Book Club Report: A Discussion with Pascal Girard on Petty Theft

The Comic book book club we belong to is an interesting group. We all like reading, but for each member, reading the same book brings a multitude of different interpretations, especially with regards to the subtlety imbued by the particular language of the book. We’re located in Ottawa, Canada’s national capital, and live in a bilingual environment. Almost 40% of the city’s inhabitants are bilingual. English isn’t even my first language, it’s French. Most of us are working, living and reading in both languages.

The book club met to discuss Petty Theft, as we normally do every month. There usually is a sense of fun and anticipation before the meetings. We’ve had a month with our book, we`ve each read it and have had an appropriate amount of time to think about it. This month our discussions proved to be especially significant as it was a special event for the Ottawa Comic Book Book Club: we had the pleasure of welcoming Pascal Girard to discuss his newest graphic novel Petty Theft. He gracefully accepted to join us for an evening to talk about his book, his characters, his process, language, family and construction work.

Pascal is a French-Canadian cartoonist. His Tumblr bio informs us that he was born in Jonquière, in Saguenay (the town with one of the weirdest mayors in Canada, Jean Tremblay). He loves drawing and running and he's in love. This biography relates to the themes of his newest English book Petty Theft. Pascal has written more books in French such as Conventum, Jimmy et le bigfoot, Paresse, as well as some other collaboration work and children's books. Three of his French books have been published in English through Drawn & Quarterly.

Language

Language was at the forefront of our minds when we met with Pascal. We were all very eager to discuss how Pascal's writing may be influenced by language. He mentioned that while he didn't think it affected his first translated book, as he hadn't even considered it, it certainly had while writing this book. It may not have been a conscious consideration, but more as a result of integration and internalizing the idea of a second language and a wider audience for his books.

The title is also quite surprising as Petty Theft is actually called La collectioneuse in French. We noticed it did affect our reading of the book. The English title immediately frames the girl as a thief. It leaves little doubt to interpret her actions. She steals, and therefore is a thief. However, the French title leaves room for more ambiguity. She is a collector. Her actions, although criminal, are somewhat more justifiable as she is not framed as a thief from the get go. Pascal did explain that there was a long process with Drawn & Quarterly to determine the best translation for the title. Choosing to translate word for word "collector" wasn't as close to "collectioneuse" and therefore wasn't as meaningful. In the end, Petty Theft was selected and only those few who know the two titles can determine how this affects them.

Pascal & Kids

Fatherhood is also an underlying theme in this book, not by showing exactly what it meant for the protagonist, but by providing clues into his thoughts. The main protagonist panics and is uncomfortable in the presence of children. Although this doesn't reflect the values of the author, it does affect how we can interpret his character. We have a man who, underneath the pretense of finding his way and true love, doesn't really see a relationship evolving to the stage of parenthood. Now this could be a choice, but when we add the facts that he aims to right the wrongs of the thief, it reveal a very selfish character.

Mental VS Physical labour

The book begins when the main character falls and gets injured while he is out for a run. Forbidden from running, down on his luck and with a broken heart (his girlfriend and him having just broken up), he ends up also reinventing his career. He stops drawing and goes back to construction work. This created an interesting parallel between the physical labour of construction and the mental (and creative) labour typically associated with art. The protagonist`s body having changed, so must his psyche. This created yet another layer in a seemingly easy-to-classify character.

By the end of our meeting, we gained perspective on a multitude of topics: language, fatherhood, characterization, etc. Pascal Girard helped us gain some perspective on Petty Theft and unlock elements which revealed further interpretations and depth to the story. There was so much more to discuss and some of my fellow book club members may wish to add to this in the comments, but we all felt tremendously satisfied reading this book. We'd highly recommend it. 

Yeah Dude Comics 2014 Subscription #4 Josh Burggraf & Victor Kerlow's Future Masterpiece: Wasted Potential

Wasted opportunities

The worst I can say about the Yeah Dude Comics 2014 Subscription is that it's inconsistent. Some titles were fantastic (Find Me, Look for Me, New Physics), some were not so fantastic (Stoner Alien) and some were starting to show greatness (Iron Skull). This new release is unfortunately in the bottom tier. It's a real shame that it coincides with the release of Box Brown's New Physics (the 5th Yeah Dude Comics this year). New Physics is so vastly superior, it doesn't even seem to play in the same league. Let's take a look at Josh Burggraf & Victor Kerlow's Future Masterpiece. 

Where do I even begin with the story? The 15 year-old girl from The Jetsons is dating Bullwinkle. She is pregnant and they have a baby together. It turns out that the baby is none other than Stoner Alien and this is supposed to act as an origin story of sorts. He basically comes out of the womb and starts smoking cosmic pot. Oh, and a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle shows up to say `Cowabunga`. That's pretty much it. 

I guess it is the second part of a Stoner Alien Saga. It unfortunately exploits the same joke as the previous installment with diminishing returns. Using the joke "Wait...what?" to represent the alien's marijuana-filled baby`s brain unable to comprehend what is happening was fun when used in the previous issue, but here it is used so clumsily, it is embarrassing. I wonder what the goal of this exercise was. It feels like a lot of effort for what seems like a joke a couple of drunken (or stoned) guys made one night. 

