The Narrative Corpse

The Narrative Corpse

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
Publication information
Publisher Raw Books / Gates of Heck
Format 8" x 16"
Genre Alternative
Publication date 1995
Number of issues 1
Main character(s) Sticky
Creative team
Artist(s) Max Andersson, Peter Bagge, Lynda Barry, Mark Beyer, Chester Brown, M. K. Brown, Charles Burns, Max Cabanes, Daniel Clowes, Paul Corio, R. Crumb, Georgeanne 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
Editor(s) Art Spiegelman & Robert Sikoryak

The Narrative Corpse is a chain story, or comic jam, by 69 all-star cartoonists 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.

Edited by Art Spiegelman and Robert Sikoryak, The Narrative Corpse featured contributions from some of alternative comics' most notable creators, including Charles Burns, Chester Brown, Matt Groening, Peter Bagge, Los Bros Hernandez, Daniel Clowes, Chris Ware, Gary Panter, Julie Doucet, Scott McCloud, and Lynda Barry; as well as underground comix creators like Robert Crumb, Bill Griffith, Spain, Justin Green, Kim Deitch, Jay Lynch, Gilbert Shelton, S. Clay Wilson, and M. K. Brown. A number of European cartoonists contributed as well, including Joost Swarte, Thomas Ott, Max Andersson, José Antonio Muñoz, and Jacques Loustal.

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

The creative process

The idea was first conceived of in May 1990, as a project for Raw. An artist would begin the story with three black-and-white comic-book panels, starring an innocent stick figure named "Sticky." This artist passes his or her three panels on to the next artist, who continues the story in any manner he or she wants with three more panels. The next artist receives only this artist's part of the story, and so on.

To expedite the project, two strands were started simultaneously, one in New York City by 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 brought to an end five years after its inception. Spiegelman himself drew the three panels that linked Strand 1 to Strand 2 (bridging the contributions of Joe Sacco and Savage Pencil).[1]

Story structure

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:

It is also of interest that background or guest characters seldom last more than three contributions in a row. Some contributors featured cameos by their own characters (for example Mort Walker's Sarge, Will Eisner's Spirit, and Bill Griffith's Zippy the Pinhead).

References

  1. ↑ Boyd, Brian. "Art and Evolution: Spiegelman's The Narrative Corpse," Philosophy and Literature 32(1):31-57 (April 2008).

External links

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