It’s tough to describe BLAB! accurately
This is how a writer for the Los Angeles Reader tried: “At its peak, (BLAB!) is like The New Yorker for mutants.”
“Neither periodical or book, BLAB! is quite obviously a work of art,” was the appraisal in the Comic Buyer’s Guide.
The most recent edition of this comics anthology arrived a few weeks ago and has been sitting on a desk in the office, attracting the attention of people passing by. Many offered commentary.
“This is the oddest thing,” said one, thumbing Blab!’s colorful pages.
“Disgusting,” said another, catching the sight of a comely and scantily clad female cartoon character.
“Fantastic,” said another. “Wonderful. What is this thing?”
It is, simply, a great book.
Many of the creations in it by artists and writers are familiar to Chicago. Chris Ware, whose brilliant work weekly graces the pages of New City, is colorfully in BLAB!
Tony Fitzpatrick, artist-actor-writer-media maven, offers seven haunting and chilling pages from an upcoming book called “Dirty Boulevard.”
There are 20 artists represented in the handsomely produced 112-page book and the styles are as varied as any art- or cartoon-lover could desire. (That’s Gary Baseman’s work on this page).
But it’s not all cartoons and art. There is a fine and funny piece of fiction by Josh Alan Friedman, and Fitzpatrick’s art is, as always, rich in words: “He watches over the Crack Dealer undead; dealing his darkness with a rictus smile. The Fixer is always holding. A true monster all dressed up for dying.”
A “profile” by writer and Tribune contributor Jeffrey Steele begins compellingly: “Forty-eight years ago, a Bible-reading loner stepped out onto the sun-washed main street of his New Jersey hometown armed with a loaded Luger and a powerful paranoia. What happened in the next 12 minutes changed America forever.”
It has been two years since the last edition of BLAB! The new one is designed, edited and produced by Chicago advertising art director Monte Beauchamp and published by Fantagraphics Books in Seattle, Wash. It is available at local bookstores, but if you have trouble finding it, call 206-524-1967. It will set you back $18.95, and is worth every cent.
