BOLLAND STRIPS | Bolland Brian | Brian Bolland Strips

BOLLAND STRIPS | Bolland Brian | Great artist and his strips...

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BOLLAND STRIPS

	BOLLAND STRIPS Bolland Brian Knockabout Comics, 2008 - 112 pages average customer review:based on 2 reviews view larger image
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In the late 70?s Brian Bolland left an indelible mark on many a comic fan with his work on 2000AD?s Judge Dredd. He attracted a US audience with Camelot 3000 and BatmanThe Killing Joke and remains a popular cover artist. This book contains The Actress and the Bishop with their odd relationship in the suburbs and Mr. Mamoulian.

Brian Bolland Strips

Brian Bolland is in on the jokes. He gets them, and he knows how to tell them to others. He understands what is funny and what is tragic. And he understands what is funny in what is tragic.

The book "Bolland Strips!" is a collection of his more controversial, and arguably less commercial artworks. The artworks constantly discuss topics that polite society does not discuss, such as; torture, prostitution, unrequited love, sexuality, and the absurd cruelty of some Biblical stories.

Bolland's art is the opposite of abstract. He does not intend to hide, soft focus, or airbrush the appearance of things. He does not hide unpleasant or difficult things from view. His work is about removing rose-colored glasses. As an artist, his intents appear to be to not only tell narratives, but to also reveal often unseen and unspoken things.

Many artists in the comic medium seek to idealize human proportions. Bolland appears to be more intent on drawing the human form as a means of revealing human emotions, frailties, and ethical conflicts.

The title "Bolland Strips!" has many likely intentional meanings (What would a burlesque show be without double entendres?). The book is a collection of his diverse and eclectic comic strips. The book is also an artistic exercise in stripping away cultural facades. And the book is an exercise in Mr. Bolland stripping off his own exteriors to reveal his more intimate, internal dialogues on issues that appear to have bothered him from time to time.

The book is not often farce. The book is, like Bolland's artistic style, often stark and plain meaning. Bolland may pull some punches in his introductory prose, but he respects his graphic arts and he does not waste anyone's time in the care and thought he puts into his visual communications.

The first series of strips is a visual exploration of the evidently British line of humor about "The Actress and The Bishop." It examines the juxtapositions of sexuality vs. supposed abstinence, temptations vs. controls, flirtations vs. chastisements, and seductions vs. strict forms and traditions. The images and dialogue regularly pair "opposites" in behavior and perspective to bring out wit inherent in common choices made in both conservative and liberal directions.

The second section of the book is full page sequential 8 to 12 cell cartoons. They are frank and dynamic examinations of universal patterns of attraction, sexual politics, self-perceptions, desire, rejection, and loneliness.

In the third section in the book, Bolland creates a twist on the classic tale of "The Princess and The Frog" that works as an allegory on so many levels. In particular, it works as an allegory for religions whose followers spend a great amount of time and energy waiting for their messiahs to return.

The fourth section in the book, "The Kapas," is the most traditional comic format in the book. It is a multi-page travel narrative that uses a detached, almost journalistic, tone to describe horrific and yet socially accepted public torture. Among many other things, the narrative implies the question: Is law, order, & control worthwhile if it is achieved by means of notorious & government-approved torture?

No one should read this review and infer they have a clear understanding of all this book contains. I have given singular interpretations of some of Bolland's possible intents. But as the comic art form is so capable of doing, especially in Bolland's capable hands, each story has many alternate allegorical interpretations.

The book concludes with a series of gorgeous narrative full page illustrations. These illustrations prominently compare feminine sexuality with harsh or absurd environments of war, fantasy, foreignness, or nationalism. To me, the illustrations beg the viewer to make comparative value judgments, asking questions like: Should we obey our nation's requests, asking us to kill our supposed enemies? How does propaganda use sexuality to glamorize state-sponsored violence? Might our time be better spent nurturing the beauty, kindness and fragility of our creative drives instead? In the illustrations, there is sometimes one character, breaking the illusion by looking straight at the viewer, straight at the camera, as if the illustration is aware it was created to be observed, judged, and considered. It is as if Bolland is letting us all in on the inside of the joke.

The book as a whole is an extraordinarily intelligent work of art. Brian Bolland cares about humanity, education, compassion, and expressing controversial views. He is a well-deserved multiple Eisner Award winning artist (at least 7 awards so far). This book, both written and drawn by Bolland, reveals some of the ideas and sensibilities behind his exquisite and thought-provoking renderings.

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Great artist and his strips...