Project and content management for Contemporary Authors volumes
WORK TITLE: Friends Is Friends
WORK NOTES:
PSEUDONYM(S):
BIRTHDATE:
WEBSITE:
CITY:
STATE:
COUNTRY:
NATIONALITY:
http://us.macmillan.com/friendsisfriends/gregcook/9781596431058 * http://highlowcomics.blogspot.com/2016/08/first-second-greg-cooks-friends-is.html
RESEARCHER NOTES:
LC control no.: no2013052621
LCCN Permalink: https://lccn.loc.gov/no2013052621
HEADING: Cook, Greg (Cartoonist)
000 01178cz a2200217n 450
001 9265695
005 20161216073842.0
008 130514n| azannaabn |n aaa c
010 __ |a no2013052621
035 __ |a (OCoLC)oca09473126
040 __ |a ICU |b eng |e rda |c ICU |d NNC
100 1_ |a Cook, Greg |c (Cartoonist)
370 __ |a Chicago (Ill.) |e Boston (Mass.) |e Gloucester (Mass.) |2 naf
372 __ |a Comic books, strips, etc. |a Graphic novels |2 lcsh
374 __ |a Cartoonists |a Graphic artists |2 lcsh
375 __ |a Males |2 lcdgt
377 __ |a eng
670 __ |a 2W Box. Set P, c2005: |b box (Greg Cook)
670 __ |a Maison B.ü.L.b. comix (http://www.bulbfactory.ch/comix/auteurs.php?a=17 viewed 14 May 2013): |b (Greg Cook (Gloucester, Etats-Unis) Greg Cook born in Chicago, lives and works in Gloucester (Massachusetts))
670 __ |a Author website, viewed 14 December 2016 |b (Greg Cook is an underground cartoonist and comic book author residing in Boston after previously residing in Gloucester.) |u http://www.gregcookland.com/about.html
670 __ |a Wikipedia, viewed 14 December 2016 |b (Greg Cook, born in Chicago, cartoonist, artist, reporter.) |u https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greg_Cook_%28cartoonist%29
PERSONAL
Born in Chicago, IL.
EDUCATION:Graduated from Art Institute of Chicago, 1995.
ADDRESS
CAREER
Cartoonist, journalist, writer.
AWARDS:Ignatz Award, Small Press Expo, 2002.
WRITINGS
Contributor to periodicals, including Arthur, Believer, Comix 2000, New Art Examiner, Nickelodeon Magazine, Non, and Pulse.
SIDELIGHTS
Cartoonist Greg Cook, notes a biographical blurb on the author and artist’s home page, “is part of the new wave of ‘underground’ cartoonists pushing the boundaries of contemporary comic books by experimenting with styles and subject matter.” His works include Sty Row Foam, Catch as Catch Can, and Friends Is Friends.
In the latter text, Cook explores the odd and evolving relationship between an old hobo elephant known as Critter, a little pig boy named Will, Will’s older sister, and a variety of subsidiary characters, including a teddy bear, a ghost, and Will’s mother. “The story,” explained Cate McQuaid in a review for WBUR, “turns out to have a touch of romance–albeit tinged by infidelity, because no relationship in Friends Is Friends is simple. Fights, taunting and betrayal may be the plot points around which Friends Is Friends pivots, but warmth, generosity and collaboration provide the book’s bedrock. We can always hope for connection, and for all its shadows, Friends Is Friends is lit with that hope.” “Humor … is their way to distance themselves and try to avoid the emotions and possible pain a real friendship can give,” declared John Samuels in the CDA News regarding Cook’s characters. “If you are a fan of quirky, off-beat humor … not necessarily the LOL kind, but the unsettling and somewhat creepy kind … Friends Is Friends … is probably a graphic novel you will enjoy reading and sharing with, well, your friends.”
Critics praised Cook’s most recent book for its haunting and evocative artwork. “Readers of Cook’s stark comics depicting the war in Iraq,” said a Publishers Weekly reviewer, “will recognize his distinctively curly handlettered text.” “I thought this book was very well illustrated,” wrote a reviewer for Good Books & Good Wine. “It makes use of black and white illustrations. I thought that the shading and the shapes were perfectly appropriate for the themes of the book. I thought that the divider pages between chapters were really great–they’re all black with white for the lines. I think if you’re simply focusing on the art–this is rather excellent.” “With just a few simple details,” said a High Low Comics reviewer, “Cook’s art has an enormously evocative feel, summoning up the sort of feelings that go along with multi-layered memories, from wistful nostalgia to deep regret. Beneath Friends Is Friends‘s deceptive simplicity is an emotionally complex web of relationships balanced with bite, humor and affection.”
