A Perfect Stranger: Six Comics by GUY DELISLE!
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- čas přidán 23. 07. 2024
- Through Shenzen, Pyongyang, Burma Chronicles, Jerusalem, Hostage, and Factory Summers, writer-artist Guy Delisle has charted a path through foreignness, outsiderness, and dislocation in hilarious and heartbreaking ways. In this episode, I look at these six comics to trace the history of this 'perfect stranger' and his bemused, confused, irate, and kind view of the world at large.
Buy these books here (affiliate links)
Shenzen: A Travelogue from China amzn.to/3Jvex3Q
Pyongyang: A Journey in North Korea amzn.to/3JtYbIB
Burma Chronicles amzn.to/3YLrpXH
Jerusalem: Chronicles from the Holy City amzn.to/3YzKSe0
Hostage amzn.to/3YLrv1v
Factory Summers amzn.to/3ZDRnxD - Zábava
Very good analysis of mr. Guy Delisle work. As a favorite of mine it’s always a pleasure to go through part of his most significant books. A clear example of art style fitting the narrative almost perfectly. Wishing you a very a pleasant and restful brake. Cheers.
Thank you! And i completely agree - the differences between the books are very deliberate, and matched to both the story he wants to tell and to his developing prowess!
About time!!!
Haha, i had to wait for Hostage first, then Factory Summers. If Olympic Winners hadn't been fiction, this video would have been even more delayed! 😁
@@ftloc World Record Holders dammit. And I have yet to pick up that and Factory Summers.
@@DIZZYDAYS1 haha of course. I just saw it ha become available. Placed the order, and left town.
Factory Summers gets, as I said, better every day in my memory!
I picked up Factory Summers based on your recommendation and loved it. I really enjoy autobio comics and Guy hit all the notes for me. Do you read any Chester Brown? I don't remember if you've mentioned him before. The Playboy is a good jumping on point. Another great video and more books to add to my list! Thank you for the quality and thoughtfulness of your videos. I live in a smallish town with almost zero comics community. I lean heavily on CZcams to be the community I desire. You and your channel is such a huge part of that.
Thank you so much - that means so much to me, you saying that about the community and how we share the things we love. That is truly the wondrous thing about this platform and the internet in general: the overcoming of distance and remoteness, even isolation. A good connection to the works of Delisle! 😁
I really like the autobiographical works of Brown that i have read - The Playboy and I never Liked You (and am i forgetting a third?) as well as the biographical Louis Riel. I need to revisit Ed the Happy Clown as I don't think I appreciated it when I read it.
Have you read any Jeffery Brown comics? His sweet and awkward autobiographies are great, in my view!
Brilliant video! I’ve read all of his travelogues and I love his work, and it always seems a shame that there isn’t enough people talking about him online. Good job!
Thank you so much, and I am thrilled that you enjoyed this video. I completely agree with you - I wish more people talked about his books!
Incredibly underrated comic artist ! I'm so glad to see him featured on your channel.
He's one of my favourites, and I'm so glad you enjoyed the video!
Thanks for the video! I have like 4 of his books that have been on the to-read like for like a year. Maybe this is the kick in the butt that I need!
I would love to know what, if any, results of the kick were! 😁
@@ftloc haha so far none but will keep you updated. Trying to get through the "Original Writer's" Miracleman run with variable results.
Good day. You are correct about the artwork, which is why the writing would be important for me to pick up anything by Guy Delisle. "Hostage" is likely the first book I'd read by him after listening to your fascinating overview of his work. Glad you did this.
Greetings sir! Thank you for your kind words, and i think you'll enjoy and appreciate the humaneness that Delisle beings to his comedy, and the drama of Hostage is something I'd love to get your insights on!
I have read Pyongyang and although I liked it I never went any deep into Delisle's catalog. Thank you for the motivation to go further.
Glad to supply a nudge 😁
Do you have one that you think you'll try as your second Delisle?
Hey hey hey, fantastic overview of some of Guy Delisle's body of work here :)
I've only read Factory Summers so far, but very keen on having a look at, well, all of the books you mentioned in this video, they all seem to have their own flavor and identity, which are wonderfully tied together by the creator himself.
