{"id":1469,"date":"2010-03-20T13:42:29","date_gmt":"2010-03-20T18:42:29","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/comicscomicsmag.com\/?p=1469"},"modified":"2010-03-20T13:42:29","modified_gmt":"2010-03-20T18:42:29","slug":"garage-band-by-gipi","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/comicscomicsmag.com\/?p=1469","title":{"rendered":"Garage Band by Gipi"},"content":{"rendered":"

This appraisal of Garage Band <\/em>by\u00a0Italian cartoonist Gipi, first appeared in Windy Corner Magazine<\/a>. \u00a0Thanks to Austin for letting me run it here on CC.<\/em><\/p>\n

————–<\/em><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Garage Band<\/em> \u00a0by the Italian cartoonist Gipi is a remarkably deceptive\u00a0comic. Originally titled Five Songs<\/em> when it was released in Italy a\u00a0few years back (2005), it\u2019s a breezy read, quite enjoyable \u2013 arguably\u00a0the most beautiful of his available works in English. Soft watercolor\u00a0tones and thin contour lines that unite with marvelous energy and\u00a0skill. Gipi has an amazing ability to capture the essence of each\u00a0scene, to articulate all the important details without overwhelming\u00a0the reader with such details. Yet, it\u2019s a relatively \u201cempty\u201d read if\u00a0one is looking for a solid story in the traditional sense. \u00a0And this\u00a0is what I mean by it being a deceptive comic. \u00a0It\u2019s 114 pages of\u00a0strung together notes, poetic silent passages and bursts of energy.\u00a0In that sense, it\u2019s sort of like watching a great band practicing\u00a0their songs. We see the stops and starts, the rehearsal of new\u00a0material and the easy way in which some old songs are played\u00a0effortlessly. \u00a0It\u2019s all there, but somehow, I\u2019m left wondering if the\u00a0real show in front of an audience will be better and I\u2019ll get to see,\u00a0hear these songs played to perfection. And then I wonder if that\u00a0really matters, and that maybe, seeing the band practice, hearing the\u00a0demo tape is closer to some sense of perfection.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

The story itself concerns a group of four friends who have a band.\u00a0The book opens with the band moving into a garage owned by the\u00a0guitarist\u2019s father. \u00a0The condition of the loan of the garage is simply\u00a0that he (and the band) stay out of trouble. \u00a0We\u2019re introduced to each\u00a0band member and get a glimpse of their lives at home with their\u00a0respective elders \u2013 be they parents or aunts, be they dysfunctional or\u00a0traditional, or both. \u00a0And this, I feel, is the most charming aspect\u00a0of the story \u2013 and something that adds to the deceptively simple\u00a0narrative. \u00a0I find it very Italian in temperment. \u00a0How one\u2019s family,\u00a0one\u2019s home life shapes one is universal \u2013 but in Italy, the connection\u00a0to family and all that goes with such a connection is much stronger\u00a0than it is for us in North America (in Italy, for example, it is not\u00a0uncommon for a man to live with his parents until he is in his\u00a0thirties \u2013 or for married couples to live with one set of in-laws).\u00a0Ever see Fellini\u2019s I Vitteloni<\/em>? \u00a0This book, for me, \u00a0is a little like\u00a0that movie. A group of friends who spend all their time together but\u00a0who each have to contend with the \u201cdysfunction\u201d of their home lives.\u00a0The story of the friends is attached to the story of the families, one\u00a0informs the other \u2013 it\u2019s all one big stew. \u00a0And I couldn\u2019t help but\u00a0think of my own Italian friends (from Italy) who have crazy families\u00a0and who are always having to explain to their fathers that they are\u00a0actually \u201cdoing something\u201d with their lives.<\/p>\n

The five \u201csongs\u201d that comprise the book are the five chapters that do\u00a0not tell a conventional narrative. \u00a0It\u2019s more like a record \u2013 a five\u00a0song E.P. \u2013 and even in the English edition of the book the chapters\u00a0are titled \u201cprima canzone\u201d, \u201cseconda canzone\u201d \u2013 which translates into\u00a0\u201cfirst song\u201d, \u201csecond song\u201d, etc. \u00a0It\u2019s an interesting choice to break\u00a0up the narrative this way and the reader is left with the impression\u00a0of what the band sounds like somehow. \u00a0And like any band or any\u00a0record, some songs are better than others.<\/p>\n

