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Years in the making, Ivan Brunetti’s long-awaited SCHIZO #4 finally arrives as a full-color, oversized (tabloid) comic. The “bizarre” and “delusional” part of the definition of the word “schizophrenia” certainly fits Brunetti’s work, but because of his vivid imagination and shameless honesty about his own life, he may be America’s most inventive cartoonist. Surely, if American newspapers weren’t afraid of the country’s alleged Puritanical attitudes or getting some of that Ms. Jackson booby backlash, Brunetti would have his proper place on the daily comics page.
Each page is a separate short – essentially a single strip, but designed to resemble a sequence of daily comic strips. The strips run about 15 to 24 panels per story – on a single page. The subject matter varies. There are several one-page biographies of such diverse figures as painter Piet Mondrian, philosopher Soren Kierkegaard (a favorite of an old professor of mine), humorist James Thurber, and filmmaker Val Lewton (my favorite), among others. The front page of the book features of loving tribute to the late Charles Schulz that is part academic/part fanboy ramble.
But there’s plenty of humor. What would a Brunetti comic be without laughs and frank, but humorous depictions of sex acts. Once again personal subject matter varies: girlfriends and ex-girlfriends; creative impasses; instructional strips, and workplace follies. As good as the book is, the funniest thing has to be his account of a trip to New York where he accidentally steps on a bird and mortally wounds it (or so he thinks). It’s both hilarious and pathetic, but Brunetti knows how to turn his depression and misery into good comics. To me, that he cares about that bird is just a sign of his neurosis, but it’s a hoot to read. Maybe, he’s just a sad man, and I’m an evil dude.
Once again, humor comics are alive and well, and Schizo #4 is already on my short list of best comix of 2006.
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