BIOCRIT
PERIODICALS
Publishers Weekly, July 18, 2016, review of Friends Is Friends, p. 196.
ONLINE
CDA News, http://cdanews.com/ (August 11, 2016), John Samuels, review of Friends Is Friends.
Good Books & Good Wine, http://goodbooksandgoodwine.com/ (August 16, 2016), review of Friends Is Friends.
Greg Cook Home Page, http://www.gregcookland.com (May 3, 2017).
High Low Comics, http://highlowcomics.blogspot.com/ (August 1, 2016), review of Friends Is Friends.
Lambiek, https://www.lambiek.net/ (May 3, 2017), author profile.
WBUR Web site, http://www.wbur.org/ (September 22, 2016), Cate McQuaid, “Darkly Funny Graphic Novel, ‘Friends Is Friends,’ Explores Relationship Perils.”
Friends Is Friends
Publishers Weekly.
263.29 (July 18, 2016): p196.
COPYRIGHT 2016 PWxyz, LLC
http://www.publishersweekly.com/
Full Text:
Friends Is Friends
Greg Cook. First Second, $19.99 (208p) ISBN 978-1-59643-105-8
[ILLUSTRATION OMITTED]
The sad elephant hobo on the cover of Cook's first graphic novel in a decade gazes out from clots of dark ink, looking deeply haunted. This sets
the tone of a much heavier story than what is generally told with anthropomorphic talking animals. Will, a young pig, befriends, and then insults
and abuses, the elephant hobo. His older sister later meets the elephant and they share a sense of melancholy, but then, in a bizarre twist, the two
pigs discover they have more family history with the elephant than they realized. Cook's (Catch as Catch Can) obscure story--which also includes
an aggressive little bear feuding with a ghost, and suggestions of a terribly violent but unseen crime--comes to an ambiguous ending. The interior
line art, by contrast, is disarmingly cartoony. Readers of Cook's stark comics depicting the war in Iraq will recognize his distinctively curly handlettered
text, one of the book's strengths. Weaknesses include the entirely borderless panels, which make an already confusing story even more so.
(Aug.)
4/10/2017 General OneFile - Saved Articles
http://go.galegroup.com/ps/marklist.do?actionCmd=GET_MARK_LIST&userGroupName=schlager&inPS=true&prodId=ITOF&ts=1491848377370 2/2
Source Citation (MLA 8th
Edition)
"Friends Is Friends." Publishers Weekly, 18 July 2016, p. 196. General OneFile, go.galegroup.com/ps/i.do?
p=ITOF&sw=w&u=schlager&v=2.1&id=GALE%7CA459287549&it=r&asid=14023f16df45e652bf6b7c7a3fbc0ac3. Accessed 10 Apr.
2017.
Gale Document Number: GALE|A459287549
First Second: Greg Cook's Friends Is Friends
There are times that it's been hard to figure out First Second's identity as a publisher. When they first emerged, they took a lot of chances as a publisher, including publishing some very interesting translations of work from around the world. They took risks in publishing folks like Gipi and Lat. Later on, they started gravitating toward becoming a mostly YA publisher, focusing on series and bright, easy-to-digest narratives. Of late, things seem to be shifting a bit again, as they've taken on daring comics like Jason Shiga's Demon (to be published in four volumes) and Greg Cook's Friends Is Friends. Most of Cook's best-known work was either self-published or published by the old Highwater books, as his style was firmly in the Brian Ralph/Tom Hart continuum. His books have almost always been about relationships gone sour, documenting bitter feelings and scenes depicting regret. His imagery has always been fanciful, fusing funny animals and fairy tale characters with stories about alienation.
Friends Is Friends is quintessentially Cook, as the characters are anthropomorphic animals drawn with a thick line on open-layout pages. There's a mix of emotions to be found as the action is somewhere between a kids' book and something far darker. This book is about a series of interlocking friendships involving people who are often very difficult to like. There's a stereotypical hobo-with-a-bindle that's an elephant who is harassed into friendship with a little pig boy. The elephant, Critter, also becomes friends with the pig's sister, who initially blames him for getting rid of her walking snowman friend. The pig boy has to deal with a ghost pig and a brother whom he thought was a ghost. Finally, Critter realizes that the mother of the pigs is an old flame back from his rail-riding days.
