Breakdowns: Portrait Of The Artist As A Young %@&*! (2008) - Plot & Excerpts
Every time I read something by Spiegelman, I end up getting addicted. Just like with the other three works I've read by him, I started this in bed and ended up staying awake just to finish it. It's not as compelling as Maus or In the Shadow of No Towers, but it's interesting and enjoyable and fun to read. It's very meta, which I like, with a lot of self-referentiality. Spiegelman created/wrote the introduction and the afterword to this new edition of Breakdowns, which was already a compilation of work that he put together himself after Maus. There are layers here, just like his experimental comix, which layer panel upon panel to make daring statements about art and life. Spiegelman is a genius, and although his artwork isn't the best, as he says himself, his mind certainly is. I wouldn't read this book unless you're already a fan of Spiegelman, whether of his early work or of Maus in particular. He got away from the style he used in the original Breakdowns, which is evident in his introduction, and which he states explicitly in his afterword. If you don't like avante-garde comix from the 1960s/1970s, you won't like this. Or give it a try anyway--you might be happily surprised. If you, like me, only know Spiegelman for Maus, then this really is a must-read. It would be easy, depending on the reading around the subject of comics you do, to think that his significance in the artform pretty much boils down to that one seminal work. This book is a chance to see the man behind Maus, his own story, where he's come from, his formative years in comics. I'll admit I struggle with underground comics from the 60s and 70s and this, like Crumb, is hard work at times, but its worth as a historical document is tangible.
What do You think about Breakdowns: Portrait Of The Artist As A Young %@&*! (2008)?
Reprint of a 70s collection, with new introductory material. The book is a postmodern experience.
—Ourcorda
