Pure Pajamas - Hardcover

Bell, Marc

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 1770460543 ISBN 13: 9781770460546

Publisher: Drawn and Quarterly, 2011

Synopsis

IMMERSE YOURSELF IN THE HUMOROUS, FRENETIC WORLD OF NONSENSICAL WORDPLAY AND TALKING HOT DOGS

Pure Pajamas collects Marc Bell's best material from his syndicated weekly comic strip for the Montreal Mirror and the Halifax Coast, as well as a host of anthologies such as Kramers Ergot, Expo, Maow Maow, and more, featuring his recurring characters Kevin, Ol' Simp, Chia-Man, Mr. Socks, and Shrimpy and Paul. Throughout Pure Pajamas, Bell creates symbiotic relationships within his fantasy ecosystems, drawn in a rubbery big-foot style. Reminiscent of the sixties comics of R. Crumb but with a kind of bemused detachment in place of Crumb's ire, Bell addresses the big issues of what it's like to live in today's world.

About this title

About the Author

Marc Bell was born in London, Ontario, and has befuddled and bemused his readers for almost twenty years. He is the author of Stroppy, Hot Potatoe, Pure Pajamas, and Shrimpy and Paul and Friends. His comics have appeared in many Canadian weeklies, Vice, and L.A. Weekly. He is a twin.

Reviews

Bell is a cartoonist’s cartoonist, not in the sense of being technically perfect but because his work sums up an entire tradition. Just as Mark Newgarden (We All Die Alone, 2005) brings big-nose gag cartooning to a giddy peak, Bell brings dream-journey comics to an acme of strangeness in this collection. Visual echoes of masters of the form—Winsor McCay (Little Nemo in Slumberland), R. Crumb, Jim Woodring (Frank), and others—are constant, and the spirit of E. C. Segar (Popeye) infuses everything; indeed, Bell’s newer stuff (from 2000 on) can seem to be a series of dazed, dazzling variations on the famous Popeye animation, Goonland (fine-art influence may come from Philip Guston’s late figural paintings). Early on, however, Bell essayed an art-brut style (see “Stupid Goddamn Shitty Day”) and told comprehensible if minimal stories. But the newer the piece is, the more some characters are ambulatory furniture and foodstuffs (especially sausages), and the less narrative sense it makes. Whether any of it’s funny is a matter of personal humorous taste. Weird good-looking, though. --Ray Olson

Edition details

• Publisher: Drawn and Quarterly
• Publication date: 2011
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1770460543
• ISBN 13: 9781770460546
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 96