Carol Swain is one of our best cartoonists and one who seems a little under-appreciated to me. Her art has ploughed it’s own distinctive furrow whilst elements of her artistry and design at times recall greats such as Jose Munoz and Lorenzo Mattotti. She isn’t the most productive of cartoonists but what appears almost always bears a distinct stamp of quality. It seems her next book, Giraffes in my Hair, is coming from Fantagraphics (her usual publishers) in August and I can’t wait.
(cover to Giraffes in my Hair – dig those sideburns! – by Bruce Paley and Carol Swain, published Fantagraphics)
It’s a collaboration with her husband Bruce Paley where she illustrates his early adult years growing up as part of the Rock ‘n’ Roll generation who emerged from the hippie summer of love in 1967. There are a few pages knocking about the net, many from the French edition coming in November, showing us Carol’s interpretations of such notable figures as Allen Ginsberg. Should be a stunner.
June 11th, 2009 at 3:38 pm
Just bumped into Carol today – and now I’m looking forward to this too!
Just tracking down Food Boy…
June 28th, 2009 at 1:10 am
Look for CROSSING THE EMPTY QUARTER AND OTHER STORIES, Carol’s first career-spanning short story collection, coming out from Dark Horse Comics in Winter 2009! Hardcover! 200 pages! Color section!
-Carol’s Dark Horse editor
July 2nd, 2009 at 9:23 pm
Sorry about the raw plug, but I’m just glad to see someone so psyched to “find” Carol’s work. You’re in for a treat. Check out the COMICS JOURNAL SPECIALS, because Carol has some color work there. Fantagraphics distributes that, and they published her graphic novels FOODBOY and INVASION OF THE MIND SAPPERS — and they may still have some back issues for order of her excellent WAY OUT STRIPS comics — which have a few longer, serialized stories — and also some of the short short pieces of hers that just leave you feeling jazzed and weird at the same time — which is why I love her work.