Robot 6, one of the blogs over at Comic Book Resources, has a regular feature by Tim O’Shea called Talking Comics with Tim. In the latest installment, Tim talks to Glenn Eichler and myself about MUSH! Sled Dogs with Issues. More interview than review, it’s an interesting piece and I encourage you all to go read me wax rhapsodic or rap idiotic depending on your point of view. Here’s a little taste…
O’Shea: Question for the both of you, there appear to be metaphorical fences in this book (between people and between the dogs), in addition to the physical fences. Would you agree?
Infurnari: When I read the script, I was reminded of how in art and literature natural landscapes have often represented the depths of the human psyche. There’s something about the dark bottomless fathoms of the oceans, the mysteries of the forest or the wide open expanses of sand or snow that spark our imaginations. In Mush!, the barren isolation of the Alaskan landscape sets the scene for a story about the dogs’ psychological state and ultimately our own interior lives as readers. The fences in this story are boundaries preventing the dogs from being out in the open on a run where they are most happy. The trail is their bliss and the fences that keep them from it mark the breeding area of their issues.
Eichler: Well, definitely. No one can ever know or meld with another person (or dog) entirely, and the isolation in which they all live just throws those differences into brighter relief. But that same isolation also creates fences that enclose the people and the dogs, forcing them together because they really can’t get away from each other. I’m saying the book has a lot of fences. It’s best to read it with a pair of wire cutters.
O’Shea: Glenn, not to get bogged down in details, but naming one’s dog is often a challenge. You really did a good job of naming the team of dogs in this story, did that come to you quite easily as you developed the characters or was it challenging with certain characters?
Eichler: I hate naming characters as a general rule, but I tried for a mix of the silliness and anthropomorphism often found in the names that real people give their real dogs. I also wanted to touch on the way people will give their puppies names that turn out to be either perfectly descriptive of their adult personalities, or utterly wrong.
O’Shea: Glenn (from the book’s acknowledgements you thank the dogs “who talk to him when he sleeps”) how long have you heard the dogs talking to you?
Eichler: I didn’t write that. The dog dictated it.
To read interview in its entirety, click here.
You’ll have to forgive my overly histrionic title but when Nicholas Yong, journalist for the Singapore Straits Times writes such a lovely review for MUSH! Sled Dogs with Issues, I can’t help but get a little excited. The book is available there through Books Kinokuniya. Here’s the review in full:
Guy is going after team leader Dolly’s job. Buddy is lusting after Venus, who is not interested. And all Winston wants is a bit of respect, while nobody knows what Fiddler wants.
The dog-eat-dog world comes to life in this wry, offbeat tale of six sled dogs and their two owners in the remote Alaskan frost.
All six pooches have clearly defined personalities and all just want the boss to hitch them to his sled and take them on a run. As Fiddler, a mixed-breed Alaskan Husky, gloomily puts it: “Not much point being alive if we don’t run.”
Much of the fun of the story lies in watching the dogs interact between the longed-for runs: These mutts are as flawed as their owners, plagued by ambition, self-doubt and self-absorption.The outspoken, caustic Dolly, a gorgeous Seppal Siberian sled dog, gets the best lines. In response to Fiddler’s remark about a sled dog who does not run, she says: “The meaning of that dog’s life is, he should be a cat.”
There are also plenty of laughs at the expense of the hapless Buddy, a Greenland dog, whose lust for Dolly is the very definition of, erm, puppy love. He is too dense to tell that she is indifferent to him, although the owners have mated the two several times.
Infurnari’s frenetic, almost cartoonish visuals complement Eichler’s acerbic wit perfectly and make the dogs particularly expressive. The human characters almost pale in comparison.
Dog owners Frank and Patty have their own issues. Frank is determined to disavow human society, declaring that “my dogs care about me more than they do”. Exasperated, Patty has the perfect comeback: “How loving do you think your precious dogs would be if you didn’t control their food?”
There is a strange irony in seeing humans, who consider themselves highly evolved, and dogs, supposedly their best friends, bickering over the same things. Frank might as well be talking about people when he says of the dogs: “They’re never more than one bite away from backsliding into wildness.”
At the end of this charming, enjoyable tale, Frank and Patty face the same issue as the dogs: They just have to learn to get along and work together if they want to survive.
Thanks go to Nicholas Yong for contacting me and bringing this to my attention.
On last night’s Colbert Report, Stephen had a brief segment about MUSH! Sled Dogs with Issues! This is one of the coolest things EVER! He actually pronounced my name correctly, too!
Here’s a link to the full episode. Mush is featured at around 20:00. Enjoy!
http://www.colbertnation.com/full-episodes/tue-december-6-2011-the-black-keys
Thanks, Stephen!
In his online series, PG Reviews, Paul Gravett looks ahead to some notable December releases including MUSH! Sled Dogs with Issues! He gives a lowdown on what the publisher, First Second, had to say about the book and then shifts to what he says about the book. Here’s a quote,
Lovely design devices for the chapter titles and the skilled layouts that go full bleed and manga-esque in high-drama scenes show a creative team that knows how comics can really work. This is an utterly beguiling and touching dog story and not in the least bit ‘shaggy’! It will whoosh you away and make you want [to] shout out loud, ‘YAPABRA! BLEE DRAY CALLA SCOW!’
I’d say that’s pretty good! Thanks for the review, Paul! The full review is available here.
In his column, Graphic Scenes, David Berry takes a look at Graphic Novels that didn’t come under the purview of the newspaper’s book department. This month, he takes a look at MUSH! Sled Dogs with Issues by Glenn Eichler and myself. Here’s a little of what he had to say,
Mush! benefits greatly from Joe Infurnari’s wildly expressive characterizations. There is a pure, unbridled joy perfectly evident in the way these dogs tear through the wilderness, but more impressive is the personality that shines through when these dogs are in repose. There are some classic cartooning tropes at play here — the rotund, well-meaning-but-dim galoot, the dark, angular schemer — with just enough of a rough edge to make them jump off the page whether or not they’re talking.
The full review is available here. MUSH! Sled Dogs with Issues will be available December 6th.
Thanks, David! I’m so glad you enjoyed it!
Hey, Photo-Phans! I just updated the Photo Feed with a whole new batch of images!
As I was saying last week, my nocturnal noodling has generated some interesting ideas. Last week I highlighted the REED-iculous RICHARDS series of drawings. This time out there are some more of those but there are also a few different threads that have come to light. My super cute cat drawings have yielded an offshoot I call the “Acid Cats“. In honor of the Occupy movement, I’ve done a series of doodles about what might be the grand dragon of our current economic crisis: Reagan Gnomics! There’s also the usual images of cats and subway graffiti and a little something I call, Ridicu-Dick. Let’s hope THAT doesn’t inspire too much more!
