as a y0ung COupIe. something which helps her gain perspective on her own Situation.
The real skill in The World Below is in the subtle interweaVing of disparate lives through the years and the gradual emergence of a new self- awareness in the narrator that never seems heavy- handed or laboured. On this showing, Miller is a wonderfully mature writer with both delicate precision and real literary style at her fingertips. (DOug Johnstone)
FAMILY DRAMA FRANK RONAN Home (Sceptre $214.99) 0...
franL 1‘”an
E
HEM
If you are filled with dread at the thought of a novel about a little boy growing up on a hippie commune and all that comes with such territory — bad acid trips and wafer about peace and love — fear not. Frank Ronan's hero. young Coorg, is a lad brirnful of dry Irish Wit and wisdom beyond his years.
Born into the commune and proclaimed the new messiah (until Marc Bolan comes along to usurp him). Coorg's surroundings are filled with bearded men. brown rice and free love. Until his grandparents turn up to abduct him back to Ireland, rename him Joseph and set about turning him into a good Catholic. that is.
We identify completely with Coorg as he's pulled from one religion to the next. searching for the truth and a sense of self. From his Holy Grail—seeking mother to his alcoholic auntie. the array of conflicting characters add to the mayhem and give Ronan a free hand to create a serious of hilarious and touching scenarios.
Definitely a trip worth taking. (Louisa Pearson)
SPOOF AUTOBIOGRAPHY ART MATHEWS Well-Remembered Days (Pan $36.99) 0...
IAIHER TED
Eoin O'Ceallaigh is a thorn in the side of cultural progreSSion. Writer. poet. civil servant. playwright. commentator. vicious Irish nationalist. teetotaller and anti- Protestant. he is also the creation of Father Ted and Big Train writer Arthur Mathews.
This is the old man's life story as told to Mathews. a tale of the 20th century lived with the express intent of championing all things traditional. We follow this self-righteous BCJII through such highlights (with pompous footnotes) as hiding sausages for the rebel fighter Michael Collins. arranging a papal visit and forming the League Of The Mother Of God Against Sin. the organisation that kept 18/7 and contemporary dance out of Ireland for decades.
Some books are funny ha ha. others are laugh out loud funny; this is the latter. Successfully parodying everything from James Joyce to Flann O'Brien. Well- Remembered Days is a colourful corrective to the 'Oirish' craic myth. (Paul Dale)
ART PASTICHE USAN
HERBERT
The Cats Gallery Of Western Art (Thames & Hudson $29.95) COO
The first question which crosses your mind when pawing your way through this weird collection of iconic artworks; With cats replacing humans (and in a nice twist, rodents
5%:
a"; ‘s‘
m (m (fit/(($11 of I\ ( SH 11),: fit
replacing felines) has to be: is it a wind-up?
Apparently not. as Susan Herbert studied at Ruskin, worked for English National Opera and has previously published books (with the very serious Thames & Hudson) on Shakespeare Cats and Pre-Rc’iphae/i'te Cats. So. this is clearly a high- minded venture. But wait: the hysterical foreword is scripted by one Professor Marmalade Katzenboge.
Although this breed of karaoke culture is simple to slaughter. there is no doubt that Susan Herbert is really. really good at painting. She may be nothing more than a copycat but her interpretations of the Mona Lisa. The Bar At The Fol/es- Be/‘geEre. van Gogh's Self-Portrait and The Birth Of Venus are all spot-on and highly amusing.
This gallery may not be the cat's pyjamas but neither does it deserve to be drowned at birth. (Brian Donaldson)
ALSO PUBLISHED
Joanne Harris Coast/iners (Doubleday I? 72.99) Choco/at author with island community drama. David Mamet Three Uses Of The Knife (ft/fethuen E 72.99) Analysing the question: what makes good drama?
Jeremy Sheldon The Comfort Zone (Jonathan Cape 5.? It); Contemporary drama abetit food. love. football. computers and masturbation.