The band moves into the garage in the first chapter and each member is\u00a0able to shed his \u201cold\u201d life somehow. \u00a0There is real joy in the initial\u00a0release of playing together in the garage \u2013 a new identity is forming.\u00a0They finally have a place of their own to play. \u00a0And the songs\u00a0themselves, although we, the reader, can\u2019t \u201chear\u201d the songs, they are\u00a0about the members\u2019 lives. \u00a0We\u2019re told that the first song is about the\u00a0drummer\u2019s father and how his father\u2019s illness changed him. \u00a0And it\u2019s\u00a0also about the drummer\u2019s mother and his aunt (two domineering Italian\u00a0women who carry the drummer\u2019s kit to the garage from the car \u2013 a\u00a0priceless sequence). \u00a0So it\u2019s about purging these ties that bind \u2013\u00a0it\u2019s about release and finding one\u2019s own voice, about standing apart\u00a0from one\u2019s own family, alone, but as a group, a band. \u00a0A new identity
\nformed.<\/p>\n

The second song or second chapter begins with the guitarist (Giuliano,\u00a0essentially the main character) and his girlfriend at the beach. \u00a0It\u2019s\u00a0one of the most beautifully drawn passages in the book \u2013 wonderful\u00a0handling of watercolor , of tone, of line. Gipi captures the subtle\u00a0nuances of expression and human movement so perfectly. And the light,\u00a0the air, the sand and really the light may be the main character in this\u00a0book, so effortlessly does he manage to convey feeling simply with\u00a0color and light and dark, it\u2019s breathtaking. (If you\u2019ve ever been to\u00a0Italy then you know what the light is like and, for me, this memory\u00a0dovetails with the depiction of it in this book and creates a\u00a0synthesis in my mind that is incredibly strong) It\u2019s as though this\u00a0chapter was \u201cfilmed\u201d at that magic hour before sundown when the sun\u00a0slants in such a way that everything is golden, new.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Giuliano\u2019s girlfriend simply asks \u201cand then what are you gonna do?\u201d in\u00a0the second panel of the chapter. \u00a0Meaning, I think, \u201cnow that you have\u00a0the garage and you guys are practicing, what\u2019s next?\u201d \u00a0Giuliano\u2019s\u00a0response is basically \u201cwe\u2019ll get some songs ready, but who cares \u2013 now\u00a0that we have a place to play everything is different, new.\u201d It\u2019s a\u00a0short exchange, \u00a0only 3 or 4 panels, but a telling one for it conveys\u00a0so much. The couple silently looks off into the distance, a wave\u00a0crashes on the shore. The endless expanse, the sea, the sun, the\u00a0edge. An arrival of sorts, and also an end. These are the really\u00a0special moments of this comic for me. And it\u2019s these moments that can\u00a0easily be lost if the reader doesn\u2019t recognize the symbolism, the\u00a0power, of the imagery. There\u2019s no extraneous dialogue or interior\u00a0narrative that holds the reader\u2019s hand. It\u2019s just there visually.\u00a0It\u2019s deceptive simply because it reads so quickly yet the images\u00a0stayed with me long after this second chapter, this \u201csong\u201d, ended.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Yet before the second \u201csong\u201d ends, after such a beautiful quiet intro,\u00a0the whole thing builds to a crescendo of power and pushes the\u00a0narrative along in a new and innovative way. The sun goes down and\u00a0during a lovely evening dusk, we\u2019re introduced to the singer, Stefano,\u00a0and his family. Seated at the dinner table is Stefano\u2019s mother and\u00a0father already eating when Stefano arrives home. \u00a0There is a nice\u00a0formal set up of panels where father and son are often making the same\u00a0expression while eating. Gruff, tough, the working-man father tells\u00a0his musician son that he met somebody \u201cin the music business\u201d who\u00a0agreed to listen to Stefano\u2019s band. The son is equally impenetrable\u00a0as the father and doesn\u2019t ever look up from his plate while his dad\u00a0relates the story of giving a discount at his business to the music\u00a0A&R man if the man will listen to his son\u2019s music. It\u2019s a powerful\u00a0sequence of clinking forks on plates and silent, visual punctuation\u00a0that rings true and affords a perfect segue to the introduction of the\u00a0bass player\u2019s life and their evening \u2018round the dinner table.<\/p>\n

