I wrote this about two months ago but wanted to wait a bit to post it. so: here it is.
I dearly love Kate Beaton's History Comics (or, as the comic is now known, "Hark! A Vagrant") and was more than happy to help support her comicking. She has a way of making little sketches off-handedly which nevertheless amuse me (and I assume amuse others, since she tends to post them often). For example. In any case, the point is that I eagerly awaited her book being released.
Alas, I was disappointed. First, by the sheer brevity of it - only 68 pages, most with only one comic. There's absolutely no new drawings in the book, and most of the short notes after the comics are the same as the ones on the website (some adapted for the book format rather than a web format). There's no introduction (besides a two sentence "about this book" and a three sentence "about the author") and no real context for the book. There isn't even a title page or a copyright page - the whole thing has the feel of something thrown together as fast as possible.
That's not to say it looks haphazard; the comics are printed fine and there is no real problem with what is there, only with how much is not there. I think for her next book, Ms. Beaton should print at least twice as many comics as in this one, so it can feel more substantial. I'd also love to see more commentary - including more on the history. Most readers aren't going to have more than a passing familiarity - at best - with her subject matter. I certainly don't. Telling us more about some of these people and events would be nice. Some extra sketches would be great - perhaps practices for certain comics, or experiments with different ways of doing certain panels.
I strongly believe that a book of webcomics needs to give the reader something more than what they can get online - otherwise why buy it, besides supporting the author? [Achewood has been setting the bar on this count, incidentally] I'd like to think of this book as a subpar first draft from a comic that can do better, and I hope Kate Beaton and TopatoCo learn from Never Learn Anything from History.
Alas, I was disappointed. First, by the sheer brevity of it - only 68 pages, most with only one comic. There's absolutely no new drawings in the book, and most of the short notes after the comics are the same as the ones on the website (some adapted for the book format rather than a web format). There's no introduction (besides a two sentence "about this book" and a three sentence "about the author") and no real context for the book. There isn't even a title page or a copyright page - the whole thing has the feel of something thrown together as fast as possible.
That's not to say it looks haphazard; the comics are printed fine and there is no real problem with what is there, only with how much is not there. I think for her next book, Ms. Beaton should print at least twice as many comics as in this one, so it can feel more substantial. I'd also love to see more commentary - including more on the history. Most readers aren't going to have more than a passing familiarity - at best - with her subject matter. I certainly don't. Telling us more about some of these people and events would be nice. Some extra sketches would be great - perhaps practices for certain comics, or experiments with different ways of doing certain panels.
I strongly believe that a book of webcomics needs to give the reader something more than what they can get online - otherwise why buy it, besides supporting the author? [Achewood has been setting the bar on this count, incidentally] I'd like to think of this book as a subpar first draft from a comic that can do better, and I hope Kate Beaton and TopatoCo learn from Never Learn Anything from History.
Why do you always refer to her as Ms. Beaton? It comes across as vaguely creepy and overly formal, especially since as far as I remember you don't refer to Mr. North or Mr. Onstad or Mr. Hussie as such.
ReplyDelete(Or Mr. Munroe, for that matter, but being intentionally irreverent is understandable in that case given this blog's content.)
ReplyDeleteI met Beaton at a con and she is extremely cool to readers and random passerby alike. Her first book is a "striking out on her own" effort IMO and had better be followed by something more complete/archival/stuffed with extras.
ReplyDeleteAchewood has definitely only been setting the bar since they teamed with Dark Horse. I once ordered one of their independently put together collections and was pretty disappointed; just the strips, not even the alt-text, and the spine didn't even have a label.
ReplyDeleteBut, yes, Achewood's Dark Horse collections are nice. The giant PBF book is good too, and I'd assume, given that, that the Wondermark collections they put out are nice (though I haven't had a chance to pick them up yet).
I think she mentioned around the time it was published that she'd thrown away the drawings of most of the earlier comics, not expecting to be publishing them in a book at a later date.
ReplyDeleteOf course maybe that means she should have saved the whole lot for another book with more in it, but it explains some of the brevity, I guess.
NO COPYRIGHT PAGE?
ReplyDeleteBLASPHEMY
The whole Ms. Beaton thing needs to end, like the first Anon said. I'm always shaking with rage whenever I read about "Mr. Munroe", because there's something so grovelly and slightly worshipful about it.
ReplyDeleteIt is because Carl is secretly Randall and Randall would not call a female he barely knows something so informal(and therefore undignified) as "Kate."
ReplyDeleteHe called her Kate Beaton twice and Ms. Beaton once in a situation where it was entirely appropriate.
ReplyDeleteNo, it was still grovelly.
ReplyDelete$18 for a 68 page book is too much.
ReplyDeleteSpeaking of not learning anything, did you see how Australia made a redhead their president? I never trusted those stupid bastards, but it turns out they're worse than I thought. Randall better give them whatfor in his next comic.
ReplyDeletePrime Minister, dumbo.
ReplyDeletedo brits really hate redheads or is this some kind of culture-wide ironic joke deal?
ReplyDeletegingers don't have souls.
ReplyDeleteseriously i can't tell if you guys are just making ironic references to south park or whatever the equivalent to south park is over there or if you're being serious what's going oooooooooon
ReplyDeleteOur equivalent to South Park is tea. Our equivalent to most things is tea. Occasionally, biscuits are involved.
ReplyDeleteGinger biscuits?
ReplyDeleteCarl referred to one "Mr. North" in the review about the Dinosaur comics book. Just throwing that out there.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KVN_0qvuhhw
ReplyDelete"not even the alt-text"
ReplyDeleteI think I remember him saying something about wanting to keep that exclusive to the online version.
"do brits really hate redheads or is this some kind of culture-wide ironic joke deal?"
If you have the orange kind, expect an appropriate derogatory nickname and pariah-hood. It is possible (but not very likely) that you will form your own persona completely separate from this.
Most insults will concern your hair-colour e.g. "ginger twat."
Captcha: Biturd
ScottMcTony said...
ReplyDeleteIt is because Carl is secretly Randall and Randall would not call a female he barely knows something so informal(and therefore undignified) as "Kate."
You're right. He would call her "Megan".
wait, I used "Kate Beaton" once and "Ms. Beaton" once - so what are you talking about?
ReplyDeleteNot just this post, you seem to in general call her Ms. Beaton. But I'm too lazy to actually look through any old posts to prove this so I guess you win.
ReplyDeleteha ha, YES. to be fair, i like the name "beaton" more than I like the name "kate" (much like I like the name "randall" more than I like the name "munroe").
ReplyDeleteMoar liek "beat-off", amirite?
ReplyDeletezing
ReplyDelete