2000 AD Online Forum

I tried reading this in the local libarary, got about 30 pages in and just thought 'ugh' this is a bit grim.

Anyone want to point out it's good points, or should I just leave it alone?

Also for a book that went mainstream, it had a lot of confusing panel layouts.  In fact the whole thing seemed confused with the disturbed fantasies and dreams.

Yeah I tried reading this in Borders once when I had a bit of time on my hands. Even sat down and anything but I gave up a few pages in finding the characters bland and interchanable (esp combined with flashbacks) and the art/lay outs uninspiring.


No doubt Art will turn up soon telling us why we are wrong.

Dunno... Last time I discussed this with you tragedy ensued and I nearly got chased out of town with a pitchfork...

PVS -

I've never really found the panels/layouts of Chris Wares stuff confusing - in fact his clear layouts, sense of design and occasional breakouts into fanciful experimentation are what I like best about his stuff. However it is possible that the first 30 pages contain too much weird disjointed dream sequence stuff about zeppelins and robots with periscope eyes etc... I'd persevere, at least until the Chicago Worlds Fair bit. If you don't like it by then it's probably worth giving up on.

chris ware's stuff is indeed excellent, but very depressing. not for those of a nervous dispostition, but good in small doses.

 What I`ve seen of it fits the `excellent but depressing` description. I`d like to read more of it, but suspect I`d need a break. As with Graham
Greene and P.D. James; you reach a point where you want to tell them to lighten up a bit, life`s not that depressing.
 ummm, that doesn`t answer your question about the good points, does it? Well, the parts I`ve seen the good points are kind of poignant observation of life as it is (the kid playing with the tooth and squashing the caterpillar). People spend quite a bit of time just nervously passing the time, so works which show this feeling will always spark some recognition.
  cheers, thanks for prompting me to check out Chris Ware again

There was a nice bit of design with three rows of boxes representing the lives of Jimmy and his parents, but even then it was done from right to left as if it was saying this is such a good idea, I'm not going to let you just read it in 2 seconds and walk off.  You're gonna stop here and see how clever it is.  

I can imagine most people would get turned off after the first few pages where some of the panels are sideways and some aren't and you have to turn the book round to work it out.

To be honest I'm not going to bother.  I'll just hope they have Promethea book II in next time.  

I remember it getting panned on Late Review as well... "Horrible Colours" Tom Paulin

The Horrible Colours quote was just pathetic.  I decided to read the book based on the thinking behind that criticism.

I think there are more important criticisms to be made than not liking the colours.

Yeah that decided me to take a look too...

Paulin can be 'eccentric' at times... though I did love his Pratchett comments: "He's an amature, he does't even write in chapters!"

But The Invasion Handbook is shit, it's all done as poetry!

"Although some of the metaphysical imagery was really particularly effective and there was some interesting rythmic devices, Paulin totally fails to get to grips with a counterpart to the surrealism of the underlying metaphor. And he gets the tanks wrong."

A. Wyatt, Poetry Review

There needs to be some proper cutaway diagrams and maps and stuff if it's gonna be a proper handbook!

Out of curiosity, is this the kind of thing you found confusing? Personally I really dig this kind of thing, which experiments with purely pictorial storytelling and to me has a very clear sense of graphic design.

I think that's a real staller in a comic book.  Yes, it's very clever, but you have to stop and work it out first.  I think that would be very offputting to someone who doesn't read comics.

As I said, very clever and tells a nice little story, but having to start at the bottom right and they go counter clockwise while referring to the 'hub' is a pain in the arse.

yeah and the top rh curve of the the top rh panel is well dodgy... couln't he have touched it up in photoshop?!

Well, it?s certainly a different kind of reading experience from your average adventure comic, but I don?t see that as necessarily a bad thing. It?s a slow contemplative read for people who dig misery drawn in a clear diagrammatic fashion...

I don?t really buy the "confusing for non comics readers argument either" - It originated in the New York Times, where it would primarily have been read by non-comics readers, and then became a massive bestseller, again mostly with people who don't read comics. (Of course there's no guarantee that the people who bought it actually read it - I can see it also having an appeal as a "Brief History Of Time"-style trendy shelf filler.)

Not knowing what comes next, I assume that represents a trip down memory lane to the point where parents are just highschool sweethearts. Does the story carry on in the past from that point?

Without preconception* I read that from top left clockwise, finishing in the middle, and it made sense that way. Seriously.

(*chin-stroking pseudyness, musing on the art of the graphic novel, trying to be "down with the author" etc)

"Well, it?s certainly a different kind of reading experience from your average adventure comic"

ie hard work and boring

You have no inner accountant.

It's also very depressing, I won't be going back to it.

I actually have this book... i think it's hard to go from reading very traditional "narrative" based comics (e.g. 2000ad) and then drive into Jimmy Corrigan.
But, yes, i like it a lot. I think you just need to give your self time and suspend your normal expectations.
Anyway, whats wrong with depressing? Was feeling shite last week, picked up the Heart of the Matter and felt a lot better!