Amazon.com Review
Two years after the multiple-award winning Blab #8 comes editor Monte Beauchamp's next installment of America's premiere comics anthology. The front and back covers are by Gary Baseman, and you'll find new comics stories by Richard Sala, Doug Allen, Spain, Terry Laban, Peter Kuper, Chris Ware, and others. Plus there are essays on America's first serial killer, Howard Unruh (by Jeffrey Steele), and the cover art of Dell mystery paperbacks (by Beauchamp). The cornerstone of this issue is an amazing 13-page retrospective of the art of Boris Artsybasheff, an expatriate Russian designer/illustrator who created more than 200 covers for Time. His images of war and industry influenced a generation of artists.
From Booklist
From the modest digest size of its first eight numbers, Blab has evolved into a square, oversize affair. The elaborate ninth edition includes strips from Richard Sala, Spain Rodriguez, Peter Kuper, and Chris Ware (the latter two's stories appear in vibrant color, and they are not the only ones that do). Nearly as impressive are newcomers Archer Prewitt, Brad Johnson, and Peter Hoey, and editor Beauchamp casts his net beyond the comics world to gather work by Tony Fitzpatrick and Christian Northeast. All these artists' contributions are enjoyable, but those of some cartoonists who work in more conventional modes, such as Terry LaBan and Doug Allen, don't particularly benefit from the lavish packaging, careful production, and cutting-edge design. A retrospective of illustrator Boris Artzybasheff's work and a portfolio of vintage Dell paperback mystery bookcover art round out the volume. With the demise of Art (Maus) Spiegelman's Raw, Blab is the leading showcase for contemporary cartoonists; may its new publisher publish it more regularly. Gordon Flagg
