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Articles

Brushes and Bricks by Andy Roberts

Comics and My Life - A Work of Insight and Embarrassment by Gav Burrows - part one - part two

Closing Shots from a Grassy Knoll by John Robbins

Getting Comics in the Art Department - a "Comics in Bookshops" report by Pete Ashton

UKCAC97 - a convention report from long distant days... by Pete Ashton

Reviews

Silver Age Superman reviewed by Pete Ashton

Graffiti Kitchen reviewed by Pete Ashton (with Jez Higgins)

Goodbye, Cunky Rice reviewed by Pete Ashton

Fat, Loud and Stupid - The Cowboy Wally Show reviewed by Pete Ashton

The Birth Caul reviewed by Pete Ashton

Goodbye Chunky Rice
by Craig Thompson

reviewed by Pete Ashton

128 pages, published by Top Shelf (ISBN 1891830090)

I have stumbled across the belief that the next stage of development for the comics medium is when we start seeing Miraculous First Novels. Works by new, young creators which are so perfectly formed and original that they leave you gasping at the future potential that lies ahead of them. Whereas creators from other eras had to figure it out for themselves from scratch, the collective groundwork (from the structure and craft of Eisner to the wild experimenting of the Raw "school") has now been laid down. Only five years back people used to say that comics were great but you could count the really great comics on one hand. I reckon this is changing (recently I went through the Red Route catalogue and found over 400 books (ie with spines) I wouldn't be ashamed to stock) and Goodbye Chunky Rice is proof of this. It's a truly great book and it's a first book. Heaven knows what Craig Thompson's, say, tenth book will be like!

What makes Thompson so interesting is that his first book can be judged on it's own merits. It is not necessary to say that aspects of his craft will "come with time", nor are there any really rough areas that need smoothing out. Simultaneously, Chunky Rice is not a timid, over-calculated work produced in awe of that which has gone before. Thompson is comfortable enough with the comics medium to experiment with his storytelling and his use of dialogue/facial expressions to communicate the underlying mood of loss, regret and, yes, optimism is equal to that of a master. When Chunky states out to sea you know exactly where he's at without being explicitly told.

There is a lot of hype surrounding this book - publisher Chris Staros or Top Shelf has done his job well, getting quotes from Alan Moore, Jeff Smith and Eddie Cambell for the back cover. Plus my implicit trust in Staros' taste meant I was awaiting this book with great anticipation and a tinge of caution, not expecting it to live up to expectations. It did and continues to do so on the fifth (so far) reading. The yardstick by which great comics are measured has changed. Craig Thompson understands and respects what has gone before him yet is talented and brave enough to strike out on his own from the get go. May he be one of the first of many.