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The Narrative Corpse

1995 comic book

Summary

1995 comic book

Field	Value
image	Narrative corpse.jpg
caption	The cover of the graphic novel The Narrative Corpse featuring the main character "Sticky". Artwork by Mark Beyer, Charles Burns, Paul Corio, Kim Deitch, Carol Lay, Gary Leib, David Mazzucchelli, Richard McGuire, Gary Panter, Kaz, Joe Sacco, David Sandlin, R. Sikoryak, and Art Spiegelman.
1shot	y
ongoing	y
format	8" x 16"
publisher	Raw Books / Gates of Heck
date	1995
issues	1
genre	Alternative
main_char_team	Sticky
(cameos) Sarge, The Checkered Demon, The Spirit, Akbar & Jeff, Griffy & Zippy the Pinhead
artists	Max Andersson, Peter Bagge, Lynda Barry, Mark Beyer, Chester Brown, M. K. Brown, Charles Burns, Max Cabanes, Daniel Clowes, Paul Corio, R. Crumb, Georganne Deen, Kim Deitch, Julie Doucet, Pascal Doury, Debbie Drechsler, Will Eisner, Mary Fleener, Drew Friedman, Scott Gillis, Justin Green, Bill Griffith, Matt Groening, Gilbert Hernandez, Jaime Hernandez, Kamagurka and Herr Seele, Ben Katchor, Kaz, Aline Kominsky-Crumb, Krystine Kryttre, Mark Landman, Carol Lay, Gary Leib, Jacques Loustal, Jason Lutes, Jay Lynch, Mariscal, Lorenzo Mattotti, David Mazzucchelli, Scott McCloud, Richard McGuire, Ever Meulen, José Muñoz, Thomas Ott, Gary Panter, J. Pirinen, Jayr Pulga, Bruno Richard, Jonathon Rosen, Joe Sacco, Richard Sala, David Sandlin, Savage Pencil, Gilbert Shelton, R. Sikoryak, Spain, Art Spiegelman, Carol Swain, Joost Swarte, Carol Tyler, Typex, Mort Walker, Chris Ware, G. Wasco, Willem, S. Clay Wilson, Jim Woodring, Mark Zingarelli
editors	Art Spiegelman & Robert Sikoryak
sort	Narrative Corpse, The

(cameos) Sarge, The Checkered Demon, The Spirit, Akbar & Jeff, Griffy & Zippy the Pinhead

The Narrative Corpse is a chain story, or comic jam, created by 69 all-star cartoonists in the early-to-mid 1990s. A graphic novel compilation of the result was published in 1995.

Edited by Art Spiegelman and Robert Sikoryak, The Narrative Corpse features contributions from some of the most notable cartoonists of its time from the worlds of underground comix, alternative comics, and European comics (as well as Will Eisner and Mort Walker).

The Narrative Corpse graphic novel, co-published by Gates of Heck and Raw Books in 1995, had a limited run of 9,500 copies. It was the winner of the 1996 Firecracker Alternative Book Award for Best Graphic Novel.

The concept of The Narrative Corpse was based on Le Cadavre Exquis (see exquisite corpse), a popular game played by André Breton and his surrealist friends to break free from the constraints of rational thought.

Story structure

The creative process was designed as follows: a cartoonist would begin the story with three black-and-white comic-book panels, starring an innocent stick figure named "Sticky". This cartoonist passes his or her three panels on to the next cartoonist, who continues the story in any manner he or she wants with three more panels. The next cartoonist receives only the previous cartoonists's part of the story, and so on.

Although the "story" oscillates without beginning or end, it can be said to start (after some creative editing by Spiegelman and Sikoryak) with the panels done by Drew Friedman, and end with the ones done by Richard McGuire.

Some contributors featured cameos by their own well-established characters (for example Mort Walker's Sarge, S. Clay Wilson's the Checkered Demon, Will Eisner's Spirit, Matt Groening's Akbar & Jeff, and Bill Griffith's Zippy the Pinhead). It is also of interest that background or guest characters seldom last more than three contributions in a row.

Publication history

The idea was first conceived of in May 1990, as a project for Raw magazine. To expedite the project, two strands were started simultaneously, one in New York City by project co-editor R. Sikoryak, the second in London by Savage Pencil. Nevertheless, the project kept growing (outliving RAW itself, which ceased publication in 1991) until it was forcibly brought to an end five years after its inception.

In order to bridge the two strands, R. Sikoryak's original opening panels were cut, although he later drew the oddly-shaped "splash panel" that now begins the narrative. Spiegelman himself drew the three panels that link Strand 1 to Strand 2 (bridging the contributions of Joe Sacco and Savage Pencil), while Richard McGuire was brought in to link Strand 2 back to Strand 1 (bridging the contributions of Carol Swain and Drew Friedman). Drew Friedman David Sandlin Ever Meulen Mariscal Joost Swarte Pascal Doury Georganne Deen Chris Ware Charles Burns Lorenzo Mattotti Justin Green Julie Doucet Kaz Gary Panter Daniel Clowes Jonathon Rosen Krystine Kryttre Jaime Hernandez Scott Gillis Jim Woodring Paul Corio Will Eisner Carol Tyler Max Cabanes Gilbert Shelton Scott McCloud Typex José Muñoz Matt Groening Joe Sacco

bridge: Art Spiegelman
Strand 2: Savage Pencil Jayr Pulga Mark Beyer Gilbert Hernandez Mary Fleener M. K. Brown David Mazzucchelli Mort Walker S. Clay Wilson Chester Brown Debbie Dreschler Mark Landman Jay Lynch Gary Leib Willem Carol Lay Jason Lutes Max Andersson J. Pirinen Peter Bagge G. Wasco Spain Carol Swain
bridge: Richard McGuire
not sure where they fit in creative sequence: Jaques Loustal Robert Crumb Aline Kominsky-Crumb Kamagurka & Herr Seele Thomas Ott Bruno Richard Kim Deitch Ben Katchor Lynda Barry Mark Zingarelli Richard Sala Bill Griffith --

