Customer Reviews

Breakdowns: Portrait of the Artist as a Young %@&*!

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The real title of this book is "Portrait of The Artist as A Young...", but I have taken the artistic liberty to rename it, my reasons shall become clear.




Art Spiegelman is an amazing artist. He is also a tortured artist, ravaged by guilt, and yet, through his work (some of which is self therapy), his genius shines through. As is very clear in 'Breakdowns', this book celebrates the major themes and movements in his life. The suicide of his mother in 1968, the Auschwitz stories his father told, his exposure to Robert Crumb and the underground movement can all be found and traced through the art/text. Primarily a book designed to reprint 'Breakdowns', his 1978 poorly received collection, it is the addition of the pre-and post breakdown material that provides more solid glimpses into his psyche.


If you were to sit Mr Spiegelman down and ask him the question, what is art to him, this book would be your answer. If you were to ask him to plot the major influences in his life, the answer is this book. Ask him about his career as artist for Topps, and he just might not say anything, but everyone remembers those marvelous stickers. As him where Maus came from, he would direct you to the section of Breakdown after the Introduction, and then discuss his father and Uncle. If you were to ask him to lend you $50, the answer would probably be no.... However, as a piece of autobiographical illustrato, it is remarkable for its' passion and poignancy.



Considered a failure in 1978, 'Breakdown' led him to Maus. Today, this book is perfectly timed and a good companion piece to his Pulitzer prize winning tome, and should be considered a successful (if not odd), glimpse into the 'art' of Art.




Viewed as a collection of short stories we find delightful touches like 'Auto Destruction', Introduction, Maus, As the Mind Reels, A Little Passion, Prisioner on the Hell Planet (drawn in a woodcut style), and Ace Hole. Sure, they are for Adults Only as the book cover says, and now 'underground' is 'mainstream', and the 'Portrait of the Artist as a Young...' is a success.


Congratulations Mr Spiegelman. You were ahead of your time.


Tim Lasiuta

While it is true that this republished collection of Art Spiegelman's early work offers the same material from the 1970's to the early 80's that had previously been published it is important that it was newly rebound by Pantheon (in the original larger format) for those who are unaware of Spiegelman's early comix contributions that for the uninitiated would remain inacessable due to the original 1978 collection being out of print and thus out of view unless one were specifically searching for it. Re-issues are additionaly important for libraries as they can readily acquire new editions, yet rarely purchase out of print volumes for public circulation.

Spiegelman is widely acknowledged in the comic or graphic field as being at the forefront of the underground 'comix' movement and for being a cartoonist who continues to be consistently creative and committed to the medium, and his worldwide distinction within the field of comics is certainly deserved. Breakdowns features several of Spiegelman's early experimentation with the comic medium including collage,manipulation of time, and autobiographical focus. This last topic though very pervasive and popular currently in comics was at the time Spiegelman was exploring it considered underground territory that few creators delved into with those that did, such as Harvey Pekar,Robert Crumb, and Eddie Campbell, continued resisting for (eventual) recognition of the topic as a valid comic subject worthy of wider publication.

On the importance of presenting or rendering time in the sequential medium, Spiegelman has specifically related the work in Breakdowns as representing similar pacing as that of the panels within In the Shadow of No Towers ([...]), intended as intentionally interrupted strips to break the expected or 'normal' flow of comics and therefore present curt punctuations as opposed to the longer format that Spiegelman is more known for within his Maus series that ran serially in his self-published RAW magazine before being eventually bound as graphic novels in the 80's and 90's.

Although Spiegelman cites the shadow of Maus 'forever' occluding all his future and past comic efforts (and would no doubt cringe upon my next statement) the inclusion of the original conception of Maus within Breakdowns, if for no other reason than the ones referenced heretofore, give it reason and validity for recognition and republication as this primary version of Maus offers valuable insight into the development of Spiegelman's early conception that aside from the back issues of Funny Animals (Apex Novelties, 1972), Comix Book No.2(New York Magazine Management 1974), and the original Breakdowns its intial state is rarely seen.

This was an interesting book, but not necessarily an interesting read (if that makes any sense). It seems like a lot of the work in this book are more formal exercises than an attempt at storytelling (with the exception of a couple of short stories - the original "Maus" short and "Prisoner on the Hell Planet"). The autobiographical material is more straightforward, but after a little while, seeing the different ways a story can break down into nonsense is less interesting than "interesting."

I do have to offer that the over-sized hardcover presentation is top-notch - the work couldn't possibly be presented in a more beautiful fashion.

Art Spiegelman uses his 1978 deluxe large-format album "Breakdowns" as the core of this 2008 autobiographical update to simultaneously expand and contract his world view through the medium which influenced him and through which he influenced a generation of his admirers. The result is kaleidoscopic in form and meaning. Inspir@!ant*Bril-li&!ing! Listen to Michael Silverblatt's interview of Art Spiegelman on KCRW's Bookworm at [...]

The problem with Art Spiegelman is that he wrote Complete Maus which becomes the go-to book for anyone that wants to say that comics might possibly be a respectable art form. Unfortunately it becomes the end-all and be all of respectable comics for most people leaving Alan Moore, Grant Morrison, Neil Gaiman, Michael Bendis, etc., etc. out in the cold. What makes his reputation more troubling is the fact that he likes to downgrade his achievements with that "ah shucks, comics are just silly and you can't take them too seriously" tone that many writers take. However, I heard that one second hand from a pretentious friend, so it might not be true.

With all the hype, it's hard to keep track of the fact that he is an artist with an eye for stylistic and narrative innovation. The artwork is great and the narratives are fun. Changing up dialogue and panels, telling stories with pornographic pictures, using autobiography as a multiple choice test - these are all great devices.

The problem is that many of these stories aren't telling much more than the fact that the author is neurotic. It's not nearly as blatant as his 9/11 comic book but it's pretty tedious. Some of them are amazing (the one that you read in Maus is still good) but others are just gratuitous (the "here's a gift" episode). Then there are the ones that are innovative and you have to give them that, but they aren't saying much when all the style is stripped away.

Fascinating and entertaining comic but not terriby profound.