Amphigorey anthology, Edward Gorey and various authors.
I enjoyed looking through these and want to thank Jenny Magidson again for taking me down this delightfully strange rabbit hole. They're a collection of adult comic strips. Adult because the themes tend towards the macabre and disturbing. The grotesque and surreal illustrations put me in the mind of every Tim Burton movie I've seen and they appeal to my warped sense of humor. And they range from a story board with a coherent story to follow written in either prose or verse to a disjointed series of images that aren't necessarily related, or only vaguely so.
It's this strange style that really pulled me in and kept me interested. Especially the seemingly random entries. There were several in which the noun of each panel description corresponded to each letter of the alphabet just like a toddler's book. Or a series of random but not well known words. Or simply vignettes that portray a mood. Mostly melancholy moods, but I understood it on a subconscious level. I used to draw a lot as a kid in story board method and other experiments. It reminds me of how creative I used to be when I was young, with a sinister twist of course. But it inspires me to be creative again.
It's definitely not for everyone. If you're uncomfortable with suicidal inanimate objects, dark and tragic unrequited love stories, or children being eaten by a fictitious beast - I mean, the classic fairy tales in their original forms were equally weird and twisted when you think about it - or if you tend to take such things too seriously then it's probably not for you. I see it as pure entertainment and brain candy for curious minds.
I enjoyed looking through these and want to thank Jenny Magidson again for taking me down this delightfully strange rabbit hole. They're a collection of adult comic strips. Adult because the themes tend towards the macabre and disturbing. The grotesque and surreal illustrations put me in the mind of every Tim Burton movie I've seen and they appeal to my warped sense of humor. And they range from a story board with a coherent story to follow written in either prose or verse to a disjointed series of images that aren't necessarily related, or only vaguely so.
It's this strange style that really pulled me in and kept me interested. Especially the seemingly random entries. There were several in which the noun of each panel description corresponded to each letter of the alphabet just like a toddler's book. Or a series of random but not well known words. Or simply vignettes that portray a mood. Mostly melancholy moods, but I understood it on a subconscious level. I used to draw a lot as a kid in story board method and other experiments. It reminds me of how creative I used to be when I was young, with a sinister twist of course. But it inspires me to be creative again.
It's definitely not for everyone. If you're uncomfortable with suicidal inanimate objects, dark and tragic unrequited love stories, or children being eaten by a fictitious beast - I mean, the classic fairy tales in their original forms were equally weird and twisted when you think about it - or if you tend to take such things too seriously then it's probably not for you. I see it as pure entertainment and brain candy for curious minds.
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