flamebird Vol. 1' by Greg Rucka, looking forward to vol 2."    http://amzn.to/dy1WtJ 
6/16/2010    Cool! Another Portland comic. I've been reading Stumptown #pdxcomics
6/17/2010    Yes! reading 'Naoki Urasawa's 20th Century Boys, Vol. 8' tonight for bedtime."   
6/17/2010    Also, if I stay awake long enough: 'Pluto: Urasawa x Tezuka, Vol. 1'. Start from the beginning this time"
6/18/2010    'Carl Barks: Conversations' is a fun, occasionally repetitive set of interviews w/Barks. Great to hear his perspective" 
6/18/2010    'Carl Barks: Unmasking the Myth of Modernity' is a bit heavier, but still good bio. I preferred 'Conversations'
6/21/2010    Dan Clowes says 'Wally Gropius' is his "favorite book of the year by a wide margin..." I'm gonna buy it
6/21/2010    If you love Archie comics, prepare to be shocked by 'The Pin-Up Art of Dan DeCarlo'. Scandalous! (tee hee)
6/23/2010    on the nightstand: 'Hopeless Savages Volume 2' by @Hopelessjen and Bryan Lee O'Malley.   
6/25/2010    Read 'Pluto:Urasawa x Tezuka Vol 3'. 8 vol. series is a retelling of "Greatest Robot on Earth"   
6/25/2010    Interesting the way Urasawa re-imagines the story- art more "realistic" vs Tezuka's almost iconic style."  
6/27/2010    Reading 'Haunted' by Philippe Dupuy. compelling scribbles, dredging up funny, dreamlike stories. running themes
6/27/2010    Haunted's running = pun (ow!) recurring plot of running, & themes that reappear. pits, art, dogs, guts, gaps, & forest friends
6/30/2010    Started 'Invincible Iron Man Omnibus Vol. 1' by Matt Fraction last night. Good bio-terror/Iron man/Stane plot
7/7/2010    Boing boing mentioned 'Basil Wolverton's Culture Corner' today. Great stuff!
7/20/2010    'Werewolves of Montpellier' looks good. I'll have to check it out.
7/30/2010    Sir, I am a poet. (Drew Weing's "Set to Sea")"   
8/1/2010    Jean Craighead George = great kid eco-writer. 'Who Really Killed Cock Robin?' = one of my favorite 5th grade books
8/9/2010    Summer reading? Try 'Consider Phlebas' by Iain Banks. Episodic like Star Trek, yet 'way more graphic.
8/9/2010    'The Atrocity Archives' by Charles Stross is what happens when the "IT crowd" meets Cthulu.
8/9/2010    'The Jennifer Morgue' was more cohesive than "Atrocity Archives". If Ian Fleming played D&D..."
8/13/2010    Reading 'Naoki Urasawa's Monster #1'. Bit melodramatic, but not what I expected. Surgeon tracks a psycho killer
8/13/2010    'Temperance' sounds like a graphic novel spawn in the vein of philip dick.
8/14/2010    read 'Werewolves of Montpellier' last night. Clean art, laconic style, sparse dialog, nice story.
8/14/2010    1 reservation re:'Werewolves': the stylistic characters (crows, dogs, bunnies) all looked too similar
8/14/2010    Now I want to read more by Jason: 'I Killed Adolf Hitler': assassin goes back in time, Hitler steals time machine.
8/14/2010    More Jason 'The Left Bank Gang': Cartoonists Hemingway, Pound, Fitzgerald & Joyce struggle in Paris
8/25/2010    Everybody Is Stupid Except for Me. I still want this
8/26/2010    Read 'The Left Bank Gang' last night. Hemingway, Fitzgerald & Pound as starving cartoonists in 20's Paris, w/a twist
8/26/2010    Also started 'X-Men: Kitty Pryde and Wolverine'. Can't believe I've never read this story
9/2/2010    Note to self: Read 'The Best American Comics Criticism' 2010.
9/3/2010    Action is character. F Scott Fitz. shoulda been writing comics. An alternative: Jason's "Left Bank Gang"
9/8/2010    @GNReporter talks w/Cathy Malkasian re: Temperance. If you like allegory (eg Narnia Chronicles) you might like this 
9/9/2010    Reading 'Petey & Pussy'. Crazy foul-mouthed cat & dog w/bald men heads have adventures. Weird!
