Joe Coleman

For those of you already familiar w/ Coleman's work, I won't have much new to say. I got this & the other Coleman bk because I made a short movie about Joe & Whitney Ward's wedding at the American Visionary Art Museum in Baltimore & Whitney & Joe liked the movie so Joe gave me his bks. That, in & of itself, is a sign of 2 qualities that I value highly: generosity & appreciation. But w/ the personal element aside, Coleman's work is utterly praiseworthy for its attn to detail & its willingness to look deeply into subjects too disturbing for many folks. Coleman once sd something like "Since I can't dig my way out of the hole I'm in, I'll dig my way all the way through it" & that sums it up neatly. This bk is his work about Christ. It's beautifully done by Gates of Heck publisher. The pages are printed in gold ink on black paper - all in Coleman's handwriting w/ borders inked in. The color illustrations are diecut & glued onto the pages - rather than printed on them directly. Coleman puts forth the theory that Mary was raped by a Roman solider & that Christ was the result. This certainly fits into my worldview better than the notion of a 'God'! The main reason I give this bk a 4 star rating instead of a 5 is that I'm just so damned sick of Christ! Other than that, this bk is of vital importance to all observers of the human condition.… (meer)

True crime stories illustrated by Joe Coleman, a man who bills himself as an "apocalyptic visionary painter." Seedy stories, shady characters, and images to sear the stories into your brain. My only complaint is that the book is so tiny; it could have easily been made coffee table book sized. The illustrations(too amazing to call comics), should be seen large-as-life. They're complex, intricate, and gorgeous, all while being slightly disturbing. I want to pore over them with a magnifying glass so I don't miss a stroke of his pen, or else I want to blow them up to poster size and scrutinize them that way. You could easily read this book a million times and see something new every time.

Recommended for anyone who enjoys R. Crumb, Harvey Pekar, true crime stories, and modern American "low-brow" art.… (meer)