Orignally published in 2006, this was the final installment of the "Project Trilogy" which provided the (then) up-and-coming generation of cartoonists a great opportunity to work with traditional comics themes. Inititated by Project: Telstar, which dealt with science fiction themes with a focus on robots, and continued by Project: Superior, which had super heroics as its unifying theme, this time around, as the title suggests, the same generation of cartoonists is given a chance to tackle the romance comics genre. As with the first two anthologies, the works assembled here bear little semblance to their generic progentiors in the mainstream comics of yore, a guided tour of which we are given in the introductory essay by Bill Boichel (which is currently available online as a downloadable PDF, HERE ). "True" romance seems mostly a thing of the past in the stories that follow, which here primarily focus on -- at best -- snatching a moment of happiness with a fellow being. Many of the pieces center on unrequited love, heartbreak, romantic disaster, murder, mayhem and confusion. Sometimes it's played for laughs and sometimes for tears. Exceptions include Aaron Renier's "Reflectors and Rutabegas," which comes closest to being a traditional romance, and McGovern & Leandri's Dr. Id story, which employs a 1960s-Dr.-Strange-as-sex-therapist narrative that is certainly traditional in its form, if not in its content. As with all AdHouse Books, the production values are excellent and the quality of the artwork is uniformly high. Stand-outs for us include the contributions of Paul Rivoche, Hope Larson, Roger Petersen and Junko Mizuno, but doubtless every reader of this anthology will find their own favorites. And there's no way we can avoid singling out Robert Goodin's contribution: if there were an award for excellence in the service of perversion, this one would have the comics category all wrapped up. PLEASE NOTE: This is the limited edition hardcover edition that we are offering here. Limited to 500 individually numbered copies, it features front and back covers, as well as endpapers that consist of four apocryphal romance comic book covers featuring Afrodisiac, all by Pittsburgh's own megatalent, Jim Rugg!
NOW ON SPECIAL – need we say it? – while supplies last!
(LIMIT: ONE PER CUSTOMER)
Here's what the publisher, Uncivilized Book has to say:
Greek myth has inspired stories and art for millennia. And yet some stories and characters remain unfamiliar. First There Was Chaos explores the formless, primordial, and extraordinary forces that preceded the Olympian gods. These tales of Creation illustrate the creative process, giving cosmic form to the universal struggles of all creators.
Framing the narrative is the story of a poet struggling with his act of Creation, hoping to transform nothingness into beauty. His struggles parallel the tales of primordial beings, from the ambitions of formless Chaos to the birth of the first Olympian, Aphrodite.
Based on Hesiod's Theogony and other classic sources, First There Was Chaos synthesizes fragmentary myths into a compelling narrative accessible to a contemporary audience.
Joel Priddy is the creator of Pulpatoon: Pilgrimage (AdHouse Books) and The Gift of the Magi (HarperCollins). He has won several industry awards, including the Ignatz Award for Outstanding Debut, and has been nominated for several Eisner Awards, including Best Graphic Novel and Best Single Issue Comic. His work was included in The Best American Comics and The New York Times.
Hardcover, 232 pages, Color
And here's what a few of Priddy's friends and fans have to say:
"By adapting the very oldest of origin stories into 21st-century comics, Joel Priddy has jolted a forgotten text into life for modern readers. [First There Was Chaos] is inventive: handsomely wrought, and a darn fun read."
—Paul Karasik, How To Read Nancy
"This book exists on its own singular delightful frequency of sophisticated simplicity."
—Ben Acker, The Thrilling Adventure Hour
"The concept of evolution, of refinement, across generations from chaos to something perfect and good, which is at the heart of all Greek myth, is so apparent and central that this rings truer as an adaptation of myth than probably any comic I’ve ever read before."—Benito Cereno, Tales from the Bully Pulpit
“A formative tale about the act of creation in all forms — from the gods forming the universe out of the void of nothingness, down to the equally daunting prospect of the blank page for a poet's psyche — this is a fable of immense time and scope.”
—Colin West MacDonald, Linoleum
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