The art is raw, even rough in places. The artists are trying to emulate the classic Hanna-Barbera style (flat characters, thick outlines). They are unfortunately having a really hard time maintaining consistency. Mainly, the horns of Bullwinkle and how they are connected to his head changes in almost every panel. 

As I said when I talked about Stoner Alien, maybe the Stoner Alien concept has a deeper meaning for those involved, but as a reader, I felt excluded from the jokes. The story is too thin, it feels like a writer's ego trip and the only jokes are references (and they only reference themselves). Better luck next time.

Jesse Jabobs Young Safari Guide: Humanity, Nature, even the Stars are a Mess

Fauna

Young Safari Guide is a thing of wonder. In this prequel to Safari Honeymoon (one of my favourite comics of 2014 so far), Jesse Jacobs introduces us to a nightmarish and dangerous jungle. The titular young safari guide shoots a pregnant creature while hunting. It's offspring emerge and attack him before turning on each other. Jacobs creates a violent environment for his protagonist, one he will explore further in Safari Honeymoon. I picked up these two books at TCAF 2014 and will review the other book shortly. 

This jungle is a thing of wonder. The cover of this comic introduces us to the fauna. Creepy crawling or walking monsters with razor-sharp teeth. Impossible insects and weird vagina dentata monster (a recurring motif). The inside cover shows us the flora. It's impossible leaves and bulbous plants are fantastic and innovative. The inside back cover mixes fauna and flora with the young safari guide, not quite at the center of it.

Flora

Jacobs` style favours detail and imagination over consistency. I cannot tell which animals/creatures are in the same category. Is this a canine, a feline or what is it? Yet this works to the book`s advantage. The young safari guide is surrounded by a menacing environment, which the reader cannot fully comprehend. We are at the mercy of this violent environment where every new discovery can be deadly. Jacobs` creatures are so foreign and creepy and the amount of detail in his drawing reinforces this foreignness. Each page is a mesmerizing miasma of mouths, tentacles and eyeballs. I also see a ridiculous amount of vagina-shaped monsters, most of which have teeth. Draw your own conclusion.

This book also contains the best depiction of yearning and depression I have ever seen. 

Yearning and Depression

The main theme of this book seems to touch on man's place amongst nature. Not just what position he occupies in the world, but also how he got there. After the offspring attack, the young safari guide contemplates the violent spectacle that ensues. The monsters attack each other, leading the guide to wonder: "How had such a miserable species survived so long in this harsh wilderness?" How do these beasts manage to thrive, and what role does mankind play in an environment like this? "There was no goddamn order to any of it. Even the stars are a mess. Had I had my rifle,  I would have shot down every one of those goddamned stars." Mankind is just as brutal and violent as anything else in nature. We just articulate our violence better, either through guns or simple act of aggression. When the guide kills the birds, we glimpse the barbarity that is inherently part of all nature, including mankind. Nature, mankind and the stars are a mess after all.

Justine Reyes' Planet Claire: Abstraction, Celestial Bodies and Meaning

Ice Cold Planet

I visited San Francisco a few weeks ago and went on a hunt for the best comic book I could find. I was surprised to find a bin of floppies with lots of independent comics at Dog Eared Books. One of the coolest finds was a comic with three different covers called "Planet Claire" by Justine Reyes. Having no knowledge of what this was, I picked up a copy and read it later that night. Then a second time, and a third time. And a few more times the day after. Why did I read it so much and what is Planet Claire?

Planet Claire is a planet, a celestial body with human features. All that can be found on the planet is undeniably humanoid in it's own unique and strange way. Headless or limbless rests atop abstract background. 3-eyed busts are surrounded with stars. Rainbow-summoning Ballerina, naked women and creepy dolls are also present on it's surface. Then, it's over.

What interested me about this short comic, was the realization that I created meaning for myself and upon multiple readings, this meaning changed and evolved. I was consciously making an effort to find a different meaning with every read. As I browsed through the small and unkept bin from Dog Eared Books, I noticed that there were multiple colours for the cover of Planet Claire. I purposefully bought the blue cover. The pink cover seemed too bright and nausea-inducing with a fluorescent shade I just couldn't stomach. There was also a bright fluorescent yellow cover as well. I didn't pick it either as I use that kind of highlighter colour every day at work and am just generally sick of looking at it. So I picked up the blue cover and I can't help but noticing that it affected my reading and understanding of the book. I immediately associated the planet with ice-like qualities; it's human form frozen in its abstraction. A blue that evoked it's skies, it's ocean, and maybe a bit of melancholy. Perhaps I would feel differently had I picked a yellow cover. I may have attributed more warmth and happiness, maybe even some sunny attributes. 

In the end, meaning was established which rendered my questions meaningless. But the process to create meaning out of this book was exhilarating. It wasn't a phenomenal book, but a haunting one.