Contributors

Max Andersson
Peter Bagge
Lynda Barry
Mark Beyer
Chester Brown
M. K. Brown
Charles Burns
Max Cabanes
Daniel Clowes
Paul Corio
R. Crumb
Georganne Deen
Kim Deitch
Julie Doucet
Pascal Doury
Debbie Drechsler
Will Eisner
Mary Fleener
Drew Friedman
Scott Gillis
Justin Green
Bill Griffith
Matt Groening
Gilbert Hernandez
Jaime Hernandez
Kamagurka and Herr Seele
Ben Katchor
Kaz
Aline Kominsky-Crumb
Krystine Kryttre
Mark Landman
Carol Lay
Gary Leib
Jacques Loustal
Jason Lutes
Jay Lynch
Mariscal
Lorenzo Mattotti
David Mazzucchelli
Scott McCloud
Richard McGuire
Ever Meulen
José Muñoz
Thomas Ott
Gary Panter
J. Pirinen
Jayr Pulga
Bruno Richard
Jonathon Rosen
Joe Sacco
Richard Sala
David Sandlin
Savage Pencil
Gilbert Shelton
R. Sikoryak
Spain
Art Spiegelman
Carol Swain
Joost Swarte
Carol Tyler
Typex
Mort Walker
Chris Ware
G. Wasco
Willem
S. Clay Wilson
Jim Woodring
Mark Zingarelli

The following is a list of contributors in the order their work appears in The Narrative Corpse:

R. Sikoryak Mark Beyer Gilbert Hernandez Mary Fleener M. K. Brown David Mazzucchelli Mort Walker S. Clay Wilson Chester Brown Debbie Dreschler Mark Landman Jay Lynch Gary Leib Willem Carol Lay Jason Lutes Max Andersson J. Pirinen Peter Bagge G. Wasco Spain Carol Swain Richard McGuire Drew Friedman David Sandlin Ever Meulen Mariscal Joost Swarte Pascal Doury Georgeanne Deen Chris Ware Charles Burns Lorenzo Mattotti Justin Green Julie Doucet Kaz Gary Panter Daniel Clowes Jonathon Rosen Krystine Kryttre Jaime Hernandez Scott Gillis Jim Woodring Paul Corio Will Eisner Carol Tyler Max Cabanes Gilbert Shelton Scott McCloud Typex José Muñoz Matt Groening Joe Sacco Art Spiegelman Savage Pencil Jaques Loustal Robert Crumb Aline Kominsky-Crumb Kamagurka & Herr Seele Thomas Ott Bruno Richard Kim Deitch Ben Katchor Lynda Barry Mark Zingarelli Richard Sala Bill Griffith Jayr Pulga

Contributors by genre

[[Alternative comics]]

Peter Bagge
Lynda Barry
Mark Beyer
Chester Brown
Charles Burns
Daniel Clowes
Paul Corio
Julie Doucet
Debbie Drechsler
Mary Fleener
Drew Friedman
Scott Gillis
Matt Groening
Los Bros Hernandez
Ben Katchor
Kaz
Krystine Kryttre
Mark Landman
Carol Lay
Gary Leib
Jason Lutes
David Mazzucchelli
Scott McCloud
Richard McGuire
Gary Panter
Savage Pencil
Jonathon Rosen
Joe Sacco
Richard Sala
David Sandlin
R. Sikoryak
Carol Swain
Carol Tyler
Chris Ware
Jim Woodring
Mark Zingarelli

[[Underground comix]]

M. K. Brown
Robert Crumb
Georganne Deen
Kim Deitch
Justin Green
Bill Griffith
Aline Kominsky-Crumb
Jay Lynch
Gilbert Shelton
Spain
Art Spiegelman
S. Clay Wilson

European cartoonists

Max Andersson
Max Cabanes
Pascal Doury
Kamagurka & Herr Seele
Jacques Loustal
Mariscal
Lorenzo Mattotti
Ever Meulen
José Antonio Muñoz
Thomas Ott
J. Pirinen
Jayr Pulga
Bruno Richard
Joost Swarte
Typex
G. Wasco
Willem

Other

Will Eisner
Mort Walker

References

"Book awards: Firecracker Alternative Book Award".
Boyd, Brian. [https://www.researchgate.net/publication/236763033_Art_and_Evolution_Spiegelman's_The_Narrative_Corpse "Art and Evolution: Spiegelman's The Narrative Corpse"], ''Philosophy and Literature'' 32(1):31-57 (April 2008).
Introduction, ''The Narrative Corpse'' (Raw Books/Gates of Heck, 1995).

Wikipedia Source

This article was imported from Wikipedia and is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Content has been adapted to SurfDoc format. Original contributors can be found on the article history page.

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