Each of the characters is portrayed not just as deeply flawed, but incredibly difficult to live with as a friend. Critter has embraced hitting rock bottom and seems to have no interest in improving his station. The pig boy is alternately warm & garrulous and cold & cruel. The girl is needy and the mother a little distant. That said, this is a book about the deep yearning one can feel for connection. It's about how having it is a beacon of hope, light and warmth in the face of a cruel world. It's also about how losing it can plunge one into depression. It's about how our own selfishness can destroy friendships, and how self-destructive and myopic we can be in doing so. It's about contradictions, as the characters suffer a conflict of wanting to be absolute rulers of their own spheres and the need for meaningful connection. Crucially, there are no heroes or villains in the book. Instead, there are simply characters who make mistakes, who violate trusts and have trusts violated, who react in anger instead of compassion but who are also capable of practicing compassion and exuding warmth. In other words, they're human.
The drawing and book design are flawless. The thick, pulpy paper makes the book feel hand-made like a minicomic instead of mass-produced. Cook makes extensive use of negative space, with four panels per page using an open-panel layout. The resulting white space highlights his elegant brushwork that brings the focus to character interaction. How the characters relate to each other in space is key to the book's emotional narrative. With just a few simple details, Cook's art has an enormously evocative feel, summoning up the sort of feelings that go along with multi-layered memories, from wistful nostalgia to deep regret. Beneath Friends Is Friends's deceptive simplicity is an emotionally complex web of relationships balanced with bite, humor and affection.
‘Friends Is Friends’ by Greg Cook – Book Review
August 11, 2016 By John Samuels 0
friends is friends
Friends Is Friends (First Second), by indie cartoonist and graphic novel author, Greg Cook, is a quirky and cool graphic novel with themes of friendship and also how events of the past influences the present. It is not recommended for younger children, because it has swear words in it, cartoon violence, and a girl pig character sharing a bottle of whiskey with her new-found friend, the hobo elephant, Critter. Talented graphic novelist, Greg Cook, tries to pull off a feat that is almost impossible, creating a graphic novel that is a tragicomedy and still manages to appeal to readers. One retailer the graphic novel can be purchase at is Barnes & Noble.
How successful was Greg Cook in accomplishing these goals? Friends Is Friends needs to be evaluated as what it is, a tragicomedy, in order to be fair in a review of it.
Starting with the cover of the hardback graphic novel, Friends Is Friends, the depiction of the main character throughout the vignettes presented, the whiskey-drinking, swearing, but gold-hearted hobo elephant, Critter, looks dark, depressed, blank-eyed, frowning, and he wears a top hat. Like the cartoon snowman, Frosty’s, top hat, Critter’s top hat has a bit of life-giving magic in it, also, at one point bringing a snowman to life. The cover looks pretty dark, and cool.
Greg Cook releases first graphic novel, Friends Is Friends, in more than a decade
Inside the covers of Friends Is Friends is where the meat of the loosely connected vignettes lies, and a fairly wide cast of twisted, but memorable, characters inhabits the pages. While the graphic novel Friends Is Friends, Greg cook’s first one in over a decade, might not be everyone’s cup of tea, it does have an appeal with its minimalist style and black-and-white drawings of some animals with so many issues, they could be, to quote a song from The Jungle Book, “almost human, too!”
At the start of Friends Is Friends, a young pig boy, who readers later learn is named Will, does a very sketchy sort of thing by making friends with a hobo elephant, Critter. Will does not seem to have many, if any, friends himself, and he appears to have at least some sympathy for Critter — at least, when Will is not messing with the down-in-the-mouth elephant, whose dreams take him to happier memories of his past life and loves.
At times, will treats Critter nicely, as if he wants to befriend him, by kind gestures like giving Critter a Blow Pop sucker. However, at other times, he acts somewhat cruelly to the hobo, by wearing the missing top part of the elephant’s top hat on his head and calling it his “toupee.”
Both Critter and Will are recurring characters in Friends Is Friends. Despite their differences and the differences of the other characters, like Will’s sister, his friend, a diaper-wearing teddy bear, a bear ghost, Will’s mother and others, they all seem somewhat lonely and in need of friends. However, the very differences that define the characters and makes them unique, like with many humans, also isolates them, to an extent. Humor or mischievous behavior is their way to distance themselves and try to avoid the emotions and possible pain a real friendship can give. If you are a fan of quirky, off-beat humor…not necessarily the LOL kind, but the unsettling and somewhat creepy kind…Friends Is Friends by Greg Cook is probably a graphic novel you will enjoy reading and sharing with, well, your friends. For more CDA News, follow our tweets on Twitter and like us on Facebook.
