Synopsis
Set in a fictional 19th Century New England town, Hans Rickheit's graphic novel Squirrel Machine initially details the relationship and maturation of Edmund and William Torpor. But the two brothers quickly elicit the scorn when they reveal their musical creations built from strange technologies and scavenged animal carcasses. Driven to conceal their aberrant activities, they make a startling discovery.
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Reviews
This darkly disturbing, brilliantly drawn story is the first major publication from cartoonist Rickheit, whose earlier works garnered him a Xeric award and a cult following. Brothers William and Edward are odd-ball inventors who raise the ire of New England townspeople when they make elaborate and stomach-turning musical instruments using animal carcasses. B&w pen and ink drawings elucidate complex machines and Victorian-era architecture in baroque detail, while surrealist imaginings take turns for the truly repugnant. Sexual perversion, putrefaction and serial-killer style artworks are all ornately portrayed, as are the buildings, shops, horse-drawn carriages and crumbling mansions of a 19th-century small town. The story, while told primarily in pictures, includes a stilted and formal dialogue that only adds to the perversity. A character called the Pig Lady, who lives, sleeps and does other horrific things with pigs, speaks in a Latinate crypto-language that is eventually adopted by one of the brothers, whose fate is bound up with her odd eating habits. Though not for the faint of heart, this obscure tale will offer rich rewards to the right kind of reader, one who appreciates grotesque horror, angry mobs and the creative explosion of a repressed Victorian sexuality. (Oct.)
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The Squirrel Machine
Seller: World of Books (was SecondSale), Montgomery, IL, U.S.A.
Seller rating 5 out of 5 stars
Condition: Good. Item in good condition. Textbooks may not include supplemental items i.e. CDs, access codes etc. Seller Inventory # 00098739483
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The Squirrel Machine
Published by
Fantagraphics Books, 2009
ISBN 10: 1606993011
ISBN 13: 9781606993019
Used
Hardcover
First Edition
Seller: Charles Berry, Bookseller, Lakeport, CA, U.S.A.
Seller rating 5 out of 5 stars
Hardcover. Condition: Near Fine. Dust Jacket Condition: Near Fine. 1st Edition. Hardcover and dust jacket in excellent, unmarked condition: slight handling, slight corner tip wear. The DJ is protected by a new, clear, removeable cover. 179 pages, in comic format, albeit in black and white. [1.8 lbs]. Book. Seller Inventory # 078124
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The Squirrel Machine
Seller: Books From California, Simi Valley, CA, U.S.A.
Seller rating 4 out of 5 stars
Hardcover. Condition: Very Good. Seller Inventory # mon0004040455
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Squirrel Machine, the
Seller: Pistil Books Online, IOBA, Seattle, WA, U.S.A.
Seller rating 5 out of 5 stars
Hard Cover. Condition: Near Fine. Dust Jacket Condition: Near Fine. Book is in excellent condition with light shelf wear at corners, bottom spine only. Light blue covers with sparkles and gold embossed illustration, gilt print at spine. Binding is solid and square, covers have sharp corners, exterior shows no blemishes, text/interior is clean and free of marking of any kind. Dust jacket shows the slightest signs of shelf wear only, now wrapped in clear protective cover. Seller Inventory # 155216
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THE SQUIRREL MACHINE
Published by
Fantographics Books, Seattle, WA, 2009
ISBN 10: 1606993011
ISBN 13: 9781606993019
Used
Hardcover
First Edition
Signed
Seller: Borg Antiquarian, Lake Forest, IL, U.S.A.
Seller rating 5 out of 5 stars
Decorated & gilt-stamped cloth. Condition: Like New. Dust Jacket Condition: Like New. Hans Rickheit (illustrator). First Edition. SIGNED by the Author-Illustrator on the half title, quarto (10 3/8" x 7 3/8" x 1"), gray cloth with gold lettering on spine & inverted pair of squirrels (one with gas mask) on front cover, illustrated thoughout by Hans Rickheit in B&W, archival mylar-protected pictorial dust jacket (unclipped), tan squirrely endpapers, [xii] + 179 pages. Weight: 1 lb. 13 oz. Like NEW COPY! Immaculate. No previous owner or remainder marks. Hans Rickheit (born 1973) is an American cartoonist and also the author-illustrator of Cochlea & Eustachia, Chloe GN, & Folly: The Consequences of Indiscretion. Seller Inventory # 10252
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The Squirrel Machine
Published by
Fantagraphics Books, 2009
ISBN 10: 1606993011
ISBN 13: 9781606993019
New
Hardcover
First Edition
Seller: KAKBooks, Duarte, CA, U.S.A.
Seller rating 5 out of 5 stars
Hardcover. Condition: New. Dust Jacket Condition: New. 1st Edition. Seller Inventory # 2016-4-30 ktown30