The Lovely Horrible Stuff

Top Shelf Month continues, today with a look at a work from a prominent, prolific comics creator.

The Lovely Horrible Stuff is an interesting work from Eddie Campbell, a Scotsman who now lives in Australia. Over the years he has written and drawn a disparate array of comics, creative, autobiographical, and fantastical, and also received numerous awards and nominations. He may be best known for his collaboration with Alan Moore on the Jack the Ripper tale From Hell, his semi-autobiographical Alec comics, and following the adventures of the god Bacchus in the modern day in Deadface. In recent years, he has also written and drawn more thoughtful works such as The Fate of the Artist as well as historical fiction like The Black Diamond Detective Agency and The Amazing Remarkable Monsieur Leotard. He blogs about comics, life, and his work here.

In this book Campbell tackles the topic of money in two ways. The first half is a personal history of finance, weaving together family lore, tales of marriage and in-laws, along with accounts of the recent international financial tribulations and real estate woes that end up as legal battles. The second half of the book is more a travelogue, detailing a trip he and his wife made to Yap Island, a small, tropical Pacific locale where the inhabitants have a large, spherical stone currency named rai. Throughout both sections we are privy to charming and eclectic flourishes, including William Shakespeare writing comically verbose collections letters, carousing Polish tourists, and the exaggerated adventures of the Irish Capt. David O'Keefe.

This book was a cerebral pleasure, with a great amount of thought going into the illustrations, a combination of photographs, painting, digital writing, and linework, as well as the multiple approaches to pondering the uses and effects of money, both real and imagined, on people's lives. Reviews I have seen online are largely positive. Marci Swank offered her opinion, "The illustrations highlight the great comic drawing skills Campbell has, which help to depict the meaning behind the words, as well as adding humor to the story." James Smart summed it up as "a quirky, vibrant graphic novel." Kirkus Reviews' Jenna Crispin offered a more measured review, saying about the book, "It has immense charm, but it’s a little thin."

There is a preview and much more information available here from the publisher.

The Black Diamond Detective Agency

The Black Diamond Detective Agency follows the exploits of John Hardin. This unfortunate soul is present at a huge, devastating train explosion and is framed for the bombing and subsequent robbery. He spends much of the rest of the book figuring out who framed him and also trying to find his wife, who has mysteriously gone into hiding. As he discovers a convoluted plot and encounters people with all kinds of agendas he is pursued by the eponymous detective agency and the US Secret Service.

This book is the product of artist Eddie Campbell and author C. Gaby Mitchell. I have been a huge Campbell fan for years. He has been making comics for decades now, from his Bacchus stories based in Greek mythology to his autobiographical Alec tales. He has long been interested in comics history and doing many period pieces. He is best known for his collaboration with Alan Moore on the Jack the Ripper epic From Hell. Mitchell is best known for his screenplays for the movies Blood Diamond and Get Low. In fact, this book was based on one of his unproduced screenplays.

I enjoyed reading this book and found the action and mystery aspects compelling. There were parts where I was confused by the sequence of events or who characters were, but I was drawn in by the expertly painted art. I enjoyed the twists and also thought some of the situations seemed pretty typical of movie cliches, for example the obligatory tease of a love interest, the hero rescuing a woman from a ledge, and the official agency embracing the outlaw loose cannon.

Reviews I have seen for this book have been mixed. Kirkus Reviews called the book "a visually stunning graphic narrative with all sorts of complicated plot twists." Andrew Wheeler was slightly disappointed by the book, and he wrote that "Campbell’s loose line did sometimes make it difficult for me to keep track of characters, though, especially with a lot of men in somber suits and facial hair. Other than that, the art is dynamic and carries the action well, with panels varying in size and position from tight grids to loose frameworks, depending on the scene." The reviewer at First Panel was not impressed with the book despite it being a period piece and concluded, "The story was alright, the visuals were alright, but I wouldn’t put it on a must-read list." Douglas Wolk gave the book a B-.

This book was published by First Second. They have a video preview posted here.

The Black Diamond Detective Agency does contain some brief nudity, a sex scene, and some scenes of blood and violence, so it is more suitable for more mature readers.