The Cute Manifesto by James Kochalka
#63 in my book challenge for the year, published by Alternative Comics. Weird but charming is the best description I find for Kochalka’s work. His books are always odd, but the cute factor of the art combined with the author’s sometimes painfully earnest honesty have found a continual place in my graphic novel collection. This is a wee book, expensive at $19.95, but with a pleasing size and good paper and cover quality. The themes he covers are familiar ones: work with passion, not with craft; fear technology, not nature; embrace love and hope. The middle sections, which focus on 9/11 and the birth of his son, read like extended sections from his Sketchbook Diaries, while the rest focuses on comics criticism and theory. This is not the book to start with if you’ve never read Kochalka (for that I’d recommend Quit Your Job or Fantastic Butterflies), but it’s a worthy, interesting addition if you’re already a fan.
September 7th, 2005 at 6:05 pm
Actually Alternative Comics published The Cute Manifesto, not Top Shelf.
September 8th, 2005 at 11:01 am
Ack! and an apology. See what happens when I write in the basement and the book I’m writing about is in my study, two floors up, where I’m afraid to venture because I might disturb my two-year-old’s nap? I’ve corrected the error, and added a link to Alternative Comics. Thanks for letting me know.