CO2 has formally announced the publication of
Ménage à BUGHOUSE, the 408-page collection of all my insect-jazz comics.
The book is a print-on-demand item--it will not be sold via the traditional book distribution system. The paperback edition is
available here for $24.99, and the hardcover edition is
available for $39.99.
As an artist, the publication of this volume is a dream realized. It takes the body of work at the center of my life and puts it all on one gorgeous place. Kudos, and big thanks, to Gerry Giovinco and Bill Cucinotta of CO2 for helping me bring this book into existence.
The work in
Ménage à Bughouse has previously been published as a trilogy of graphic novels from indie comix publisher
Top Shelf Productions. I love the Top Shelf series, each book is a complete jewel that stands on it's own. But you can't knock having all the
Bughouse material in one book, and the real bonus here is the larger format--it really features my brushwork to advantage.
I've been blabbing about the new book for a month already, and the fact that I'm going to tour the U.S. this month (July, 2012) to promote it. So, I'm going to put a little something extra in this post. Here, I'm reproducing the foreword to
Ménage à Bughouse, a pertinent bit of comics history explaining where the heck this book comes from:
The
Coming of Bughouse
I was
a bit feverish one October Monday some years back, so I called in
sick to my part-time graphics job. Immersed in a wobbly,
none-too-comfortable mode, I still found myself possessed of a
playful curiosity. Picking up my pencil and a fresh piece of bristol
paper, I determined to make one decent drawing before the day was
out.
For
inspiration, I pulled on some half-baked notions that had been piling
up in my mind's eye. About six months prior, I'd read the shocking
and lively autobiography of Miles Davis, the jazz trumpet giant of
the 20th
century. Miles was a supreme ranconteur, spinning his narrative
around the creative leaps of Charlie Parker, Dizzy Gillespie and many
others as well as himself. He was the brilliant bad boy at the center
of cutting-edge jazz, getting into hair-raising scrapes as a matter
of course.
It was
more than synchronicity that David Croenenberg's film adaptation of
William Burrough's Naked
Lunch appeared about the
same time. Croenenberg's film was a brilliant translation of the
ethos of Burroughs' work to film, underscored by a sublime Ornette
Coleman soundtrack. Actor Peter Weller hit just the right note as
Bill Lee, the stand in for Burroughs—dead pan hilarious and
desperate at once, all the while embracing his dark destiny.
My
fascination with the post-war NYC world that served as a back-drop to
the Be-Bop and Beat movements dovetailed perfectly with the mood I
wanted to capture in my “one decent drawing” that day. I was
pregnant with intent to create a story set in that milleau.
The
intent gathered strength and spilled over into the physical world. I
quickly sketched a tight little drawing of an insect saxophone player
in a pin-stripe suit. I inked the drawing and had my first image of
Jimmy Watts—the strutting saxophone genius, capable of explosive
innovations at the drop of a hat, yet crippled by addiction to a
substance known as “Bug Juice.”
Bughouse
burrows into the spirit of the artist, the innovator, the improvisor.
I put the nature of creativity itself under the microscope, while at
the same time I scrutinized the dynamics of addiction. Why are so
many great artists and musicians hopeless addicts? Are they simply
escaping pain, or do they seek the key to “the other”, the secret
font of knowledge, to put it to work in the service of art? I came to
understand that addicts are very good at fooling people, but their
supreme skill is self-delusion.
I dove
into Bughouse
head first, and was rewarded beyond my wildest dreams. I sought to
give a unique voice and perspective to each character, driving the
narrative forward by writing dialog that illuminated character. The
muse showed up, encouraged by my drive and focus, and happily handed
Bughouse
over to me.
The
first nine-page Bughouse
story appeared in Buzzard,
the
underground comics anthology, in the spring of 1993. At the time, I
was excited at the prospect of creating enough material to publish a
full 32-page comic book of Bughouse.
I
would have been flabbergasted, and actually ecstatic, to know that
the series would extend to six comic books, one graphic novel and one
graphic novella on my own Cat-Head imprint, and a trilogy of graphic
novels from Top Shelf Productions.
Now,
the entire work is here in your hands, inviting you to embark on a
singular adventure to the insect-noir, indigo-tinged world of
Bughouse.
Steve
Lafler
Oaxaca,
Mexico
Spring
2012
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Back here in real time, it's July 3, I'm starting my tour in 8 days. If I don't see you out there on the road, I hope you'll consider ordering Menage a Bughouse!
Photo of Steve Lafler by Jeff Charles
