Illuminati

Reading Buz sawyer volume 1, released by fantagraphics alongside with the scans of dragon lady press. Fantagraphics has been publishing Buz sawyer in volumes for some time now and there has been two books so far. The thing to be noted about the fantagraphics edition is that it contains the complete art for the first time. All the buz sawyer books so far only has the cropped versions.

Briefly on this, Roy crane's work was published in two formats mainly due to the paper deficiency of his era (world wars and such). This book has the extra art that has been cut off at the bottom of every frame but it has crappy background lining which was one of crane's specialty. The tone is changed, completely. The tone is light and the lines straight in the (dragonlady press)scans whereas in the book it is dark and not straight.

This about ruins it sometimes as the shading is all dark and wrong. But the only consolation is the complete art which has been missing in all the books published till now . I've only started reading now, but alongside with the scans, it does look like an ugly puppy. But having said that, Roy Crane's art is just gorgeous.

You can download the preview pdf here.

http://www.fantagraphics.com/images/stories/previews/buzsa1-preview.pdf



You can see more pics here.

http://hamilton-tim.pair.com/CUTBLEED/2011/05/05/buz-sawyer-by-roy-crane/



For more on this issue on art, you can read these reviews.

http://sekvenskonst.blogspot.com/2011/05/buz-sawyer-review.html



http://www.amazon.com/review/R3H6XMOKFIWG9O/ref=cm_cr_pr_perm?ie=UTF8&ASIN=1606994999&linkCode&nodeID&tag



PS: There is an informative intro by Jeet Heer regarding how Buz sawyer was started and it's impact on american people who were going through world war 2 at that time. It also touches upon the racist caricatures seen in Buz sawyer in the early years. This is one of the best comic articles I've read and it seems as though that this is going to be a continuing essay to be printed in all the forthcoming volumes, which is good as it gives an insight into things that would otherwise be a bit bothersome.