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Art Spiegelman

Breakdowns: Portrait of the Artist as a Young %@&*! (Pantheon Graphic Library) Hardcover – October 7, 2008

by Art Spiegelman (Author)

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The creator of the Pulitzer Prize-winning Maus explores the comics form ... and how it formed him!

This book opens with Portrait of the Artist as a Young %@&*!, creating vignettes of the people, events, and comics that shaped Art Spiegelman. It traces the artist's evolution from a MAD-comics obsessed boy in Rego Park, Queens, to a neurotic adult examining the effect of his parents' memories of Auschwitz on his own son.

The second part presents a facsimile of Breakdowns, the long-sought after collection of the artist's comics of the 1970s, the book that triggers these memories. Breakdowns established the mode of formally sophisticated comics that transformed the medium, and includes the prototype of Maus, cubist experiments, an essay on humor, and the definitive genre-twisting pulp story "Ace Hole-Midget Detective."

Pulling all this together is an illustrated essay that looks back at the sixties as the artist pushes sixty, and explains the obsessions that brought these works into being. Poignant, funny, complex, and innovative, Breakdowns alters the terms of what can be accomplished in a memoir.

Print length

72 pages
Language

English
Publisher

Pantheon
Publication date

October 7, 2008
Dimensions

10.3 x 0.6 x 14.3 inches
ISBN-10

0375423958
ISBN-13

978-0375423956
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Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

For the last 40 years, comics artist Art Spiegelman has been influential in both pushing the limits of the medium, as well as bringing underground "comix” to the forefront of popular culture. He's perhaps most famous for Maus, the story of his parents' experience in the Holocaust, which earned him a special Pulitzer Prize Letters award in 1992. More recently, his work has appeared in the New Yorker--including the stunning, somber post-9/11 cover--and he was named one of Time's 100 Most Influential People in 2005. We sent him a few questions about Breakdowns, and he was kind enough to respond with this handwritten document. See the full image with more questions and answers. [JPEG, 389K]

From Publishers Weekly

Starred Review. This reprint of Spiegelman's 1978 collection of comics is a must-have for any comics aficionado, art-house dude, hipster or anyone who ever thought to himself, "Hmm, comics are kinda cool." It will also be liked by anyone who ever enjoyed Kafka or anything postmodern enough to be in McSweeney's. There's still enough here for regular people to enjoy, too. The 30-page memoirish introduction, all done in comics (in which we get to see Spiegelman mess up his son's mind the way his was messed up) explains how comics came to be the shining light for so many messed-up adolescent boys: "Mad warped a generation in the bland American 1950s--something that's been done before, but possibly not so well." The early comics are a revelation. Spiegelman gives us the story that led to Maus, and we see how he evolved from an R. Crumb-loving artist with neuroses pertaining to The Dick Van Dyke Show to a tight storyteller of anxious, modern folktales. One of the functions of the artist is to take us to hell and get us out in one piece. Spiegelman's early trips into hallucinatory darkness do this. We come out in one piece; it's not clear he did. (Oct.)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Product details

Publisher ‏ : ‎ Pantheon; Revised ed. edition (October 7, 2008)
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Hardcover ‏ : ‎ 72 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0375423958
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0375423956
Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 2.05 pounds
Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 10.3 x 0.6 x 14.3 inches

Best Sellers Rank: #344,388 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #76 in Art of Comics & Manga
- #318 in Graphic Novel Anthologies (Books)
- #393 in Biographies & History Graphic Novels

Customer Reviews:
27 ratings

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5 star		67%
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3 star		12%
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Top reviews from the United States

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Robert Morey

Art Spiegelman is clearly insane

Reviewed in the United States on June 23, 2014

Verified Purchase

"Breakdowns" is a very unique book. First off, it stands over a foot tall. The "Maus" author delivers a colorful, somewhat bizzaar account of the artist as a young %@

The "Maus" author delivers an interesting, colorful, somewhat bizarre account of the artist as a young %@&#! I recommend anything by Art Spiegelman, the young fan of MAD Magazine and the creator of "Wacky Packages". a phenomenon and major fad in the early seventies.

Helpful

Moira Lauren

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

Reviewed in the United States on March 31, 2019

Verified Purchase

Excellent adult comic book! Art Spiegelman is a talented adult cartoonist.

Reviewed in the United States on July 28, 2015

Verified Purchase

Looking at the unique layouts, vibrant colors, and unique storytelling that are in this book makes me realize just how phenomenal Spiegelman is.

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BrendaAmazon Customer

One Star

Reviewed in the United States on April 11, 2018

Verified Purchase

Adult content. Returned the book.

Reviewed in the United States on October 31, 2017

Verified Purchase

Watch out for the pornographic sections! Not what I expected.

Reviewed in the United States on December 16, 2016

Verified Purchase

There's always more than Spiegelman presents on the page. A master of comics.

Helpful

Robert J. Crawford

anthology of early experiments

Reviewed in the United States on February 11, 2021

This is a very uneven book. Some of it features interesting autobiography that covers his mother's suicide and similar traumas. But a lot of it is experimental, stuff from the mid-70s that I couldn't relate to at all, even though I was heavy into Crumb and some other comics. Spiegelman is an original guy, a real artist, but he's had a hard life, particularly in view of his parents, who were troubled Holocaust survivors. It entertained me for a day, but I can't say I liked it enough to want to own it.

One person found this helpful

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Tim Lasiuta

Breakthrough Book

Reviewed in the United States on October 7, 2008

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

22 people found this helpful

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