9/10/2010    I've been reading quite a bit of Jason lately. Would you say he's of the Franco-Belgian school? 
9/11/2010    My reviews of "I Killed Hitler", "Left Bank Gang" and "Werewolves of Montpellier".
9/13/2010    Peter Bagge's Everybody Is Stupid Except for Me = funny+thoughtful. I eschew Libertarian politics but he has some great points
9/25/2010    Amazon says 'X'ed Out' by Charles Burns will be out in October. Anyone read an early review copy? Looks good
9/26/2010    'The Last Musketeer' is a cartoon movie serial, mixing 3 musketeers, robots & alien invasions, yet still chivalrous
9/26/2010    I found 'You Can't Get There From Here' the least engaging. Frankenstein & monster have girl troubles.
9/26/2010    'Tell Me Something', similar to "Living & Dead", minus the zombies, plus thieves. Somehow more engaging."
9/26/2010    'Meow, Baby!' Jason strip & short gag stories w/mummies, skeletons, zombies & angels. In vein of laconic Gary Larson"
9/26/2010    'Almost Silent' by Jason collects "Meow, Baby" "Tell Me Something" "You Can't Get there..." & "The Living & The Dead"
9/26/2010    'Pocket Full of Rain' is Jason's "origin story." Collected from "Mjau Mjau" magazine, interesting in its unevenness."
9/26/2010    If you like silent films, romance flicks, or zombie movies, check out 'The Living and the Dead'. A sweet tale."    
9/26/2010    Bits of weekend were filled with Jason's blank-eyed dog/crow people. After 3 books (see link) wanted to fill the set...    
9/26/2010    'Hey, Wait...' is Jason's "A Separate Peace" carried through to the end.
10/1/2010    Been reading Rucka's 'Queen & Country Vol. 1'. Tight spy action in vein of Le Carre, but with strong female character. 
10/1/2010    Now 'Queen & Country Vol 2' I'm liking Carla Speed McNeil's rendition of characters. None of the art pulls any punches 
10/2/2010    Some comics I'm a total sucker for. eg: 'Tom Strong' is Doc Savage re-imagined w/a polyethnic/species cast  
10/2/2010    Also Peter Bagge's 'Apocalypse Nerd'. Gotta love it 'cause he takes pot-shots at everyone, an epic Hate-fest
10/8/2010    Underground, by Jeff Parker & Steve Lieber, mentioned on BoingBoing today    
10/13/2010    Anyone disillusioned w/voting this fall _must_ read 'Citizen Vince'. Gangsters v Pols in this Reagan era novel     
10/23/2010    Reading 'Ocean' by Warren Ellis. Cool hard-tech solar system space thriller.  
10/29/2010    Steve Lieber & Jeff Parker's "Underground" in glorious black & white."    
11/16/2010    Getting 'The Freak Brothers Omnibus' for my birthday. Of all the drug-culture #comix, these guys are the funniest   
11/16/2010    Also got 'Best American Comics Criticism'. Interesting love/HATE piece on Spider-man by Peter Bagge, & other essays
11/17/2010    The Freak Brothers showed up on my doorstep today    
11/25/2010    Lying in bed reading the 'The Freak Brothers Omnibus'   
12/4/2010    Reading Greg Rucka's "Queen & Country vol 3." Then going to get an x-mas tree  
12/4/2010    Later... I'll pick up Naoki Urasawa's "20th Century Boys, Vol. 11". The twists & turns of the story are compelling
12/14/2010    Reading '3 Story: The Secret History of the Giant Man.' a 3-sided tale of a poor giant hired by the CIA in the 60's.   
12/14/2010    Naoki Urasawa's '20th Century Boys' is still compelling @ vol 11. How many more? Some twists in this one!
12/15/2010    Some musings on "3 Story: The Secret History of the Giant Man" #graphicnovels #comics"    
12/20/2010    Reading 'CHEW Vol. 1.' Mix of humor, sci-fi, "men in black" & cannibalism (mostly humor). Hard for some to stomach?
12/20/2010    Also on my "to read" pile: Chester Brown's "Louis Riel: A Comic-Strip Biography" Looks great!"    
12/29/2010    Jason's "dead mickey"

Related articles

• List of Top Ten Lists of 2010 (graphicpolicy.com)
• urasawa naoki's monster (ngiuphobia.wordpress.com)
• Friday Five: Best Comic Book Movies (Excluding Marvel and DC) (graphicpolicy.com)