Customer Reviews

McSweeney's, No. 33: The San Francisco Panorama

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While there's been a lot of discussion on whether a $15, one-time only publication can really be held up as a workable business model for a newspaper, the simple fact remains that, as a piece of print production work, the Panorama is a giddy, glorious success. If you've ever looked with longing at photos of your grandparents lounging around in suits and dresses and yearned for the times when our society seemed a little more bound by common experiences and a slightly less hectic pace of life, the sheer luxury and scope of this newspaper is almost certain to leave you breathless - and if I'm ever able to find frames large enough, I fully intend to mount and hang dozens of pages of this paper as works of art and champions of design. The comics section alone might seem extravagantly priced for individual sale at $10 when compared to an ordinary comic book... but as a series of posters featuring top-notch work in the comics medium? In that sense, it's kind of a bargain - and that price doesn't even include the rest of the newspaper, which is a monster in both scope and size.
Again, most newspapers don't cost $15 and can't spend an entire year or more on writing and layout. And few, if any, can possibly compete with something of this nature, given a reliance on their local [and too-often poorly paid] talent and short-term daily or weekly deadlines... but as an inspiration of some of the ways, new and old, that newspapers can revitalize their form, the Panorama is a work of insight and grandeur.

McSweeney's 33 takes the form of a one shot newspaper called The San Francisco Panorama, about the size of a sunday paper. Besides the news section (brief), you get sections of investigative reportage, a sports section, a food section, a book review magazine, another magazine of various articles, and a comics section, all of which is presented in broadsheet fashion with two magazines inside.

There are a huge number of contributors, many of them big names. Daniel Handler, aka Lemony Snicket, writes about the value of public schools, Nicholson Baker does a piece on closed paper mills in Maine and posits the idea that they save forests more than broadband stations. China Mieville writes about how bored he is with end of the world movies and suggests a reprieve. Salman Rushdie writes about Kara Walker, an artist who works with silhouettes. There's a fantastic appreciation of J G Ballard by Geoff Nicholson which'll make you want to re-read all of Ballard's work again. Also Dave Eggers interviews Junot Diaz and Miranda July interviews James Franco.

The comics section is definitely worth a section as it's amazing. Chris Ware provides a build it yourself spacecraft for his comic strip "Rocket Sam", Dan Clowes spoofs "Lost in Space" with "The Christian Astronauts", while Alison Bechdel, Ivan Brunetti, Gene Luen Yang, Art Spiegelman, Adrian Tomine, Kim Deith, and Seth all provide strips. It's a definite highlight to an already gobsmackingly brilliant issue.
The fiction in this issue, the reason why McSweeney's was created, is few at only 4 short stories by George Saunders, Seth Fried, the actor James Franco, and Roddy Doyle. Ironically, they're not that great except the always great Roddy Doyle who supplies a great story about a homeless Polish man and his friend who win the lottery.

The best thing about this issue is the nonfiction. Investigative reporting on environmental degradation in California by Jesse Nathan, the cover story on the enormous new bridge being built in San Francisco and it's impact by Patricia Decker and Robert Porterfield, romance novels' cover men, an article on NASCAR racing, Sarah Palin's lack of ethics, film distribution, a playwright's fight against Wells Fargo to save a family from foreclosure, a 500 mile pilgrimage in South America, and a 5 month stint in Antartica for a local Oakland resident are all amazing.

There's so much here I've barely cracked the surface in the review. I didn't read all of it, particularly sports as I've no interest in American football, basketball, or baseball, though Stephen King provides a massive article, wonderfully illustrated, about the 2009 World Series. But basically, there's so much here, so well done, there's something for everyone.

Created over a year, this is McSweeney's most ambitious and best production yet. It continues to be a shining example of the relevance of the arts in the modern world and sustains a high level of creativity and imagination. You'll never read a newspaper with so much world class talent in one production, it's really amazing. In the mood to read something different? This is the one for you.

This is a magnificent, heartfelt love letter to the newspaper... It shows how powerful the medium can be when you unleash the horses. Excellent design, great writing and plenty of surprises throughout. If you miss your old Sunday paper, here it is, complete with well-reported long-form pieces, full-color comics (and not the tired old chestnuts like Blondie and Beetle Bailey, but contemporary stuff from Seth, Chris Ware and Art Spiegelman), puzzles, a book review section (remember those?) and a full-blown magazine to boot. Check out the supplement to the sports section -- Stephen King's recap of the Phillies-Yankees World Series, which includes classic illustrations that look like they came from the back of a 1960s Topps baseball card.

McSweeney's 33 comes as an enormous newspaper in many different sections. There is just an astounding amount of material to read here (350,000+ words worth), and there's certain to be something to fit every enthusiasm.

This one has all every genre: fiction, poetry, nonfiction, book reviews, editorials, letters, dispatches, and comics. Surprisingly, the majority of the pieces are nonfiction essays about a variety of topics.

Here are some of them: an enormous bridge being built in China, the crisis in the Congo, forced Iranian confessions, irresponsible landlords, the lifecycles of yellow dwarves, a possibly environmental paper mill, an op-ed piece arguing that humans are not hard-wired to make war, Michelle Obama's Intimidating Black Woman Syndrome, contemporary Native American politics, a secret billion-dollar marijuana-harvesting organization in California, Kabul's electoral chaos, why travel makes us smarter, attending a NASCAR race, forgotten Sundance films, hiking the Camino de Santiago, an Antarctic excursion, the search for the next romance novel cover man, an appreciation of J.G. Ballard, the place of 9/11 in literature, an interview between Dave Eggers and Junot Díaz, a moratorium on apocalypse movies, soundtracking a bank robbery getaway, participating in studio audiences, the making of lambchetta, etcetera, etcetera. This is only a sampling.

Here are some of the authors: Michael Chabon, Stephen King, George Saunders, William T. Vollmann, Daniel Handler, Chris Ware, J. Malcolm Garcia, Matthew Klam, Deb Olin Unferth, Anthony Doerr, James Franco, and many more.

There are strange statistics, album reviews, a triple crossword, an author name pronunciation guide, so many things. This issue is an absolute achievement, a masterpiece. No one will ever read every word of it, but who cares? Give in to the surfeit and find all the treasure within.

Outstanding stuff...to bad other newspapers don't follow the lead here and see what newspapers are really capable of. Great stories, great artwork & comics...Outstanding !