Broken Frontier

The Someday Funnies is a tabloid graphic novel that achieved a mystical status due to its orchestrator everlasting attempts to find a publisher.

Compiled by Michel Choquette and started in the early seventies, this giant tome eventually found a home at Abrams Comic Arts imprint and was finally published in November, 2011. Originally financed by Rolling Stone, The Someday Funnies was over 30 years in the making and found itself abandoned in the late seventies by a multitude of publishing companies (an abridged version of the road travelled is available at the last page of the book). It was picked up again by Abrams due to an indepth article by Bob Levin in The Comics Journal of Choquette’s trials and travels in late 2010.

Conceived as a cultural reference point, Choquette flew al over the world to compile his Funnies book. He brought creators together like Jack Kirby, Harvey Kurtzman, Dino Battgalia, William S. Burroughs, Guido Crepax, Will Eisner, Federico Fellini, Jeffrey Catherine Jones, Willy Mendes, Ever Meulen, Art Spiegelman, Joost Swarte, Pete Townshend, Uderzo, CC Beck, Frank Zappa, Ralph Steadman, Giraud and the list goes on and on. He clocked off at 129 previously unpublished comics by 169 writers and artists. This eclectic list of creators leads to an equally eclectic reading experience. Free from editorial restraint with only the edict of the sixties theme, The Someday Funnies covers the cultural, moral, political and personal living spheres of the sixties. The general mood seems to thrive on an atmosphere of revolution and change, sidestepping the organisational way of contemporary society only to have this spirit come crashing down again in the seventies.

By Jack Kirby and Joe Sinnot

This feeling of change and sudden downpour is perhaps best exemplified in one of the more catching strips of the volume because of its simple iconography : The Perfect Wave by Colman Cohen. Done in a whimsical big nose cartoony style, it is a wordless strip showing a brightly but elegantly dressed gentleman literally riding a wave on a surfboard. The wave slightly increases its angle in every panel, rising higher and higher while the panels progress. The wave keeps climbing and the figure keeps trying out new positions, clearly having fun in a rather stoic way. With a surprised look at the last panel, he finds himself falling of the wave whose crest has been ridden out, the high point of the wave methaphorically transformed into a cliff. The end. It perfectly catches the infective wave of enthusiasm and hope of the sixties and its segue into the seventies. It is a theme that reoccurs in over 60% of the volume. While the remaining strips focus on more specific cultural trends or icons, the previous theme is definitely the more rewarding experience.

By Vaughn Bodé 

Besides its star list of comic creators and non-comics creators, the most succesful features would be the creators performing a play non-typical of their work. Jack Kirby f.i. brings a biting satire on Ayn Rand’s philosophies, a piece worthy of closer examination; Federico Fellini delivers a self drawn dream diary; Guido Crepax outdoes himself on a political piece about Italy; likewise Groo cartoonist Sergio Aragones examines the political fallout of the 68 olympics in Mexico in an impressive splash page while Gray Morrow draws a burlesque parallel world story where the Kennedy’s were never shot. I’m probably forgetting more excellent examples but at over 160 pages of comics, most of them single pages, I think I’m allowed to a few memory lapses. The other main attraction would be watching cultural icons like William S. Burroughs and Frank Zappa work their magic on the printed comics page more often than not leading to non-sequitur pieces but entertaining none the less.

By Guido Crepax

But in the end, how does it all read? I guess this is where the shoe either fits or doesn’t. The Someday Funnies goes beyond a clear reading experience. It is at times genius, mind-boggling, boring, badly drawn, an artistic masterpiece, silly and intellectual reading material. In combination with the extensive articles and cliff notes about it’s origin and myths purported, it represents a truly original package that the world has never before seen. The Someday Funnies celebrates the creativity of the comics genre and its relevance  as an ageless tool of communication. It crosses borders and transcends cultural media in a way no-one has ever done before and it is a must have.

By Federico Fellini

The Someday Funnies is published by Abrams Comic Arts. It is an oversized 216 pages full colour hardcover retailing for $55.