Alberto, the bass player, in stark contrast to Stefano, is gentle and\u00a0there is an entirely different atmosphere during dinner for him. He\u00a0eats quietly, transfixed by the soap opera on television. His father,\u00a0a model airplane hobbyist, stares out the window and talks how he\u00a0might improve one of his planes. The mother lovingly dishes out the\u00a0food to both of these daydreaming men. And then this glimpse ends\u00a0just as quickly as it began and we\u2019re ushered into the severe world of\u00a0Alessandro (the drummer) who lives with his mother and aunt. It\u2019s a\u00a0regular henhouse, where Alessandro shuts himself up in his room and\u00a0won\u2019t come out for dinner cuz he\u2019s just tired of all their nagging.<\/p>\n

Are these dinner sequences ultimately necessary for the story? With\u00a0the exception of the A&R man plot development, the sequences,\u00a0technically, do not add to the narrative in a traditional sense. \u00a0For\u00a0some, I\u2019m sure, these pages are glossed over quickly and honestly,\u00a0that\u2019s what I did at first. \u00a0But then, I slowed down and realized how\u00a0central these pages were to the story. These sequences are crucial to\u00a0our understanding and appreciation of the band as a whole. And how\u00a0then, at the end of this chapter, we see the band united in the garage\u00a0releasing all of their pent up frustration during practice. \u00a0It\u2019s a\u00a0stirring build up of events, of notes, with a coda that created a real\u00a0emotional response inside of me, and that carried over into the next\u00a0chapter.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Chapter three opens with an expanse of blue sky and with Giuliano\u2019s\u00a0girlfriend, Nina, laying in the grass staring up into it, relaxed, in\u00a0love. \u00a0The band is practicing and all is well in the world until one\u00a0their amps goes on the fritz. \u00a0And here, the band\u2019s problems begin and paradise is jeopardized. Stefano, the singer, lets his attitude get\u00a0the best of him and he\u2019s plunged into an aggressive despair that he\u00a0takes out on everyone else. How are they going to practice their\u00a0songs and impress the A&R guy with a demo tape? \u00a0\u201cWe\u2019re totally\u00a0screwed.\u201d No more shutting the world out and just living in the\u00a0garage practicing their songs. No more dreams of a music career if\u00a0they don\u2019t go back out into the real world and do something about\u00a0fixing their equipment. \u00a0But how? \u00a0They\u2019re all broke and the idea of\u00a0buying any new equipment is just impossible.<\/p>\n

So, Alessandro devises a hare-brained scheme to steal some equipment\u00a0from another practice space he spies every Sunday when he goes along\u00a0with his mother and aunt to visit a memorial chapel for his\u00a0grandfather. He convinces the rest of the band that the equipment\u00a0must belong to some church group. \u201cThe way I see it, their right to\u00a0own musical instruments is zilch.\u201d There is an expertly framed\u00a0sequence of them almost getting caught by military police that is,\u00a0again, beautifully articulated and colored. \u00a0And again, it\u2019s easy to\u00a0quickly read over the whole scene without really taking in how\u00a0wonderfully it\u2019s drawn. The moody, spooky light. The color. Just\u00a0gorgeous. \u00a0And then, right in the middle of the scene, Gipi cuts away\u00a0to Giuliano\u2019s girlfriend sitting alone in the dark, at home. \u00a0The\u00a0contrast to the opening of the chapter couldn\u2019t be more apparent, yet,\u00a0again, the symbolism is easily missed if the reader isn\u2019t paying\u00a0attention. \u00a0Gipi doesn\u2019t hit the reader over the head with it. It\u2019s\u00a0up to the reader to realize that Giuliano\u2019s girlfriend is \u201cin the\u00a0dark\u201d, literally and figuratively. \u00a0Nina doesn\u2019t know what the band is\u00a0up to and is home with her sister. She relates a story about Giuliano\u00a0that is rather touching and which sheds light onto what kind of family\u00a0he has, something the reader hasn\u2019t been privy to up until that point.\u00a0And it\u2019s an interesting moment to inject such a story into the\u00a0narrative because when Gipi cuts back to the band stealing we project\u00a0this new information onto Giuliano. The information softens the scene\u00a0and our feelings toward Giuliano and the rest of the band. It\u2019s\u00a0expertly done, a marvelous scene, \u00a0and one that carries us to the end\u00a0of the chapter where the band is now recording their demo with their\u00a0new equipment. \u201cWe have stolen. We have broken the rules. But now\u00a0we can play.\u201d<\/p>\n

