THE SALON
by Nick Bertozzi

Nick Bertozzi is perhaps best known for his seminal comic series THE INCREDIBLE DRINKING BUDDIES, which he drew with writer William "Bill" Nevins Weaver, who was the genius behind pivotal 90's rock bands like Sick and Gland.

Since then he has gone on to win many awards for his innovative work in what is sometimes called "sequential art," which is a pompous name for comics.  The book we are considering today is Bertozzi's latest, a highly enjoyable book released by St. Martin's entitled THE SALON.

In THE SALON, Bertozzi creates a supernatural murder mystery centered on the bohemian cotiere that included Gertrude Stein, her brother Leo, Pablo Picasso, Alice B. Toklas and Erik Satie.

A series of mysterious murders occurs.  As protagonist Georges Braque is drawn into the intrigue, and into an odd friendship with the spontaneous and irrepressible Picasso, he discovers that an undead Matisse is using a hallucinogenic blue absinthe to enter paintings.  Unfortunately, the ghost of his predatory wife is leaving the paintings as well, and killing people.

The plot is funny.  Bertozzi has done his research, and the various characters come alive with his words, and especially with his pencil.  Bertozzi's angular drawings are inspired by the Cubism that Braque founded with Picasso, and the overall effect is enjoyable.  Somehow the fact that it's basically a comic book defuses the potential preciousness and pretentiousness of the subject matter, and he makes all of the characters earthy and real.

The really funny part about all this is that in some benighted Southern state, there's a huge brouhaha about a comic book store that gave a promotional copy of this book to a minor.  Yes, it has some pencil drawings of boobies, and somehow this has blown up into a court case that is undoubtedly consuming millions of dollars of taxpayer's money.  In an age that is positively suffused with pornography and quasi-pornography in all media, the idea that a graphic novel about early 20th century artists in Paris could become an issue for litigation is really beyond my paltry comprehension.

 --C. B. Coble