Bill Sienkiewicz "REVOLUTION"

 The arrival of Bill Sienkiewicz’s “Revolution” has been cause for much personal celebration and many declarations. I am a committed and constant follower and admirer of his art. I remember him from his early “Neal Adams Clone Days” and still seeing something of a potential and particular originality in what he was doing. Many comic book artists of the period were doing Adams; he was the standard of the times, so Sienkiewicz was hardly alone in following the Adams example.  At the outset Bill Sienkiewicz had the distinction of being the best of the Adams’ influenced. Even in that he stood out. He captured the broad strokes and the nuances along with the imagination and innovation that made Neal Adams famous. Bill Sienkiewicz would ultimately come into his on with a vengeance when; as he describes in “Revolution” stops attempting to emulate someone else and becomes himself. He always wanted to experiment, explore and in his own way influence the world. He has done that in many ways and in the process influenced many others as he entertains and inspires while daring to express himself in what many considered a limited medium.

                                                                                     

I more or less initially looked at this treasure of a book in two extended sessions. The opening ten pages spoke more than many enclypedic collections of other art and artists. Then I followed with the reading of the heart felt, precisely intriguing, witty and decisively cunning introduction by Neil Gaiman. The two; Gaiman and Sienkiewicz have collaborated successfully together in the past. They are equally noted for their experimental risks, daring natures and contributions as talents. That in turn was enough for me to absorb on one late evening after my copy arrived.

Returning to and then reading the informative and insightful Ben Davis essay and the compelling interview by Churl R. Kim I felt even more enamored of what could be described as the modest and uniquely American Mystique of Sienkiewicz’s persona.  Both essay and interview were further illuminated with yet more beautifully executed fine art influenced illustrations. I was in something of an intellectual and artistic bliss.

Finally I decided to take in the nearly one hundred fifty color and black & white plates of the expressive works; water-colors, acrylic, collage, mixed-medium and pen & ink works of pure genius. Here; I took a cue from Neil Gaiman. He detailed in the introduction that when working with Sienkiewicz he had taken the drawings sent to him for a Sandman story and played with them. Gaiman deviated from the sequence of his original narrative and essentially reversed and mixed the story sequence images and events. This established the need for an almost complete re-write for the material Gaiman had previously plotted. This option took him into uncharted and magnificent new places in his own uniquely personal imaginative spaces.   

I decided on following Gaiman’s lead in viewing  the remainder of the book starting from the last plate and reviewing them in reverse.  The material consisted of Jimi Hendrix, The New Mutants, Stray Toasters, Dare Devil and Elektra; along with pages from his sketch book and fine art renderings all generously offered. This came together into something thrilling, challenging, provocative and entertaining. I found myself touched and as well moved. Ultimately there was a sense of certainty and complexity; in the best way, a personal restoration of significant satisfaction. 

Bill Sienkiewicz Quotes

“I made a decision to love and respect comics as a medium. I believed it was a medium that could do anything.”

“I pursue the emotional truth of something as opposed to simply the visual truth.”

“We are all an evolving combination of all the things we experience. We are an end result of our influences, subconscious or otherwise.”

“If my work influences or touches other people scares them, makes them uncomfortable or brings them joy, it’s a method of communication.”

“At one point everything is brand new, but with time the new wave becomes the old guard.”

“Art is an ongoing and never ending process…you’re not done. You’re never done.”

"BUSTER SCRUGGS" the Ballad of...

Like the dedicated and creative; cultured and persistent prospectors they are; the Coen Brothers have struck cinematic gold again. Their western anthology film “The Ballad of Buster Scruggs” is amazingly, aggressively and adventurously awesome. You may have heard about it, are curious about or have already seen it. If you are among the “have-not-seens”   category do by all means see it. You will be thrilled, moved, outraged, perplexed and wonderfully entertained.

The brothers; Ethan and Joel are famous for completely upsetting just about every film trope and norm with their unusual take on life and movie traditions. They have essentially created their own film language layered with a gusto and panisch that is seldom equaled. Maybe the likes of Quentin Turrintino, Jack Jarmush or Spike Lee are in the Coen’s league but it is a small club. Their’s is in reality a very small club. 

“The Ballad of Buster Scruggs” is an anthology film featuring six segments. The segments are only connected by the fact that that are all of the western genre. These short narratives vary in length and tone. Written over a period of twenty five years they stand alone in nature with no connecting thread. What the brothers have done with the first segment while introducing the character of Buster Scruggs begins with a most unique concept. Where Movie and TV Westerns have always reflected the tastes, morality and spirit of their times or decade of creation things are mixed up with “Buster Scruggs.”  A singing cowboy in the tone of a Gene Autry or Roy Rogers finds himself in a world where every other character is like the inhabitants of a Sergio Leone “Spaghetti Western.” What follows is pure delightful insanity, comedy and ridiculous drama as the segment twists turns and unfolds in totally unexpected ways.  Little here is close to what might originally be expected. 

Another standout segment features a story-teller of a talent that is to marvel in any venue or time. He is polished, intelligent, dignified and charismatic. He is also armless and legless. An unscrupulous and grungy oaf of a man played by an almost unrecnozible Liam Neeson is carting the vocal performer around frontier towns for audiences that are as enthralled as they are dwindling. Recitations by Shakespeare, Lincoln and the likes of Oscar Wilde are among the performer’s repertoire. The two are completely dependent on each other’s abilities. Where does such an uncommonly matched couple come from and where can they go with such an arrangement.

All of the segments to a degree center on death or at least to death’s fruition. The irony, the finality and the inevitability of it all are told in a multitude of fashions including: shoot outs, suicides, murders, ambushes, lynching’s and the resolve of it all by “The Harvesters of Souls.” 

Another interesting element brilliantly and lovingly incorporated into the visuals is a physical story book. The hardcover book appears to be a well-worn published edition of the book “The Ballad of Buster Scruggs” that alludes to what might have been their original printed format. It is an effective and cunning device. Each segment begins with a lush illustration from the books pages and an interesting title that hints at the given narrative without giving away any real knowledge to the following story. I take this as a nod to another formidable but less controversial film maker of old; Walt Disney and his early films. 

There is much here to treasure and enjoy. They are the always inventive Brothers Coen…Ethan and Joel…the Best of the Best.  

 

                                                 

"The Ballad of Buster Scruggs" 

 Press Conference with Joel & Ethan Coen