Product Description

It's 1991 and Julie Doucet abruptly packs her bags and moves to New York City. Trouble follows: a jealous boyfriend, insecurity about her art, worsening epilepsy, and a tendency to self-medicate with booze and drugs. One of D&Q's backlist bestsellers comes back with a new cover design by the legendary cartoonist Julie Doucet. "Spunky and smart, Doucet stands out for her engaging combination of a cartoonish style and frank realism" - Kirkus Reviews

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #744148 in Books
• Published on: 2004-07-01
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 100 pages

Customer Reviews

Tiny Bites of the Big Apple
Visually, what is delightful about the autobiographical stories in this collection is the sheer compression in each postage stamp-like panel, a cubist showing of all the flotsam and jetsam of Julie's life....even the street scenes feel intimate. There is no such thing as a wide angle shot in Julie's work, so we only ever see tiny bites of the big apple. The ground/carpet is never empty, but littered with plastic toys, small dogs with blank eyes, crushed beer cans and last night's pizza. Every surface, depicted at an angle to the plane, helpfully offers its contents to us. The result is tiny panels teeming with the detritus of life.

It's not an especially glamorous life but we feel privileged to view it through Julie's perspective. Therapy is such an ugly word - especially used of women artists doing autobiographical work - because it implies a lack of discrimination and craft; but these stories are so obviously forged with such skill that it is safe to go on to assert that these stories fulfil a therapeutic function for Doucet.

Julie's not quite perfect English, the directly translated 'if you please's', the odd rhythms which don't quite work as colloquialisms - 'aha, these will be perfect for my sexy purpose' also add an immense amount of charm to her work.

However, against all that charm, I bet the boyfriend depicted in NY Story never got laid again in all his life....so is there an underlying, egotistic cruelty at the heart of this storytelling, despite the angelic face? Doucet's talent is such, that it was only after repeated readings of NYD that I even posed this question.

A great sampler of the "new comix"
Doucet is one of the most interesting auto-bio cartoonists currently working. What I like most about her work is the detached manner in which she portrays herself as a confused, mentally unstable innocent, when the fact that she is able to do this says that she is nothing of the sort.

Initially serialised in her comic Dirty Plotte, this collection also features numerous short strips and is an essential purchase for anyone interested in readable and touching cutting-edge comix.

refreshing humor and truth
Julie Doucet really has her pen on the pulse of experiences, particularly hers. This volume focuses on her adventures while living in the heart of New York City, and indeed makes for entertainment. The wonderful illustrations only compliment the story line, and makes the reader want to gobble up the book.