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

Breakdowns is a reprint of the same book published in the 70s except with a brief autobiographical intro by the author The intro features nothing new to anyone with a passing interest in artists writers growing up Spiegelman wasn t good at sports so he turned to the life of the mind He was influenced by MAD magazine, R.Crumb, and Peanuts Wow, just like everyone else who grew up to be a cartoonist then Then onto the book itself which features short strips One is a dry and unfunny examination of w [...]

A terrific book that chronicles Spiegelman s coming of age amidst a jewish upbringing condemned to neurotic blame and guilt put on by the holocaust it s a declaration of how he arrived to be a comic book artist, his father exclaiming you have to use what little space you have to pack inside everything you can suitcase case the Nazis come everything you can in a tiny graphic square he is an experimental concept artist, exploring the implications of the frame, of making victims into mice, of putti [...]

2.5

This is a book that has completely changed my perspective not just of comics but the world altogether I m not raving about Art Spiegelman being a genius, which he uncontrollably is, but about the way this book has articulated his journey from one point in his life, a disillusioned artist, to another, a self aware even if arguably still disillusioned artist.Breakdowns is, in every definition of the word, exactly what it means.

The book is a collection of short strips, reprinting a short collection of experimental strips from the 1970s, with an introductory batch of new strips and an afterword giving the back story of the reprinted book The accessible the strips, the I was able to enjoy them And the the future New Yorker editor pontificates on and scrutinizes The Meaning And Practice Of Art, the less I could feign interest It s almost as if there is a constant war between the artist, the filmmaker, the writer agains [...]

I probably started checking out Underground Comix in the early 1970s when I was a teenager Given that I was growing out of reading the Marvel Comics such like Mad Magazines that had been so central to my childhood, I don t think I was really much in the mood to be impressed by any comics any I reckon I had hopes that underground comics wd provide profoundly current philosophical perspectives I reckon that they probably did but I still don t recall being impressed enuf to acquire many The few th [...]

Art Spiegelman et Maus, Maus et Art Spiegelman, rarement une uvre aura autant coll son auteur Cet extraordinaire t moignage a trouv sa place dans la liste des ouvrages qui ont marqu leur art et mis son cr ateur dans la position, parfois inconfortable, de Grand Apr s le discutable et discut l ombre des tours mortes, album r action aux attentats du 11 septembre 2001, Breakdowns s attache aux d buts de l auteur A moiti constitu de r cits anciens et moiti de bandes commentaires sur le pass de l aute [...]

Well, if nothing else, this book makes clear, to those not already aware of it, what a high opinion Spiegelman has of himself Not that it s entirely unjustified, of course he is a master of comics technique, as is abundantly evident here He s also an impressive stylist, capable both of striking images in his own style and excellent pastiche work of various figures, not to mention cunning use of collage But he also comes across as pretty consistently impressed with himself, which is unseemly at b [...]

A very disappointing book I initially was thrilled to hear that Art Spiegelman, the author of legendary graphic novel Maus, was going to be in Portland in mid October as part of the Powell s Book Events series Like many others, I paid my 5 to get in at the Bagdad Theater Despite poor lighting in the auditorium, which, from my vantage point at the back of the room, made Spiegelman s backlit silhouette appear vaguely ant like as he was standing in the shadows in front of a projector screen, the pr [...]

Aside from his penchant for obnoxiously oversized books, Art Spiegelman demands shelf space in any comics aficionado s abode With Breakdowns Portrait of the Artist as a Young % , the reader is actually presented with a fusion of two separate books his infamous 8.95 foray into underground comix, 1977 s Breakdowns which features the appropriately sized Hell Planet story seen by most readers in Maus, which is itself a vastly extended version of the three page 1972 Maus story as it reappears in Brea [...]

