Michel Rabagliati comics

[mamalips]

Just a thread to talk about his Paul comics.

I don't think you need to start with a certain book. My first was his most recent, Paul at Home. I was blown away by his cartooning, pacing, storytelling, design, human emotion, the works. For me, he's a cartoonist's cartoonist. It's like he's perfected the craft or something.

Paul Joins The Scouts stopped me dead in my tracks.

I think he has a few books that still haven't been translated and I think he has a new one coming 2022.

Anyway, this is just an appreciation thread really and hopefully some new readers can discover his work

[Ian M]

I love his work, from the first time I saw it in one of the D&Q big books. I don't know if I have them all, but I have a fair bit of it.

He walks a fine line between sentimentality and emotional remove. 

I think the second half of Paul Moves Out is my favorite, just because it reminds me of a very nice time in my life: being young, living in my own space, enjoying having a partner. But all of them have their charms, and tackle a different era of his life.

[grubcubman]

Is it a coincidence that this just went up today? www.tcj.com/islands-in-the-stream-20-years-with-michel-rabagliatis-paul/

I've never read his work but am now pretty intrigued.

[mamalips]

Thanks for the link, what funny timing. But I don't know if I agree with the writer of the article. Paul at Home has lots of humour and isn't all doom and gloom. And the article only mentions right at the end how great Rabagliati's cartooning is and focuses more on doing a synopsis of each book. I read this article 2 days ago which was a little better in my opinion.

www.google.com/amp/s/amp.theguardian.com/books/2021/jan/05/paul-at-home-by-michel-rabagliati-review-sweet-sorrows

[teemcgee]

I've read Paul Has A Summer Job half a dozen times - for my taste the sentimentality is perfectly sweetened - real comfort cartooning.

I believe the French works that don't have corresponding English books actually do exist in English, just in anthologies - Paul Dans Le Metro is composed of short stories and I think those were printed in the self-tited anthology series Drawn & Quarterly used to do years ago. I think Paul a la campagne was also translated but just has been out of print for years.