After all this, I was intrigued. I thought about the process of interpretation I went through (more on that below). I tried finding information on this book online and came up empty-handed. My only lead to know more was the email address at the back of the book. I contacted the artist and she was kind enough to provide some insight on the comic. She was able to explain that "Planet Claire" was a nod to women and girls. Through this book, she played with themes and icons involving females, which was something I didn't realize when reading. It was meant as an empowering comic for women as she explained: "women are not usually represented with such masculinity and power as often as men are."

Not matter what meaning or interpretation one will gain this book, it will be your own, guided through the lens of strange patterns. Check out Justine Reyes's book here.

Gratuitous COPRA plug

The best superhero comic

It's been available for a while now, but I must talk about it. Copra is the best superhero comic out there. I will eventually talk about it at length in one of these posts. In the meantime, I encourage everyone of you to seek out Michel Fiffe's Copra. He posted the first issue of the series on his website right HERE. Copra is a team of former criminals and crooks that now work for the government doing dirty work. A sort of modern Suicide Squad. It is violent, raw, and brilliant. I had the pleasure of discovering the series at Beguiling in Toronto and have been enjoying it ever since. It's apparently coming out now through Diamond Distribution (order code OCT141106) and I'd recommend it in a heartbeat.

Reflections on Guy Delisle's Jerusalem: Chronicles from the Holy City

Magnificient city

I brought Guy Delisle's Jerusalem: Chronicle from the Holy City along for my summer vacation in San Francisco. This book was my first exposure to Quebec cartoonist and travelogue master Guy Delisle. I like the style and musings of Delisle who seems interested in writing about dangerous or controversial locations (Pyongyang in Korea, Shenzhen). It makes for riveting literature. 

The basic premise of Jerusalem is that Delisle's wife works for Médecins sans frontières (Doctors Without Borders), which is referred throughout the book as MSF. She gets posted in Jerusalem for a year and Guy, her husband, can keep his career as a cartoonist there as well. They are bringing the kids with them and will build their life there for one year. Delisle chronicles through his book the contrast between the Holy and the Secular, the modern and the traditional and also, the private and the political. 

Delisle uses a "Slice of life"  as an easy way to explain the woes of modern day life in Jerusalem. He manages to simply explain the complex environment by relating his experiences there on a very personal level while trying to stay open minded and objective. A profound respect for the city and its inhabitant is found on every single panel (except maybe when he have some petty issues with some residents). 

His presence in Jerusalem manages to raise some interesting questions, such as how to balance family life and career. We see the multiple schedules he has to keep, the distances, and the issues that arise from trying to keep it all going. Traveling in the city on a day-to-day basis becomes the source of many headaches with the blockades always in the back of one`s mind, so are traffic jams and which neighbourhood to visit and when. 

Delisle also forces you to think about how to find compromises when everyone seemingly holds the truth. Jerusalem is a city of many faiths and many beliefs. It is a challenge to determine common grounds, yet Jerusalem`s inhabitants manage to do so every day, which is exceptional. 

Delisle's art remains simple throughout the book. This appears to be his regular style and it works perfectly with the subject of the book. Jerusalem is such a complex city; it's geography, politics and culture are so rich, so dense, that the simple art style creates a welcoming contrast. 

Although this book appears intimidating for both its length and subject matter, I would recommend it in a heartbeat. Delisle crafts a riveting tale of life amidst an incredible, if somewhat complicated, city. Regardless of your faith and opinion on the conflict, everyone can appreciate the author's account. 

C.F's MERE: Not Reading, Experiencing

Feelings

I wish I could say I read C.F's Mere. I didn't read it so much as experienced it. One goes through a spectrum of moods, mindsets and emotions while navigating this book. It is unlike anything you have ever seen before.

Mere is a collection of short and mini comics by comic artist and musician C.F. (Christopher Forgues) published in 2012. The now defunct publishing company Picturebox collects 11 comics in this book. Most of them are attempts at genre (Sci-fi, crime, etc.). There are no main characters or storyline, just experiments with form, movement, narrative structure and emotion.

An introduction by Nicole Rudick opens this collection. I have absolutely no idea who she is and no credentials are provided. A Google search directs me to her Linkedin (I hope it's the right person) and it indicates that she is an editor for The Paris Review. Regardless of this confusion, her essay allows the reader to naviguate this storm.

It is followed by shapes and letters made to resemble buildings. There are beds, wells and drippings. It's followed by a short story about a man who is being hunted and is running away from someone. He inhales enough air to blow his pursuant's head clean off.

What am I experiencing? How to combine all of those fragments into a cohesive whole? This becomes interesting as we move away from the realm of comics and into the work of modern art. It's an experiment in developing new ways of seeing genre. It is abstract and the reader must create meaning as it goes. One must transcend what is on the page and the convention of comics. John Berger explains in Ways of Seeing, that the way we see things is affected by what we know or what we believe. We are also looking at the relation between things and ourselves. When we get to the section of the book about Comb (a sci-fi police officer) for example, one expects to see certain convention laid out on the page. Yet C.F forces you to reconsider those conventions at every turn.

As one digs deeper, we are treated to various stories (Cyborg, Frel, Crime, Comb, etc.). Mere manages to evade any classification of storytelling and comics. It is in many ways inexplicable; one must experience it to comprehend, and even then, our meanings will all differ.