Originalmente publicado em 1976, este um livro que literalmente nos deixa espantados Spiegelman no seu mais radical e experimentalista, a inovar a cada vinheta, procurando novas formas de falar a linguagem da banda desenhada e quebrando todas as regras Estes trabalhos autobiogr ficos e experimentais s o uma li o sobre a procura dos limites de um g nero expressivo, e nalguns casos meta reflex o sobre a estrutura sem ntica da gram tica da BD Algo que surpreende a aparente facilidade que Spiegelman [...]

Every time I read something by Spiegelman, I end up getting addicted Just like with the other three works I ve read by him, I started this in bed and ended up staying awake just to finish it It s not as compelling as Maus or In the Shadow of No Towers, but it s interesting and enjoyable and fun to read It s very meta, which I like, with a lot of self referentiality Spiegelman created wrote the introduction and the afterword to this new edition of Breakdowns, which was already a compilation of wo [...]

The original three page Maus comic and Prisoner on the Hell Planet are amazing feats of comics Prisoner on the Hell Planet has got to be one of the best comics I ve read The blown up edition of it really enhances its power outside of being an insert in the Maus graphic novel The rest of the items in this book are basically highly meta deconstructions of the comic medium and of different aspects of storytelling Some of them are great, others completely miss the mark Several are just too obtuse or [...]

Library copy Well, I liked the autobiographical short stories and Spiegelman is great at changing up art styles after other famous cartoonists, but I just don t have a care for any of the experimental efforts he puts in his work As far as I am concerned it s usually a waste of time to do any Warhol homages While the book has an Adults Only tag on the cover I am not sure that s enough to keep this book out of younger reader s hands I m fine with nudity, but there were a couple instances of hardco [...]

Rereading this book tonight after finding it on a forgotten shelf, I am reminded of how Art Spiegelman is an artist, creating art because he must, and the exact opposite of a hack He created and is most famous for The Complete Maus, his memoir about his parents lives surviving the Nazi Holocaust I was familiar with him before that, for his amazingly soul baring Prisoner of the Hell Planet, about his mother s suicide Now he lives in the shadow of his own success, and finds it hard to do art But h [...]

Art Spiegelman is one of the most powerful comic artists I know This is a collection of an old comic that was almost published, then wasn t, then was again, along with an new comic that focuses on his childhood That old comic was a collection of short pieces he had done up to that point, and they show Spiegelman s raw, R Crumb esque nature.Breakdowns is interesting from an artistic point of view, and interesting as a document to trace Spiegelman s growth, but that s all it is It doesn t have pr [...]

Breakdowns is a collection of assorted autobiographical and experimental strips Spiegelman collected in the mid seventies, republished in 2004 with some updated content and a new afterword The visual and narrative content are both a little all over the place, as you d expect from a collection that collects some of the artist s early work before the creation of Maus The autobiographical pieces are especially interesting, especially Planet Hell and the incidents that led to Spiegelman writing it T [...]

I am a little bit biased when it comes to Spiegelman s works, as I have loved his work since high school This book examines things from both an adult and young adult perspective, which I think is excellent It merges vignettes and random stories throughout the beginning, and then goes on to explorative art and writing, including essays and orginal versions of Maus before he perfected them and had them published As many people previous to be have commented, one of the most inetersting things in th [...]

I know, I m as surprised as you are that I m 5 starring a collection of US comix with an x featuring a story called Ace Hole, Midget Detective, and yet here we are.I was familiar with Maus, and on reading it, immediately recognized the expressionist styled Prisoner on the Hell Planet with its unforgettably dumb final line Spiegelman punctures it himself but Jesus, dude , but had never really dipped into Raw or the larger 60s comix scene, mostly out of an overriding dislike for R Crumb and the bl [...]

Molto strano, surreale, intriso della sua storia personale e famigliare, che abbiamo conosciuto in Maus, dei suoi sogni incubi, delle sue paure, ma anche con spunti pi leggeri anche se non si arriva mai alla striscia comica Alcune di queste storie, bervi, brevissime, non credo di averle comprese appieno, e ammetto che la sezione finale dove racconta la sua vita e la storia di quella parte della sua produzione che in Breakdowns mi ha un po annoiata e l ho sfogliata piuttosto velocemente ho anche [...]

