Some of you may be interested in Bryan Talbot's new graphic novel,
Alice in Sunderland. It's an immense work of 320 pages, which has taken him some five years to complete (maybe longer). It's rare these days, I believe, to find a work in which so much time and attention to detail has been invested.
So how to describe the book? Well, there are two main themes; Lewis Carroll's classic
Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and
Through the Looking Glass and the history of Sunderland, Bryan Talbot's home town. It's also a journey through popular culture which evokes everything from Henry V to Tintin. George Formby and Sid James are there as well as the Beatles, Hogarth and Lord Haw Haw. It's a difficult work to try to explain, you just have to see it for yourself!
Some stories, such as
The Legend of the Lambton Worm as well as a retelling of
Jabberwocky are drawn in black and white, whilst others appear in colour. Bryan Talbot reworked many of his original drawings on computer using filters, adding collages of scanned images of maps, book covers and photographs. Some of the pages have over 200 layers.
Pages 192-193 will be of interest to Tintinologists because Bryan pays tribute to our bequiffed hero in a marvelous pastiche. That's one of the reasons why I am mentioning it! The other reason is that The Cartoon Museum in London is hosting an exhibition of work from the book and we need to get people down there!
The exhibition focuses on many of the stories and sequences and consists largely of the original artwork. The Tintin pages are there of course, in black and white and colour. So, if you live, or happen to just
be in London, please come down and check it out! We also have signed copies of the book (and more) in the shop. The book is priced at £16.99.
April 5th-1st July at
The London Cartoon Museum.
Alice in Sunderland: A Labyrinth of Dreams: An exhibition of original artwork from the graphic novel by Bryan Talbot. Open: Tues - Sat 10.30- 5.30; Sun 12 - 5.30 Admission: Adults £3, Concessions £2, Students and Under 18s Free. At: 35 Little Russell St, London WC1A 2HH, tel 020 7580 8155: