Sunday, July 14, 2013

On the Coffee Table: Mr. Punch

Title: The Tragical Comedy or Comical Tragedy of Mr. Punch
Writer: Neil Gaiman
Artist: Dave McKean
Image via Amazon

Mr. Punch is a graphic novel by Neil Gaiman and Dave McKean, the duo who also created the film MirrorMask (review here).  The narrator recalls memories from his childhood, particularly those involving his grandfather who runs a failing seaside arcade.  Mysterious characters inhabit his grandfather's world: a woman who performs as a mermaid, a hunchback uncle and, most important to the theme of the tale, the Punch and Judy man.

Gaiman's story is interwoven with the truly disturbing puppet show, Punch and Judy.  Mr. Punch, essentially a serial killer, manages to evade death and punishment for his sins.  He is a right-hand puppet - never comes off during the performance.  The narrator's grandfather is not so lucky.

As I have written before (in my reviews for both MirrorMask and Coraline), I have mixed feelings about Neil Gaiman's work.  On one end is "The Doctor's Wife," the first of two episodes he has written for Doctor Who and also one of my very favorites.  The following exchange is one of the best in the entire run of the show, downright swoon-worthy:

Doctor (exasperated): You didn't always take me where I wanted to go.
Idris/TARDIS: No, but I always took you where you needed to go.

On the other end is Marvel 1602, a comic book series I didn't even blog about I was so disappointed.  The story started out quite promising: all the stars of the Marvel Universe turn up in Europe 1602.  If Gaiman had stuck with that concept through to the end, I probably would have enjoyed it just fine.  But, no!  There had to be a time travel/alternate universe storyline explaining how they got there and how they might get back to their proper temporal home.  To me, it was an all-just-a-dream cop-out - not good enough.

Mr. Punch falls somewhere in between.  The story has magical moments.  The narrator's description of how the crocodile puppet comes alive in his hand when he puts it on is wonderful.  The tale is more realistic than Gaiman's fantasy work, though McKean's art provides a dreamworld atmosphere.  The incorporation of the Punch and Judy is both clever and appropriately creepy. Mr. Punch is not, however, the sort of book that would lead me to seek out others by the same author. Take away the P&J references and it's just another story of a protagonist trying to make sense of his family's sinister past.

Dave McKean's artistic style is perhaps best described as collage, often incorporating drawn, painted and photographed elements in the same panel.  In Mr. Punch, the human characters are usually cartoons whereas the P&J puppets are photos.  The humans are, in fact, drawn to look like puppets which is savvy.  While McKean's style is certainly engaging, I think his art works better in film than it does in comics.  He's the real star of the show in MirrorMask.  While the art is critical to the tone of Mr. Punch, the images are frequently too busy for my tastes.

10 comments:

  1. I haven't read any of Gaiman's books. Is there any particular one which would be a good starting point?

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    1. His most famous comic book series is The Sandman. He's written novels, too, for both children and adults. Tony Laplume (mouldwarp.blogspot.com) and Andrew Leon (strangepegs.blogspot.com) both know his work a lot better than I do. Either could point you in a good direction.

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  2. Intriguing ideas. With a writer as prolific as Gaiman, there are bound to be hits and misses. I'll see if my library has this one.

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    1. True enough - and there's too much quality for me to give up on him completely.

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  3. This is one of Gaiman's that I have been wanting to read for a very long time (since it was released). Haven't gotten around to it yet, but I will!

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    1. I'd be interested to know your thoughts, Tony. I know you're a Sandman fan.

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  4. I enjoyed Good Omens, but this one sounds pretty creepy! Reminds me of the Ventriloquist and Scarface from Batman.

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    1. I don't know Good Omens. I shall add it to the list.

      To me, there is always something inherently creepy about Punch and Judy. Just last night, we watched a Midsomer Murders episode called "Destroying Angel" which also features the puppet show prominently - also creepy. I was actually grateful for having read the Gaiman book as I felt I understood the story better.

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  5. I have P&J, but I'm not sure I read it. I think I did, but it was a long time ago if I did. At any rate, P&J is far from Gaiman's best.
    You should check out The Graveyard Book.
    And, if you want comics by him, get the first Sandman volume.

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    1. Yeah, tried Sandman. Didn't care for it. I'll give The Graveyard Book a try, though. On the list it goes...

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