Kramers Ergot 7 (Hardcover)

~ Sammy Harkham (Author, Editor)

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Starred Review. There's a sort of finality about this massive, ambitious art object of an anthology, produced with the finest paper stock and printing available. Editor Harkham has assembled the best-known names in art comics to use the huge page size—16"×21", larger than a newspaper page—as a blank canvas for experiments in storytelling. The result is a delirious, fantastic newspaper supplement as imagined through the lens of the last 20 years of comics experimentation and formalism. Although a few artists like Mat Brinkman and Helge Reumann use the giant page size as the setting for abstract art, many—Seth, Josh Simmons and Gabrielle Bell—cram intense yet minimalist narratives into a parade of tiny panels. The overall effect is overwhelming, but some stories stand out—Shari Boyle's gorgeous elephant fantasy, Tom Gauld's nearly abstract retelling of the Noah myth, Dan Clowes's one-page hard-boiled tragedy, Jaime Hernandez's compact triolet about cosmic unjustness and Matthew Thurber's lyrical nonsense about Brian Eno and a parrot. While the price tag is high, and some stories lack real narrative punch, this anthology is a high-water mark of intelligence and artistry, and will reward many rereadings by those who can find the shelf space to house it properly. (Dec.)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Review

If there's one book that art-comics enthusiasts would be happiest to find in their stockings this year, it's probably KRAMERS ERGOT 7 (Buenaventura, $125), except for the small matter that it's bigger than an entire hearth. This is one of the grandest English-language comics artifacts ever produced -- a mammoth hardcover anthology, 16 by 21 inches, of new stories by several dozen notable cartoonists, including Daniel Clowes, Seth, Gabrielle Bell, Kevin Huizenga, Sammy Harkham (who also edited the book) and The Simpsons creator Matt Groening. Like the early-20th-century broadsheet newspaper comics pages that inspired it, Kramers Ergot occupies its readers' entire visual field, and most of its contributors have some fun with its dimensions, cramming the page with tiny details or opening it up for apocalyptically huge vistas. The cleverest gesture comes from Chris Ware, whose two-page contribution is built around a cartoon of a sleeping baby printed at the child's actual size. --The New York Times

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 96 pages
• Publisher: Buenaventura Press (November 1, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0980003954
• ISBN-13: 978-0980003956
• Product Dimensions: 21.1 x 16.3 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 6.6 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #306,605 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Unprecedented collection, unbeatable price, December 21, 2008

By	read it for the words (San Francisco, CA) - See all my reviews

For me, the book succeeds massively and on many levels.

First off, the concept is ambitious and uncalled for: "let's invite 60 of our favorite artists to create giant-size comics, and then put them all together and see what happens." Probably without quite knowing why they were doing this project -- except that it sounded like fun -- Buenaventura Press gave it a shot. Good for them!

Second, the look and feel of the physical object is borderline absurd. Another reviewer aptly notes that the book is so big it hurts your arms to hold and so tall it won't fit on any sane bookshelf. How refreshingly strange! (Like the comics inside??) Part of the book's ingenious beauty, I think, is its physical impoliteness. In other words: the funny frustrations of the package weirdly "rhyme" with the work inside. The whole is truly greater than the sum of the parts.

Third, Chris Ware has drawn an actual-size baby in the center of his two-page spread. She's a full-size baby, just lying there and staring up at you from a cradle of comic panels. Don't miss it. The book is full of unexpected stuff like this -- touches that the editors never could have anticipated when they devised the format. Not every artist does something extremely unique-feeling with the big page, but not every artist has to. It's a thrill to see all the individual takes on the format, some more conspicuous than others.

Fourth, the production values are first-rate. The paper is super-premium, all the binding was done by hand, and the title is stamped on the cover and on the spine in a delightful, subtle rainbow foil that feels just right. (You have to see the rainbow stamping in person to really see it.... Online pix don't communicate it.)

$125 seems like a high price, I guess, until you consider that this is effectively a limited-edition art object with a print run of 3,000 or 3,500. (I've read both numbers online.) I'm not saying it's not a lot of money; what I'm saying is that it's not so much money that anyone who wants one can't save up and buy a copy if they really really want it.

What's more, Amazon's discount is pretty incredible. To be able to get a book like this for $80 postpaid -- the cost of a mid-range pair of sneakers -- is just super.

7 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Beware of Amazon's shipping, December 31, 2008

By	T. A. P. Dijken "Papiervisje" (Amsterdam) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This book would have gotten 5 stars, if not for the Amazon shipping.
The book itself is fantastic. Most artists have taken the opportunity to create something stunning on this large format. Page after page it is an amazing collection of art.
The problem is that Amazon decided to throw the book in a large box, add a few (empty) bubbles and ship it over the ocean. Naturally, all corners are damaged. I know there is a steep discount, but I would rather pay $10 more for a sturdy box like the Absolute Sandman is shipped in.
So, you decide. A wonderful book with some damage at a steep discount or for the full price at your local comic shop.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Best Kramers Yet!!, May 3, 2009

By	Justin (Earth) - See all my reviews

I might be slightly biased because I have a shelf large enough to hold this book, and a great big bed to read it on, thus overall I think the book is fantastic! Yes, there are a couple duds, but the great ones from the likes of Kim Deitch, Daniel Clowes, Johnny Ryan, Xaime Hernandex, Tim Hensley, etc., overrule the possibility of me knocking off a star. This belongs in the home of every comics fan!