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SOUND EFFECTS IN COMICS
SOUND EFFECTS IN COMICS
SPELLING SOUNDS Onomatopoeia. I remember this word being on my fourth grade spelling test. Who knows whether or not I actually got it right, but I do remember feeling its power. Six distinct syllables, a poem with steps, resolved with a mysterious clutch of open vowels. Onomatopoeia. It’s a term for a word that represents a sound. Onomatopoeias show up a lot in comics, though they’re most…
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Scheming about book design for the upcoming #100DemonDialogues Kickstarter by referencing some of my favorites.
This was a rediscovery for me and a really delightful one as well. I loved this book when I first read it in High School, then forgot about it until I saw it in a warehouse comic store in my city. I think there's a fair chance of nostalgia getting involved in this, but I still think its quite good. Far Arden is an incredibly pulpy romp, with a style of illustration and comedy that's very of a certain era of independent comics: highly cartoony, puny, perhaps childish, charming, think Jeffrey Brown, Matthew Loux. The ubiquitous hatching and the frequent use of a charming hand-lettered serif font elevate the simplistic style to something a little more appreciable, but definitely nothing mind-blowing, perfectly expressive, and good for presenting the various visual gags that make up much of the comic's humor. The real joy, the elevating element of Far Arden, which lifts it above a generic goofy fun time, is its simultaneously comedically complicated and genuinely heartfelt and interesting pulpy mystery plot. The ending of this comic genuinely hit me in the gut on my first read-through, in spite of all the elements of its earlier look.
4/5
Book Review: Far Arden by Kevin Cannon
Book Review: 7-25-2018 (Originally published on Goodreads)
It's very rare indeed - happening only a few times - when you read a book you were initially suspicious of because the work is not like what you've read before, and discover it's one of the best books of your life.
Far Arden is a book so simple and direct, so silly yet not all the time funny, who has the deepest respect for its characters.
We often say we love a book but is that really true?
I say we definitely respect a book, feel great affection for it, note how wise and joyful it was but love?
I don't think so, at least not very often.
Far Arden, I can say with clarity, is a book I truly love.
The other books I can say I love and mean it are Peter Pan, Grimm's Fairytales and The Sandman series of books and yes, I am comparing these to Far Arden.
There is almost a universal simplicity here, good for children in old bodies and new, and it's awe-inspiring and fanciful.
It tells the story of a man named Army Shanks, who wants to find a place, a new home called Far Arden. He is a seaman, a pirate but he is unlike most pirates in books, he has a soul and friends and he values both.
The story often goes from one strange place to another, in a world that is our own and yet shown entirely new, from a perspective of a wild and innocent imagination but with regards to the times we live in.
The book was written and illustrated by Kevin Cannon, an artist I never heard of before but will read more of. He doesn't use elaborate art to created pictures that are inappropriate for the story he is telling, just using exactly what he should. It is such a breath of fresh air from the huge in scope and colorful art of so many superhero or high storytelling productions of other comics.
Most, like me, will initially think they wasted their money when it comes to this book, but I was wrong - I like being proven wrong - and so will you because Far Arden is so weirdly, yet passionately told. The visual art here is not terrible because it is different. It's different because imaginations are different but the skill to make them is just as great as anything from Marvel or DC or anywhere.
Far Arden is thoughtful, grand storytelling of the past now made new. It was exactly what I needed when I didn't know I needed it.
Yes indeed, Far Arden is now one of my favorite books....and I love it.
Jim Morrison
Far Arden
And so I say to you
Imma sue the guy who created Far Arden for clearly stealing my identity.
From Far Arden. I am not sure why it makes me laugh so hard.
But this will not do
No, this will never do
These are continents and shores which
Beseech our understanding
Seldom have we been so slow
Seldom have we been so far
My only wish is to see
Far Arden again