Review by John Samuels
Photo Courtesy First Second
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Darkly Funny Graphic Novel, 'Friends Is Friends,' Explores Relationship Perils
September 22, 2016By Cate McQuaidShare
When your only friend calls you “fatso,” it might be time to reconsider your friendship.
Greg Cook’s darkly funny graphic novel “Friends is Friends” (published by First Second Books) examines the perils of a relationship many take for granted once the social gauntlet of adolescence has passed. The animal characters who populate Cook’s world strike up friendships on a dime and betray each other just as quickly. They are, by and large, a surly, morose and fractious group. The comedy, which usually stems from conflict, can be biting, but amid the bickering and name-calling, Cook weaves threads of sweetness and support.
Cover art of Greg Cook's "Friends is Friends." (Courtesy First Second Books)
Cover art of Greg Cook's "Friends is Friends." (Courtesy First Second Books)
The melancholy tone and the dejected characters come as no surprise from the artist and writer (and arts reporter and critic for The ARTery), who organized "The Saddest Parade on Earth" and last year’s "Pity Party" in Somerville’s Union Square.
Although he’s been penning comics for years, this is only Cook’s second graphic novel. The first, "Catch as Catch Can" (Highwater Books), which came out in 2001, told the story of a gingerbread man/ice cream truck driver on the lam. "Friends is Friends" makes callbacks to that book, placing it in the same brooding, somewhat daffy universe.
Cook declines to pin down where or when his plot unfolds, but there are no phones and no televisions. He offers a clue with his main character, the elephant Critter, a hobo who fits the Depression-era stereotype, riding the rails and carrying a pack on a stick.
It also hilariously nods to "Frosty the Snowman," when Frosty’s doppelgänger, Freezee, and a crowd of joyous children heedlessly wreak damage as they prance through the streets. Cook’s style is more “Krazy Kat” than Rankin/Bass Productions, though. His gritty characters recall the expressive and ornery animals in George Herriman’s legendary early 20th-century comic strip — not to mention their nervy tango of affection and assault.
The art, inked with juicy contours, expertly conveys the mournful and enraged expressions on the characters' faces with just a few lines. The text in the word balloons is also throwback: Handwritten with curlicues and serifs, it looks at once scruffy and ornate.
So does Critter, who wears a ragged top hat and a patched-up suit with a bow tie. He’s not just down on his luck, he’s a whiskey-slugging crank. But, he, as we all do, longs for connection: After Will, a piglet on a scooter, strikes up a conversation and offers Critter a Blow Pop, Critter declares, “you know, buddy, you’re my only friend.”
A Blow Pop may be a lot to base a friendship on so quickly, but every relationship is a gamble. It gives little away to reveal that Will ends up calling Critter “fatso” and kicking him in the face.
Cook structures “Friends is Friends” as a round-robin of scenes, most of them spotlighting relationships between two characters. Will’s pugnacious friend Ted, a bear in a diaper, shows up. So does his sister Anastasia, a badass in a polka dot dress. Critter shares his bottle with her. The only character who doesn’t disappoint someone else is a ghost, a nebulous figure at best and possibly a liar — still, it’s easier to be friends with a ghost, who may after all just be your own projection or memory, than with someone in the flesh.
The book spirals from scene to scene. The jump cuts can seem abrupt, but the deeper you go, the more little details circle back and tie it all together. The very heart of the story turns out to have a touch of romance — albeit tinged by infidelity, because no relationship in “Friends is Friends” is simple.
Fights, taunting and betrayal may be the plot points around which “Friends is Friends” pivots, but warmth, generosity and collaboration provide the book’s bedrock. We can always hope for connection, and for all its shadows, “Friends is Friends” is lit with that hope.
Friends Is Friends by Greg Cook | Graphic Novel Review
August 16, 2016 Leave a Comment
I received this book for free from Publisher in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.
Friends Is Friends by Greg Cook | Graphic Novel ReviewFriends Is Friends by Greg Cook
Illustrator: Greg Cook
Published by First Second on August 16th 2016
Genres: Comics & Graphic Novels, Literary
Pages: 208
Format: eARC
Source: Publisher
Buy on Amazon
ISBN: 9781596431058
Goodreads
two-stars
Friends Is Friends tells the story of complicated friendships through a series of funny, bittersweet vignettes. Greg Cook's deceptively sweet storybook world is imbued with grown-up humor that is both dark and whimsical. The result is a fable for adults, where the only clear moral is this: friendship isn't easy, whether you're a hobo or a snowman or a ghost.
