Thanks to Top Shelf for sending me this veritable holy grail of comics: Eddie Campbell’s “Alec” omnibus, which collects the lifetime autobiographical output of the Australia-based comic artist.
Eddie Campbell is known elsewhere as the artist on Alan Moore’s “From Hell,” as well as his own “Bacchus” series among other works. His sketchbook-y style is instantly recognizable to anybody who has encountered him. But for my money, his autobiographical comics—collected here—are his best work. I’ve been a massive fan since I discovered his comics as a teenager.
The work collected here covers much of Campbell’s life, centering on his tender, often hilarious looks at life, art, fatherhood, Australia and everything else that crosses his path. This is a life well-documented and examined in comics form, a great contribution to not only the field of comics, but also of the art of the memoir itself.
At 638 pages, this is a massively substantial work—in all senses. The book collects nine previously published “Alec” graphic novels, and adds a tenth, unique work, also titled “The Years Have Pants,” to the end. This is great stuff—“The Dance of Lifey Death” is a particular favorite, and has been since I bought it from Mr. Campbell himself at his booth at the San Diego Comic Con about ten years ago or so. That’s an incredibly touching vignette on life, time and sex that you won’t find paralleled anywhere else in the comics medium.
Campbell’s work has a certain “life directly documented on the page, through a wise and funny filter” quality to it that is absent from a lot of autobiographical comics work. This is the work of a mature, fully realized artist, the work of a grown man who has raised a family and been through the trials and tribulations of life and documented them with a sly grin and twinkle in the eye. That’s a quality that’s rare in autobiographical comics (or comics at all)—a lot of artists working in the field seem to filter their experiences through aloof irony or a kind of pretended, forced perspective. Consequently, they often feel alienated from their work—and alienate the reader. Not so with Eddie Campbell. Reading “Alec” is like spending a day drinking with a cool uncle and getting some much-needed insight on life.
Can’t recommend this one enough. A major achievement in many fields.
(ALEC: The Years Have Pants (A Life-Size Omnibus))
