Review by Graham Johnstone
As a Cartoonist is an intriguing title for this 2022 Noah Van Sciver collection, but is it over-claiming?
Well, it’s not a guidebook for cartoonists (here meaning a comics writer-artist), instead being a collection of various short comics and sketches, mainly from his Blammo anthology. However, most pieces offer some perspective on the medium, whether exploring his inspirations and methods, or documenting his fantastically glamorous (not) life… As a Cartoonist.
The title page features a skull and crossed drawing implements, above tick boxes for ‘Comics Saved My Life’, and ‘Comics Will Kill Me’. Both boxes are ticked. It’s a smart introduction to the author’s approach: amusing, self-effacing, ironic, yet nevertheless poignant.
He’s been prolific and varied over a fifteen year career beforehand, and he’s previously mused on his cartoonist life and work in his sketchbooks/journals, and semi-autobiographical trilogy about ‘undiscovered genius’, Fante Bukowski. So he’s got the breadth of experience and depth of critical (self) analysis to make this interesting.
It opens with portraits, in his distinctive, charming, style, of famous cartoonists. This cheekily includes ‘Noah Van Sciver’ (resplendent in mock, period gravitas), and an unnamed ’19th Century Cartoonist’. The latter is also the subject of newspaper comic pages in appropriate period style. The book closes with Van Sciver’s sketches of comics that inspired him, from century-old newspaper strips, to the mere half-century old phenomenon of autobiographical comics. Some are obvious, like (Gabrielle Bell‘s similarly low-key diary comics), and others less obvious, like Art Spiegelman’s experimental/autobiographical shorts. Between those bookends, are a range of fascinating takes on the history, methodology and real-life experience of cartooning.
There are too many separate items to list here or, indeed, in a contents page. Those contents are not just many but varied, from short musings on the medium, to diary pages, and more structured memoir pieces. Some longer stories draw on the less visible aspects of a cartoonist’s work – teaching classes, attending a comics festival, and undertaking a writing fellowship. Several stories draw on the life that made him a cartoonist, including ‘Mellow Mutt’, the titular toy dinosaur fuelling a boy’s imagined adventures. Noah’s own books and characters have welcome cameos, his graphic novel debut The Hypo in a memory of finding a copy in a bargain bin, and Saint Cole, including another (real life) cartoonist’s reaction: “SNORE”.
Other autobiographical comics are further from the craft of cartooning, covering his parents, siblings, and newborn son. Cartoonists are inevitably less public figures than actors or pop-stars, so there’s a fascination in this behind-the-scenes detail. Anyway, even in the family life, comics encroach, with a pep-talk/put-down from his (illustrator turned ‘influencer’) brother Ethan, and another brother embarrassing Noah at his exhibition launch. As a Cartoonist is packed with fresh, and fascinating takes on Van Sciver’s self-styled life-saving/killing craft.
Van Sciver is an engaging narrator and guide, conveying a genuine fascination with everything going on around him. He’s also a thoughtful observer/recorder, happy to include his own mis-steps, so ensuring a fascinating professional and personal memoir. He treads the fine line between being self-effacing and pitying, noting that a disappointing book tour still offered a trip to faraway Europe. His art is similarly understated, far from, say, his brother Ethan’s overblown bling, but confidently delivering everything he wants to say.
Anyone interested in comics or life writing should find this enjoyable, honest, and illuminating.
