Northwest Press

In Case You Missed it: Paul Gravett on Teleny and Camille

// August 2nd, 2011 // // Teleny and Camille

Paul Gravett wrote an article about literary adaptations in graphic novels for the Times Literary Supplement in May, which included a section about Jon Macy’s Teleny and Camille. I just stumbled across an online version of the article today and, since I don’t think we linked to it before, I wanted to share it with you.

Macy draws himself at work on the project, realising that “only adding pictures to the [complete] text would not do it justice”, but anxious about having to “trim the Victorian gingerbread”, and imagining himself “facing a tribunal for all my Wildean crimes.” Macy would not be found guilty, as he has made this book his own by focusing on its love story between two men, put in context in a prologue narrated by the London bookseller Charles Hirsch. Macy goes on to accompany the already highly charged texts with an imagery of brooding eroticism and, as required, uninhibited pornography, in some passages stripping everything down to purely visual terms. His inky linework stays sensuous and sensitive to the turbulent emotions and settings of his two idealised lovers, shifting between streamlined simplicity and more ornate flourishes from Expressionism to Art Nouveau.

Check out the whole review of Teleny and Camille as part of the article “Obvious Impostures” at Paul Gravett’s website.

The Power Within Reviewed at PostModernBarney

// July 28th, 2011 // // The Power Within

Dorian Wright at postmodernbarney.com has written a glowing review of the new Northwest Press book, The Power Within, written by Charles “Zan” Christensen with art by Mark Brill, and featuring a bunch of superstar special guests, including Gail Simone, Phil Jimenez and Greg Rucka.

The story exists strongly within the shadow of the recent media attention given to the high suicide rate in gay teens and the “It Gets Better” project, but successfully avoids any hints of maudlin emotion or preachiness. Instead the story feels very honest and is genuinely affecting. Christensen’s script deserves credit here, but so does Brill’s art, which has an approachable, cartoony feel that still allows for very expressive characters.

Read the whole review of The Power Within here! And make sure to request a copy from your local comics shop!

“Teleny and Camille” Reviewed at Giant Fire Breathing Robot

// June 28th, 2011 // // Teleny and Camille

Ashley Cook from Giant Fire Breathing Robot has reviewed Jon Macy’s masterpiece Teleny and Camille and gives it high marks:

Overall, this is an excellent adaptation; Macy’s visual interpretation fits the style of the original perfectly. The panels flow like stream of consciousness prose, with surreal pictoral representations of a love that words cannot adequately express. If one of Oscar Wilde’s ilk had been a visual artist, we might perhaps have been treated to something like Jon Macy’s vision. As it is, there is no doubt that this beautiful, sumptuous work is clearly an accomplished adaptation as well as a masterpiece of erotic fiction in its own right.

Check out the entire review of Teleny and Camille on gfbrobot.com!

The Gay Comics List reviews “Rainy Day Recess”

// April 12th, 2011 // // Rainy Day Recess

François Peneaud over at the Gay Comics List has written a glowing review of David Kelly’s new book, Rainy Day Recess: The Complete Steven’s Comics! He picked up on one reason that I thought it was so important to publish this collection:

The fact that Dan Savage has written an introduction for Rainy Day Recess is of course very significant: I’ve found his It Gets Better campaign toward gay youth very interesting, especially since I can’t see something like that happening in my own country. Anyway, that’s not the point. The point is that American culture seems to be at a tipping point, where queer people are being mainstreamed and homophobes are finally being shown by the general culture as the danger they really are, the same way antisemitism and not Jewish people are the problem. That sounds so obvious, but the way that it is now seeping through popular culture makes me a bit more optimistic. In that regard, David Kelly’s strips are even more relevant than they were a decade and a half ago.

Check out the whole Rainy Day Recess review at The Gay Comics List!

cxPulp on Rainy Day Recess: “Can’t Recommend It Enough”

// March 29th, 2011 // // Rainy Day Recess

Andy Speed of cxPulp gives David Kelly’s new collection, Rainy Day Recess: The Complete Steven’s Comics, a look-see and she sure likes what she finds!

A sensitive boy struggles to stay optimistic and himself amongst an unstable family life and bullies in this collection.

I hope the explanatory blurb didn’t sound too depressing, because really this collection isn’t depressing at all. There’s something life affirming in thinking that Steven survived such a turbulent childhood so well. I couldn’t help but draw comparisons to Lynda Barry while reading this, which is a good thing.

She gives an overview of the series and its contents, and concludes with:

This is a sweet, engaging collection of comics that everyone who’s ever been an outsider can relate to, and I can’t recommend it highly enough for all ages.

Check out the whole Rainy Day Recess review at cxPulp!

Brian Cronin Reviews “Teleny and Camille” for Month of LGBT Comics

// March 27th, 2011 // // Teleny and Camille

Brian Cronin has shone the spotlight on Jon Macy’s Teleny and Camille as part of his ongoing “Month of LGBT Comics” series at Comic Book Resources. Brian shares some sample pages from the first chapter preview and praises them, but mostly lets them speak for themselves.

