Alternative Visions
Alternative Visions |
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Page 9 of 29  Maus and Maus II Later One-Shots were taken over by Pantheon and Penguin, in the same way as they had contracted Maus, and sold from bookshops. These included Mark Beyer's Agony (1987); Panters' Jimbo (1988) - basically the same as the first edition, but with new material - and Burns' Hardboiled Defective Stories (1990). Finally, Pantheon/Penguin put out an anthology of the first three issues of Raw entitled Read Yourself Raw (1987). But unfortunately, by this time the novelty of the 'adult comics' hype was wearing thin, and sales of these titles were disappointing. Spiegelman continued to court mainstream publishers, however, and eventually decided to publish Raw itself through Penguin. The trade-off was that the comic would now have to appear in a smaller size: Spiegelman justified this by saying that he now wanted to emphasise the writing, and wanted the look of a literary magazine rather than a graphic arts one. Penguin pushed the print run up to 30,000, and went on to publish further Raw One-Shots - Friedman's Warts and All (1990), Ben Katchor's Cheap Novelties (1991), and Burns' Skin Deep (1995). But the publisher had not learned from past mistakes: these may have been great comics, but they didn't sell. Raw itself has been on hold since 1994. But in terms of its effect on 1980s comics, Raw had shown a possible road to take. It had not only demonstrated that the old undergrounders had more to offer, but it also revealed a wealth of new talent both in America and in Europe. Despite its later cooption into mainstream publishing, it had reinvigorated the tradition of alternative anthologies, and in so doing given a much needed boost to alternative comics generally. In the words of Comics Journal: 'Raw's appearance offered a corrective. In the face of so much that is contemptible in our popular culture, Raw was and remains, a fortnight declaration that comics are a sophisticated, adult medium.'  'The Rondo Hatton Story' from Warts anil All (1930). Art/script: Drew and Josh Friedman. The lives of B movie stars often formed the subject matter for the parodies of the Friedman brothers, whose meticulous pointillist technique gave the impression of photographic veracity.  The Rondo Hatton Story  Cover to Skin Deep (Penguin, 1995). Art: Charles Burns. These were 'tales of doomed romance' with typically horrific undercurrents. |