Around the time Last Bus came out in 2008, Liam (from the much missed ‘Story’ comic shop in Temple Bar) mentioned that the art reminded him somewhat of Ben Katchor’s work.
Katchor’s name was new to me but I eventually got my hands on one of his ‘Julius Knipl, Real Estate Photographer’ books and sunk into it over a weekend. Unfortunately, Ben Katchors work isn’t like a box set of the ‘Wire’ and doesn’t necessarily benefit from intense, continuous submersion. There’s a denseness to his language which, combined with his elliptical, layered approach to building narratives, is best sampled in small doses. Incredible stuff. He has since become a firm favourite of mine and someone who’s work offers up more and more with each subsequent read.
Anyway, I came across this video of him reading from a couple of his comics a while back and thought I might share it here.
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