Chapter four: \u201cWe thought we\u2019d outsmarted the world.\u201d \u00a0And here, the\u00a0band\u2019s world comes crashing down. \u00a0Of course, they get caught and have\u00a0to return the equipment It\u2019s a short chapter, a brutal \u201csong\u201d that\u00a0just lets it all out. \u00a0We meet the \u201cchurch group\u201d that the band stole\u00a0from and here is one of the most memorable scenes in the comic. And I\u00a0just can\u2019t spoil it for you, dear reader. Suffice to say, it\u2019s not a\u00a0church group, and that Giuliano\u2019s father is not happy. The agreement between father and son is broken. \u00a0The band didn\u2019t stay out of trouble\u00a0and the garage is taken away from them. As Giuliano\u2019s father walks\u00a0away, there is another \u201crhyme\u201d with the anecdote that Nina related in\u00a0the previous chapter that echoes loudly. \u00a0And again, there\u2019s a\u00a0symbolism that is easily missed if the reader isn\u2019t paying attention.\u00a0Also, fittingly, it\u2019s the only chapter so far that doesn\u2019t end with\u00a0the band playing music together.<\/p>\n

The end, or the fifth song, is another chapter full of amazing\u00a0symbolism. Stefano meets with the A&R man and they talk in front of\u00a0an empty swimming pool. \u00a0The man offers Stefano a menial job with his\u00a0company, not a record contract. Alessandro, the drummer, appears on a\u00a0moped with his face painted blue (acne cream) and tells that he\u2019s been\u00a0receiving money from his estranged father for years, secretly, and\u00a0that\u2019s how he\u2019s lived all this time without working. He\u2019s masked his\u00a0sadness with his attitude and obsessions but now he\u2019s ready to come\u00a0clean and tell the truth. This information and the timing with which\u00a0we learn it is another brilliant plot device employed by the author.\u00a0Alessandro is probably the most despicable of the bunch and, of\u00a0course, it\u2019s he who will ultimately save the band from ruin. He takes\u00a0the rest of the band to a new garage space that he\u2019s rented with his\u00a0secret money. Giuliano\u2019s voiceover narration tells us that the band\u2019s\u00a0next song will be about how they lost the garage. \u00a0It\u2019ll be about them\u00a0stealing from the chapel, about their parents, and about how all\u00a0things end and begin again.<\/p>\n

Do I need to mention that I love this comic? As a reader, it pushed\u00a0all my buttons, and made me feel like I was watching some awesome\u00a0\u201ccoming of age\u201d movie. The art and the story are simple, but\u00a0deceptively so. \u00a0I\u2019ve read it front to back about ten times and each\u00a0time I discover something new. The synthesis of drawing, color,\u00a0narrative and symbolism is incredibly powerful. Don\u2019t let it fool\u00a0you. Like some song that you just can\u2019t get out of your head, this\u00a0book just stayed with me for days after reading it. And it continues\u00a0to give back to me every time I play it, read it, again.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This appraisal of Garage Band by\u00a0Italian cartoonist Gipi, first appeared in Windy Corner Magazine. \u00a0Thanks to Austin for letting me run it here on CC. ————– Garage Band \u00a0by the Italian cartoonist Gipi is a remarkably deceptive\u00a0comic. Originally titled Five Songs when it was released in Italy a\u00a0few years back (2005), it\u2019s a breezy read, quite enjoyable \u2013 arguably\u00a0the most beautiful of his available works in English. Soft watercolor\u00a0tones and […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[256,502],"class_list":["post-1469","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-blog","tag-color","tag-gipi"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/comicscomicsmag.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1469","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/comicscomicsmag.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/comicscomicsmag.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/comicscomicsmag.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/comicscomicsmag.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1469"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/comicscomicsmag.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1469\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/comicscomicsmag.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1469"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/comicscomicsmag.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1469"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/comicscomicsmag.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1469"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}