MADreads

Delightfully demented

I’ve never had reason to wonder about the spiritual or existential concerns of frogs before I stumbled upon the graphic novel by Jon Lewis, True Swamp:  The Memoirs of Lenny the Frog.  And of course these concerns turn out to be strikingly similar to our human ones:  the meaning (lessness) of life, love troubles, friendship, guilt, responsibility, the afterlife, and the existence of higher beings.  It reminded me vaguely of a slime-covered, foul-mouthed My Dinner with Andre.

Basically Lenny and his friends meet up, wander around, meet other crazy lower vertebrates, and try to avoid being eaten, all while having clever and oddball chats.  At times, it does read a bit like a semi-autobiographical 20-something raw first work by a horny geek, but for the most part it transcends that.  Here are some favorite quotes.

“I don’t know…every time I start to get some good thinking done, I almost get eaten.”

Question: “What’s your subject?”

Answer:  “Killer herptiles, but my other obsession is with great human thinkers…Raposo, Mark Fidrych, Lionel Stander, Kinski, Rosemary Clooney…” 

“When that slug hits that knothole, I’m leavin’…I wonder if I’m somebody’s timepiece without knowing it?  Like, when I finally get my s___ together, they’ll go have lunch…They’ll probably starve to death.”

I enjoy strange and quirky folks, but quirky doesn’t quite do this group justice.  This is a seriously messed up cast of characters.  There is Lenny, our neurotic, depressed hero;  Hale, a cuss-spewing marmot; Starah, the love-interest, a ridged lizard; the fairies, not your standard sweet things by any stretch of the imagination;  and don’t get me started on Spore, a bizarre fungus boy, and his roommate Seteph the gecko who believes he is a radio.

This guy is nuts.  Lenny the frog, yes, but I’m actually talking about Jon Lewis.  I can’t decide if Lewis is a genius or completely off his rocker.  Probably both.  He’s written and illustrated a number of other things, none of which, unfortunately, are owned by the library system.  If you don’t mind lots of profanity and have a severely warped sense of humor then you may get as big a kick out of Lenny and company as I do.  If not, steer clear.

Add comment November 13th, 2007 Amy - Hawthorne

Words, words, words…and some cool drawings

So many good, well-known, and beautiful lines:  To be or not to be.  The lady doth protest too much, methinks.  To thine own self be true.  What a piece of work is a man.  And they are alive in the Manga Shakespeare Hamlet adapted by Richard Appignanesi, and illustrated by Emma Vieceli.  This series for young adult readers, which so far includes only Romeo and Juliet, really helps convey the meaning of lines, not to mention the story, which might otherwise seem incomprehensible or obscure.  And the manga style drawings are so hip, sexy, and modern.  Purists may scoff and whine when their high brow is morphed into a postmodern unibrow of high and low art, but I’m of the opinion that the more ways to approach art the better.  Hey, my first exposure to Hamlet was the 1966 Gilligan’s Island version as a musical set to the music of “Carmen!”  Who could forget the Skipper as Polonius? 

Those who are unfamiliar with manga or are over a certain age may find it hard to follow.  My husband, for instance, who loves Hamlet and teaches it every year to highschoolers, couldn’t seem to distinguish the characters.  I’m not going to worry about him though.  He’s not the intended audience.  There are also the occasional cherubic chibi versions of the characters, which are a sort of Precious Moments-style manga convention to express an emotion or action in a small panel.

The story is set, a bit strangely, far in the future of 2107.  The character’s fashion, hair, and communication devices made me smile.  I suppose it is more appealing to teens to be set in the future as opposed to the past.  All this coolness is put to good use – drawing you into the story, the passion, and the intensity of the gorgeous language.  I’m not saying it’s the same as reading the actual play, and I’m no expert on Shakespeare (or manga for that matter) but I liked it.  Since brevity is the soul of wit…this post is toast.

Add comment September 25th, 2007 Amy - Hawthorne