Friends Is Friends is indie-favorite Greg Cook's first major work in over a decade. This long-awaited tragicomedy is a great stand-alone work for both new and established graphic novel readers.
Why Did I Read Friends Is Friends by Greg Cook?
I essentially wanted to read Friends Is Friends by Greg Cook based upon the book cover. I am nothing if not shallow. I loved the fine detail and texture of the elephant and his outfit on the cover. I think that the cover is very eye catching and it does promise a darker sort of story. I also tend to really like books about friendship and this seemed like a great book to pick up after finishing The Notorious RBG. Alas, I merely thought Friends Is Friends was merely okay and not a book I am likely to attempt to force on everyone.
What’s The Story In Friends Is Friends?
Friends Is Friends is about a hobo elephant who happens to be an alcoholic and becomes friends with a pig kid. There’s also a teddy bear that is real and a ghost imposter. There’s another female pig kid. And then there’s the mother pig. There’s different vignettes that sort of connect in that the characters all interact with and seem to know each other. I wouldn’t say that there’s an overarching story or anything. But there is a theme of complicated and messy friendship where it isn’t all sunshine and flowers and happiness, but lots of disagreements and even a bit of unhealthy toxic friendships — especially between the teddy bear and one of the piglets.
How Did I Like Friends Is Friends?
I thought Friends Is Friends was merely okay. I’ll grant it made me feel some vague discomfort. Here’s the thing, I currently oversee a program that works with mentally ill people who may or may not be homeless. I am very sensitive to portrayals of people in poverty. Granted, yes the main character was an elephant and not a human being. Still, it just bothers me a little bit to see such a blatant stereotype of a homeless person and to see it feed into a hobo image. I didn’t find this very progressive or groundbreaking, but rather to retread images we’ve seen of the homeless over and over and over again. I don’t know, I guess I felt like this book really liked some heart. Maybe it just went right over my head and I couldn’t see the forest for the trees – given my feelings about how homelessness is depicted.
How’s The Art?
So, the one thing that redeems Friends Is Friends for me is the art. I thought this book was very well illustrated. It makes use of black and white illustrations. I thought that the shading and the shapes were perfectly appropriate for the themes of the book. I thought that the divider pages between chapters were really great — they’re all black with white for the lines. I think if you’re simply focusing on the art — this is rather excellent.
Who Should Read Friends Is Friends?
People who aren’t quite as sensitive to portrayals of poverty
People who love art above all
People who like books that are complicated and who are perhaps a lot smarter than I am
Greg Cook is part of the new wave of "underground" cartoonists pushing the boundaries of contemporary comic books by experimenting with styles and subject matter that go beyond traditional newspaper gag strips and superhero pamphlets. His subjects range from history to comedy to fictional dramas about day-to-day life. He has published his comics in Nickelodeon Magazine, Tower Records' Pulse magazine, The Believer, New Art Examiner, Arthur, Non, L'Association's Comix 2000 and numerous other publications. His darkly funny comic book, Catch As Catch Can, was published by Highwater Books in 2001 and helped him win the "Promising New Talent" award at the Small Press (Comics) Expo in Bethesda, Md., the following year. His art has been exhibited in venues near Gloucester, Mass., where he resided for a decade, as well as such far away places as Chicago, Cleveland, Napoli, Italy, and Angouleme, France. His work toured the United States as part of the exhibit "Comic Release: Negotiating Identity for a New Generation" in 2003 and 2004. A newspaper reporter for more than a decade, Mr. Cook is now writing and illustrating a graphic novel documentary about American veterans of the war in Iraq that is to be published by a division of Henry Holt Books. He is also the editor of The New England Journal of Aesthetic Research, commodore of The Society for the Preservation of Fitz Hugh Lane, and founder of The Invisible Museum. He resides in Boston.
Greg Cook
(USA) United States
Catch As Catch Can, by Greg Cook
Greg Cook was born in Chicago, Illinois and graduated at the Art Institute in 1995. He moved to Gloucester, Massachusetts and started working as a clerk for a small newspaper, which occasionally publishes his cartoons and illustrations. He created the comic book 'Catch as Catch Can'. Besides drawing comics, Greg Cook is also a painter, photographer and puppeteer. He received the "Promising New Talent" Ignatz Award at the Small Press Expo in Bethesda, Md., in 2002.
Catch As Catch Can, by Greg Cook
www.GregCookland.com