Also, before I go I just have to give you mad kudos for the coolest Spider-Man shirt ever, low key and understated, but solid :)
Hope you've had a good week, talk to you later!
I'd love to know what you think of the nonfiction of Delisle. I think sometimes he gets classified as a 'funny' writer only and i think - even without Hostage - that's definitely only one part of his storytelling style.
I don't remember - did you ever tell me what you thought of Factory Summers?
What a deep & beautiful expose on 6 of Mr Guy Delisle's works. Thank you. You have left me completely curious to read the books myself.
Thank you so much! If you do check any of these books out, I'd love to know what you think!
@@ftloc thank you.. It is good to read your words! First I must renew my library card. ❤️
I’ve only just ordered my first book by Delise, the burma chronicles. Honestly, I just did it on a whim but now I’m looking forward to when it arrives.
I'd love to know what you think of it when you are done!
@@ftlocwell, my order of Burma chronicles still hasn’t arrived but I picked up and read factory summers in the interim
A video to make up for a week long absence. Appreciated. As always great video.
Thank you so much, glad you enjoyed it, and I'll back in a couple of weeks! 😁
Great video!
So glad you liked it!
Thanks for this focus. It was really interesting Angshuman 🙂
Thank you; very gratifying to know you found it interesting!
All six books on my wishlist now. 🙌
Haha mission successful then! Are you leaning towards any in particular as your first?
@@ftloc Either Shenzhen or Jerusalem
Waiting for your review on your Peanut and Hobbes collections. Hope you do it soon !
Thanks for your patience! Hopefully soon!
thanks for this video.
I by chance took out Hostage from a library and I'll be honest with you, the front cover, the first couple of pages made me hooked and I thought this was going to be a very good story.
Sadly, I actually didn't like Hostage that much. Maybe it was a true story, although I didn't enjoy the story becuase a lot of the time it was just him lying down on a matress and he takes you through his thought process and a lot of the time there was dull sections going on of nothingness. Just his mind wondering and then something happens and then some action and then he's just lying down on a matress again.
I really want to try another one because I like his story telling ideas, my brother read Pyongyang and he said it was good. I really want to try Burma Chronicles and Factory Summers.
I really hope they are NOT like Hostage where it's too long and just nothing really going on and just mind thoughts most of the book.
I know that Hostage was really long, 400+ pages and Factory Summers is a lot shorter 100+ pages. Burma Chronicles is a little bit longer, I think 200 pages or just over which is the perfect length.
Out of Factory Summers and Burma Chronicles, which did you prefer and why? I really want to try this author again because i want to give him another chance, I didn't like Hostage that much, only the first couple of pages and then I got a bit bored and i didn't like the ending and got fed up of just reading someone lying down on a matress and chained to a radiator and things.
is Factory Summers and Burma Chronicles more interesting in your opinion? did the story make you want to keep reading and find out what happens? I really hope they're much better than Hostage and I can't wait to order them on amazon, they're a bit pricey but I just hope they're worth it!
You know, i completely understand. Hostage is like an 'art film', interested in exploring sanity and paralysis, really embracing the challenge of telling a story that moves only in time not in space. Certainly not to everyone's tastes.
I believe you'll find other Delisle books very different. The autobiographical books are much funnier, and move from situation to situation quickly.
Pyongyang for the bite, Factory Summers for the coming of age emotions, i would say. Both have an anecdotal approach that i really enjoyed. Good luck!
@@ftloc thanks!
Would you say that the autobigraphy ones like Burma Chronicles and Factory Summers are more of just a personal story shared and it's only interesting to the author because he went through it?
I'm just looking for what he did with Hostage, a really gripping and interesting story, but with another book if of his, if that makes sense.
So I hope Factory Summers or Burma Chronicles actually tells a story rather than just an author shariing his life experiences with little or not very interesting story that keeps the reader wanting to keep reading.
great review again! Guy Delisle has been on my wishlist for such a long time. another great artist is Emmanuel Lepage, in a different style, but also autobiographical (he writes also about his travels) and informative. I am not sure that an English edition exists.
Thank you! And I'll be looking up Lepage to see if there's anything in English!