Emma McLaughlin & Nicola Kraus T'ie Nanny Diaries: A Novel (Penguin PG. 95)) Modern day Mary Poppins set in Manhattan.
Iceberg Slim Pimp (Ct’tnongate £15.99) Brutal hustler's world reissued.
Comics
I Comics@list.co.uk
CRIME
100 BULLETS: HANG UP ON THE HANG LOW Brian Azzarello & Eduardo Risso (Titan) 0...
Revenge can be so sweet but invariany in crime fiction. it's a mess from amI’)ivaIent start to bloody finish. Writer Brian Azzarello understands this only too well and so. along with his street saxmy illustrator Eduardo Risso. he's created the mysterious character of Agent Graves.
Striking Faustian bargains With marginalised members of society. Graves gives them a gun and one hundred bullets of untraceable ammunition With which to enact their own v<~>ngeanct~1 Graves. of cOurse. has his own angle and in this. the third collected volume in the series. he brings a father and son together in an explosive and bitter crime caper. Invariany mean and low-down. 100 Bullets will blow you away iCatherine Bromleyi
SCIENCE FICTION TOMORROW STORIES BOOK 1
Alan Moore & various (ABC) 0..
More ABC Output from the prodigious pen of everyone's favourite comic writing druid Alan Moore. This tongue—in- cheek sci-fi anthology features a whole host of eccentric characters that vary in guali y as much as in style.
Greyshirt is a fantastic
A LAD. .03 E
pastiche of Spirit-era (’Ietectiyes done with affection and wit: Jack B. Quick is a brilliantly oft~ the-cuff strip concerning a boy genius' adventures in small town America. But on the downside we have the over ‘.'./()T(,I\,’. misogynistic leanings of The Cobweb. superhero piss-take The Firs‘. American and the simply Crap Splash Brannigar‘. So a mixed bag. which when it hits the mark is excellent: unfortunately
the rubbish outweighs the
class. iHenry Northmorei
COMPANION
TALES OF TERROR!
Fred von Bernewitz & Grant Geissman (Fantagraphics Gemstonei COO
TALES OF
Back in the IOSOs American comics i.)ublisher EC transformed the medium with smartly drawn and scripted genre titles such as Weird Science. Crime Suspense Stories and Ti/vo-Fisted Tales (Ray Bradbury's career began at EC). But With the company's evocativer titled. extremer explicit horror comics. Tales from The Crypt. The Haunt Of Fear etc. EC
Comics
scandalised the medium. Or rather psychologist Frederic Wertham did zvith the publication of his book. Seduction Of The Innocent. a sensationalist attack linking comics and Juvenile delinquency. A senate SLII)C()IT‘.II‘IIICC investigation follon'xed and in 195:") EC was forced to clean up its act. Wanna know more? Then check out thzs updated (I()ll‘.[)£tlll()ll xix/Inch includes artist IIIIOI". iews. a cover galleiy. a lost EEC tale and subcommittee testimony. (Miles Fielderi
SI ACKI R SNAPSI IOIS URBAN HIPSTER Greg Stump & David Lasky iAIteri‘atwei
O.
'
I .
fill II
It only takes a handful of cynical, confused. world-- weaiy {WORD/SUIT10”)”th to rock up and tickle the collected conscience and then everyone thinks they can do it. Pete Bagge's Hate and Dan Clowes' Ghost I'-/or/d are the two most obyious Victims of inkwell robbery here: guys in bands and two bitchy giris. Ihe latter are such a ripoff they may as \.'.'eII haxe been called Enid and Rebecca.
These two-page. no- narrative tales fail to strike a chord. and the confused sub- Hernandes brothers sketching doesn't inspire either. Almost as tedious as that Australian guy you used to work beside in that cool coffees top who was going to Goa to 'find himself". Ihis is lust. like. soooo Ia'ne. (Doofus Robertson)
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Fast and lose: 100 Bullets
.‘ THE LIST 109