In the interests of full disclosure, I will first say that Danica Novgorodov was one of my students a couple of decades or so ago, and I have nothing but good things to say about her talent, intelligence, and character. So there's that.
I have followed her comic book work * since her first graphic novel, A Late Freeze, in 2006 . . . to Slow Storm in 2008 . . . to Refresh, Refresh in 2009 . . . and I've just now caught up to her with The Undertaking of Lily Chen (2014). I've also seen a few other examples of her work here and there . . . such as her beautiful cover (covers?**) for McSweeney's issue 28 . . . album cover art for the super talented (also former student) Dawn Landes. It's all most excellent work.
But as for this Lily Chen . . . . 432 pages / 1.8 pounds worth of pictures and words. I will say this: I'm not a big fan of the title. A book like this deserves much better than a silly pun; "undertaking" feels very false and even a bit childish to me. As for my other criticisms . . . well, actually that's it. This is a truly beautiful piece of work. The art combines a cartoonish (kind of Big Foot-ish) character with a fine art sensibility. It actually reminds me of Dave McKean's work . . . especially his work on Cages . . . and I do not mean that as anything other than a high compliment, as McKean is one of my all-time favorite artists. In fact, if there were no words in this book it would still be well worth your time and money.
But there are words as well. I don't want to do anything spoiler-ish, so I won't go into any details here, but I will say that the basic concept of the story--that an unmarried man must be buried with a woman so that he can be married and taken care of in the afterlife--is a new one on me. I assume that this is a real thing . . . though I guess I'm going to have to take a look and see now. Hold for a sec.
Okay. It looks like this is called 冥婚, or Ghost Marriage for you Occidentals out there. There's an article entitled China's ghost weddings and why they can be deadly (by Grace Tsoi) on bbc.com if you need to have your mind blown and lose any faith that you had in your fellow human beings.
I have to say, though, that Danica is such a good writer that it really just occurred to me (6.5 lines ago) that she might have just made the whole thing up.
This is the kind of work that helps people to realize that comic books *** can actually be for grown ups and can take on the same big issues that you encounter in literature. That's a message that Americans haven't taken to heart . . . though people in many other countries seem to have done so.
You really should get hold of this . . . and Danica's three other books. And anything else you can find with her name on it. It's quality stuff, brahs and tahs. And if you're too poor to buy, check your local library. They probably have at least a couple of these books.
Peace out.
* From afar. I am kind of shy.
** The issue actually consists of four small hardback books, and each book has a front and back cover by Danica. The covers fit together to make a big picture for each side of the issue.
*** Yeah, I know. But I intentionally use the term because (1) being ashamed of the genre's heritage doesn't get us anywhere and (2) most of the people I know who are offended by the term (and insist upon using "graphic novels") are puffed up bullshitters, and I like to rile them up whenever possible. It's a character flaw I can live with.
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