Almost instantaneously, the two men form a bond between themselves that goes beyond just attraction, but more into telepathy. That is how much they are tied together. It’s a fascinating inter-relation, and Macy handles it spectacularly with his moody, evocative artwork.

It’s been great to see the variety of books that Brian has reviewed this month; I’m really glad that he undertook this project. I think he’s managed to review more LGBT books in one month than even Prism Comics has reviewed in all of 2011!

Read Brian Cronin’s full review here!

Brian Cronin on Rainy Day Recess: “Highly Recommended”

// March 16th, 2011 // // Rainy Day Recess

Brian Cronin’s excellent “Month of LGBT Comics” at the CBR blog “Comics Should Be Good” is chugging along, shining the spotlight on a lot of great queer comics that you should not miss. Today, he took a look at David Kelly’s forthcoming collection, Rainy Day Recess: The Complete Steven’s Comics, and apparently he liked what he saw!

Kelly captures the ups and downs of Steven’s life beautifully. A simple, yet important, facet of this collection is the fact that while Steven goes through a whole pile of garbage for being who he is, he also has simple enjoyments the same way that pretty much every kid has simple enjoyments in life. So the balance between feeling sorry for Steven and feeling happy for his enjoyments is crucial to the power of Kelly’s work, and it makes for an excellent series of comics.

Take a look at the whole review, which includes a bunch of great preview pages!

Review of Rainy Day Recess from “li’l Joe Palmer” of GayLeague.com

// March 15th, 2011 // // Rainy Day Recess

Joe Palmer of GayLeague.com—a fabulous social and review hub for gay comics fans—has written a review of David Kelly’s new Northwest Press book, Rainy Day Recess: The Complete Steven’s Comics. One of his previous reviews, for Teleny and Camille, was brilliantly written as an over-the-top bible-thumping condemnation. This time, he’s turned to his inner child to talk about David’s book.

Touching on some of the themes that David explores in the book, Joe draws parallels with his own childhood (or that of a fictionalized Joe, I’m not sure):

My favorite comic has the Legion of Super Heroes. What’s Legion really mean? I really like Element Lad and Ultra Boy. Sometimes when my mom is mad at my dad — they yell too much — because he drinks I pretend to be in the future with the Legion.

I found a new comic and I hide it for now because my dad would probably take it away. It’s not like Legion or Justice League or Avengers but I like it because it’s about a boy. His name is Steven. He has blond hair and three brothers and a sister. Maybe he’s my age. His mom works and works like mine does and she gets tired too. Steven likes Wonder Woman and has her action figure. I don’t like Wonder Woman so much, but that’s okay.

I thought this review was charming; to take a cue from the author of the source material and also write the review from the point of view of a kid was a great idea.

Read the whole review of Rainy Day Recess here!

Brian Cronin of “Comics Should Be Good” reviews Glamazonia

// March 7th, 2011 // // Glamazonia

While the Northwest Press folks were busy appearing at Emerald City ComiCon with Prism Comics this past weekend—and having an absolute blast I might add!—we missed this excellent review of Justin Hall’s Glamazonia: The Uncanny Super-Tranny that appeared on Comic Book Resources.

Brian Cronin, of “Comics Should Be Good”, is a week in to his “Month of LGBT Comics”, and Glams was in this spotlight in this past Friday’s column. Cronin starts out by noting how the book could have gone horribly wrong, but is saved by Justin’s positive take on the character:

Perhaps the number one thing that makes Justin Hall’s Glamazonia work is the sheer sense of geniality that exudes from Hall’s work. This is the sort of comic that, in the hands of someone trying to do something cynical, it would just come off as just foul, wretched even. Luckily, Hall is completely committed to the concept of a “super-tranny,” and he puts it out there without any sort of ill will or negative feelings – this is just intended as a fun, offbeat comic book about a goofy super-tranny named Glamazonia.

Cronin also highlights the stellar contributors—Paige Braddock, Robert Kirby, Sarah Oleksyk, Shaenon Garrity—and the backup stories, including Jon Macy’s “Rent Boy: Year One”.

Check out the whole review, and pick up a copy of Glamazonia right here!

Teleny Review on Broken Frontier

// February 22nd, 2011 // // Teleny and Camille

There’s a new, glowing review of Jon Macy’s Teleny and Camille by Steven Surman up on Broken Frontier:

I have no idea how daunting this must have been—and daunting I’m sure it was—but it was worth all the effort, because Macy’s finished product is nothing short of breathtaking. To tersely describe this book: Teleny and Camille is lovingly elegant. Because Macy is primarily an illustrator (to the best of my knowledge), his apparent contribution is his artwork. Some images look like rough drawings found in a sketchpad, while others are finely tuned scenes worthy of display as murals.

Check out the whole review here!