Customer Reviews

Arf Museum

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Picking up where he left off in Modern Arf, Craig Yoe has once again assembled a surprising collection of material that pays off the tag line The Unholy Marriage of Art + Comics. And "surprising" is the right word for it, especially for a comics fan as jaded as me. I've been reading comics for more than 40 years and I've been an avid collector for nearly as long, so I thought I'd seen it all. Arf Museum surprises on nearly every page with comics I haven't seen before. Sometimes it's work by a cartoonist I don't know, such as the hellish scenarios of Art Young or the Darwinian evolutions of Charles Bennett. Other times it's work I haven't seen by cartoonists I know well. Who knew that Chester Gould did humor strips, or that Rube Goldberg was such a funny writer in addition to being a cartoonist, or that Mort Walker once met Roy Lichtenstein? I particularly liked the piece on Reamer Keller, a man whose work looks familiar but whose name I never knew. There's even a collection of never-before-published color paintings of the Yellow Kid, including the cover of the very first comic book. Talk about historical significance! Yoe balances this historical material with plenty of new work - including a funny four-page strip of his own - which puts everything in a contemporary context. In fact, Yoe keeps Arf up-to-the-minute with a blog that's updated on an almost daily basis. http://arflovers.com/

Two overall themes are present in this volume, tattoos and cubism. Cartoons about tattoos have been around a long time and they're even more relevant today. I guess there's nothing new under the sun. And it's fun to see how cartoonists of the time reacted to Picasso's revolutionary art, with plenty of gags involving both eyes on the same side of the nose. Then there's a whole section on Picasso, himself a cartoonist of no small ability, whose sketch of a nude woman passing gas is among his lesser-known works.

It's quite a feat to assemble 120 pages of great comic art I mostly haven't seen before. In fact, the only two pieces I know I've seen are the two I supplied myself. (Full disclosure: After reading Modern Arf I sent a fan letter to Craig Yoe and he invited me to submit a couple of pieces from my collection for inclusion in this volume. I'm proud to be part of it.)

I should also mention that this is a beautifully printed book, with tasteful spot-varnish on a nifty matte-finish cover stock. A collectible piece for a long-time collector like me. Highly recommended.

I disagree with the above reviewer who finds so little of value here. I actually enjoyed the Lichtenstein story, and everything else in this edition (the Yellow Kid paintings are beautiful!) As for the content beings sexist, etc. we must remember that much of this stuff is from many years ago - some is even over a century old - and we can't expect everything to conform to our present-day politically correct attitudes. If you can temper your reactions with the knowledge that they reflect a time, and not any kind of editorial statement from the publisher, you'll have no problem appreciating this wonderful volume.

Another collection of fascinating comic art although there a few entries that could be better designated as illustrations. Much like a group exhibition at a gallery or museum, some of the works on display are so interesting that it's frustrating that there aren't more examples for that artist. Unfortunately there's no bibliography to assist in further "research" although I'm sure that some of the artists represented here are so obscure that there are no other published examples available! Great coffee table book for friends to leaf through. It's slightly adult (nudity and men's magazine humor) so be warned. This and the previous volume are great gifts for a real comic fan.

I sent this item back today in exchange for another book.

The problem is not in the printing quality; it's good. That should be worth at least a star. However, be warned - the colors you see in preview pages on the web are more intense than those in the printed book.

The excellent printing job, though, is much like an attempt to put a proverbial shine on a sneaker.

Once I opened the book, the problems began.

Let me preface what I'm about to write by stating that most of these cartoons were drawn during a time of general unenlightenment about women as anything other than sex objects. For example, on the inside front cover, we see a cartoon, a cartoon of a painting of a nude woman chastising a man for presumably leering at her. We see Bettie Page with a gorilla. We see a lot of sloppily drawn cartoons of nude women. One is by Picasso (the woman is shown farting). Are you chuckling yet? Many pages devoted to the "Yellow Kid" aren't likely to make this more fun, either.

Also, there are too many Cubist/Abstract Expressionist jokes all with the predictable punch line; it's obvious the illustrators were pandering to the general public's confusion and casual dismissing of modern art. The two-pager about Pop artist Roy Lichtenstein ripping off panel cartoonists is juvenile.

Finally, the point size of the body text is too small (for me, anyway) to read. I don't like having to squint b/c a layout artist has decided to be overly creative with the font.

I gave this 2 stars because there's a story called "Modern Art," written by Stan Lee, and it's fairly amusing. I'd rather have had more of the "strip"-type variety of comic in this book.

The Stan Lee story aside, and maybe a few other tidbits, I couldn't send this one back fast enough.