@@ftloc English editions seem to exist for "Springtime in Chernobyl" and "Muchacho"
I was only slightly underwhelmed by Factory Summers, and I have not been able to pinpoint why. yet.
Sometimes underwhelming has to do with expectations, but I can see why it may not be as deep or powerful to some people.
I think the intimate closeness to the youthful mind and the fleetingness in its vignette approach really worked for me, and seemed a new evolution of the snapshot approach he had in Burma Chronicles and Jerusalem.
Hello sir I saw one comic known as Destination new york can you upload separate video in this comic book
Do you mean the Jo, Zette and Jocko story? Unfortunately I do not own it.
I'm thinking about getting either Jerusalem or Burma Chronicles. Which one do you think would be a better introduction to his work? Or should I just get Shenzen and work my way up from there in your opinion?
Ah, that's the eternal question isn't it? I like tracing the growth and evolution of a creator, but I have often started somewhere in the middle and then gone back to their earlier works. There's also the fear that if you start with something that doesn't appeal to you, you may not delve further. So you may also want to start with as much of a bang as possible.
I would say, in this case, which place are you most interested in - China, Jerusalem, or Burma? You will get the same essential central character (albeit at slightly different levels of maturity and sophistication) so that may be the way to go?
I'd love to know what you decide and what you think of the book when you get to read it!
@@ftloc After some consideration I chose Jerusalem, hopefully I'll order it in the next couple of days, and as of things right now, I should get it in my hands in the summer.😃
@@trasslar Happy reading!
I am not ashamed to say that I used to call him "Guy De-lis-le". However, happy to report I have read two of his works, Jerusalem and Hostage.
I always rely on others to let me know how names are pronounced!
What did you think 9f Jerusalem and Hostage?
@@ftloc Very interesting reads. I liked hostage better. Mostly because there is a very clear and linear story line to be followed. Throughout the read I am curious to know how would the guy escape. I think that sat right with me.
@@samratsur8074 Unsurprisingly, i am a big fan of loose, meandering, vignette-ish stories! 😁
Burma chronicles 😢
A lovely book, more gentle than the ones that came before it for sure...
The only Delisle book I've read is Pyongyang which I bought when it came out. All I remember about it is I found it very sad and borderline depressing. Not really the fault of GD there admittedly but I never bought any of his other travelogue books. I did recently buy Factory Summers for a snip on eBay after it got a mention in one of your other videos* but it's still in my to read pile. I'll try to investigate his other work now especially Jerusalem as I'd be interesting to see how it compares with Sarah Glidden's first class Israel book. You made Hostage sound very interesting too. I have to say I really do like these single creator overview videos you do. Excellent stuff.
* and because it made me think of Trashed by Derf Backderf which I think has a similar premise and is an absolute10/10 read (I think Trashed is superior to My Friend Dahmer which is also very good).
Trashed is a book i ordered and had get cancelled and you just reminded me that i need to re order that asap!
I think you should definitely give Jerusalem a read, it makes a fantastic companion piece to How to Understand Israel in 60 Days. Out of curiosity, have to read any books by Rutu Modan?
@@ftloc Yes I have pretty much everything by Rutu Modan and rate her very highly. That said, I couldn't get into her latest book Tunnels at all nor could my friend Nick who also rates her work highly in general too. I think a lot of the cultural context my have been lost on me and I couldn't work out if it was supposed to be a comedy/farce or something. If it was, I didn't really find it funny in truth. Her other books certainly hit the mark though.
Sooo... The tough question. Which of these would you consider your favourite?
Hmm, as I mention here, it's probably Pyongyang for its raw power and caustic bite, but i find myself thinking more and more of Factory Summers, a surprisingly pathos filled slice of life.
@@ftloc I'm still unabashedly biased towards Burma Chronicles, with Pyongyang a close second
Burma Chronicles was my first and favourite too.
One of favorites and you did cover almost the my book collection. I know It’s not by far the most significant Delisle’s work, but his latest book - World Records Holders - has some interesting short stories.
Has usual, stellar work with this presentation
So glad you liked the video! And I'm looking forward to a return to fiction in his latest book. I'm hoping it's waiting for me when I get back home! 😁