Having previously read Spiegelman s Maus , I thought I knew what to expect Man, was I wrong Breakdowns is the definition of avante garde, plain and simple The wild experimentation in his early work is very much like postmodernism in literature he decided to take all the conventions and expectations and turn them on their heads The result is an absolutely mind blowing book that is so packed with detail that I ll probably need to read it a half dozen times to figure it all out But that s the grea [...]

Spiegelman had me at hello with Maus, so I d probably read what he has to say about glue I shouldn t have been surprised with the oversized presentation, especially after In The Shadow of No Towers It s a rare treat to read something so bulky yet comfortable.As with his other experimental comix that s the correct terminology, right I m not trying to be pretentious , I don t always get what he s trying to say in this collection, but I appreciate it all and when something connects, it s magical.

As the title states it really is a portrait not a book You don t expect a visual artist to capture their whole spectrum of work in a single portrait do you You are looking for a moment of reflection If you came to it looking for another complete story like Maus you will be disappointed If you came to this because you are interested in his other work and are looking for insight into his journey as an artist you will enjoy it immensely Definitely not for children, there are many wonderful vignette [...]

Damn, this book is big On the upside, it makes it easier on my increasingly poor eyes to read the comics On the downside, I look like an idiot toting it around The word that came to mind while viewing this book was motley From the original three page strip that inspired Spiegelman s haunting Maus to a bunch of avant garde cartoons, Breakdown amasses the early work of this acclaimed artist While the technical skill was superb, some of the rambling, plotless comics were so nonsensical that they le [...]

If you, like me, only know Spiegelman for Maus, then this really is a must read It would be easy, depending on the reading around the subject of comics you do, to think that his significance in the artform pretty much boils down to that one seminal work This book is a chance to see the man behind Maus, his own story, where he s come from, his formative years in comics I ll admit I struggle with underground comics from the 60s and 70s and this, like Crumb, is hard work at times, but its worth as [...]

This book has a very narrrow appeal and I only picked it up because I had finished Maus I and II and was curious as to other works by Art Spiegelman The fact is, while a genius, he s not very prolific The work in this book, while certainly innovative, was done in the late 1960s early 1970s and has this underground, Robert Crumb appeal Unless you re really into comics as an art form, I d just skip ahead to the afterward by Spiegleman, which offers good insght into his career and creative process. [...]

Breakdowns Portrait of the Artist as a Young % by Art Spieglman combines a brief but compelling graphic memoir with a facsimile of Speigelman s 1978 book Breakdowns, a collection of his early comics From life with his Holocaust refugee parents the inspiration for his Pulitzer Prize winning, Maus to his own nervous breakdown, the memoir introduces the rerelease of Breakdowns, a selection of his experimental underground comics that failed when it was published, only to become a coveted collectors [...]

Very dense and multilayered, this requires commitment and effort from the reader than its size big but thin and format comix indicate Spiegelman republishes his 1978 anthology of work before Raw and obviously, Maus but surrounds it with contextualization a comix introduction and an illustrated afterword that extend its scope and make it than an artifact of the hippie underground At the same time that Spiegelman was deconstructing comic book strip conventions, he was constructing his own painfu [...]

I got this book for my dad for Christmas, but I couldn t help reading it during my visit to Fort Collins In fact, as the clock struck 2009 I was sitting in bed in my childhood bedroom reading this book This is a collection of Spiegelman s early work, mostly from the 1970s Compared to Maus, this is not exceptional, but it s interesting to see personal glimpses of Spiegelman s life, as well as an earlier short version of Maus Some of the comics were not great, but the drawings and the aesthetics [...]

I just looooooove Art Spiegelman He s, like, just disturbing enough to make me feel artsy, somehow accessible without talking down or oversimplifying This volume is especially rewarding for those who already know and love his work, or at least other graphic novels Please do not read this as your first graphic novel A it s not really one because it s a bunch of little stories B it s like reading Rimbaud as your first French reading, or your first poetry Might work for some people, but in general [...]