Saturday, March 15, 2008

Maps Legends Nazi's French Fashion and a Pulitzer Prize Winner



In his new book Maps & Legends Michael Chabon discusses his love of comics including Howard Chaykin's American Flagg “the sex-driven, space-travelng, Jean-Paul Gaultier-by-way-of-Albert-Speer-freak-o-rama that was to be life in 2031.” That sounds entertaining enough for anyone who vaguely remembers Chaykin's sexed-up, bondage-heavy, politicized futurescape featuring a talking cat named Raul, and indeed some very puffy shirts.

Publisher's weekly is uncharacteristically critical of the author and the book:

You would hardly think, reading Chabon's new book of essays, that he won the Pulitzer Prize for a book about comics. Rather, he is bitter and defensive about his love for genre fiction such as mysteries and comic books. Serious writers, he says, cannot venture into these genres without losing credibility.It's hard to imagine the audience for this book. Chabon seems to want to debate English professors, but surely only his fellow comic-book lovers will be interested in his tirade.

(is that a Jordan Crane cover?)

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