Synopses & Reviews
This gorgeous grimoire is part alchemy, part art book, part storybook, part comic book, and part conceptual art from the pen of Al Columbia, a longtime fan favorite contributor to comics anthologies like , , and more recently, . Collecting over a decade's worth of 'artifacts', excavations, comic strips, animation stills, storybook covers, and much more, this broken jigsaw puzzle of a book tells the story of Pim & Francie, a pair of childlike, male and female imps whose irresponsible antics get them into horrific, fantastic trouble. Their loosely defined relationship only contributes to the existential fear that lingers underneath the various perils they are subjected to. Columbia's brilliant, fairytale-like backdrops hint at further layers of reality lurking under every gingerbread house or behind every sunny afternoon. Never have such colorful, imaginative vistas instilled such an atmosphere of dread, and with such a wicked sense of humor. This is a comprehensive collection of Columbia's Pim & Francie work, including paintings, comics, character designs, and much more, all woven into something greater than the sum of its parts, with Pim & Francie careening from danger to danger, threaded together through text and notes by the artist. This is the first book collection by Columbia, a well-regarded talent amongst longtime fans of the alternative comic book scene, and one who will thrill an entirely new audience with the singular, inspired, fully-realized fantasies within .
Review
"Capable of rendering tight, stark, shudder-inducing figures, the horror-themed work of Al Columbia is some of the most ravenously fan awaited in the indie scene...disarmingly comfortable and sinister." We Love You So
Review
"It's as though a team of expert [animation] craftsmen became trapped in their office sometime during the Depression and were forgotten about for decades, reduced to inbreeding, feeding on their own dead, and making human sacrifices to the mimeograph machine, and when the authorities finally stumbled across their charnel-house lair, this stuff is what they were working on in the darkness." Wizard
Review
"As disjointed and narratively frustrating as can be at times, it remains a stunning and haunting work that preys on your mind long after you've finished it. ... The sheer level of craftsmanship and imagination on display makes this a book well worth reading for those who can bear its mordant message." Sean T. Collins Robot 6
Review
"[F]ascinating, especially for connoisseurs of pure cartooning." Booklist
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"[T]here's one reason why pulls off the unlikely feat of being more than the sum of its fragmented, disconnected, half-inked parts: it's terrifying. ... The book... hangs in your head long after you close your eyes." Brian Heater The Daily Cross Hatch
Review
"As Orson Welles and Terry Gilliam have film adaptations of as their great incomplete masterworks; Al Columbia has Pim and Francie. A work over 15 years in the making, and never now likely to be 'finished', the pieces of it have been assembled as ." Martyn Pedler Bookslut
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"These distressed, distressing comics and illustrations repeat and escalate like a stuck record or never waking from a recurring nightmare." The Onion A.V. Club
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"Reading is an apocalyptic experience--as if Columbia is demolishing both his own work and the idea of 'cartooning' in general. I found it exhilarating and terrifying." Paul Gravett
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"Al decided to dredge up old ghosts, unfinished pieces, trifles he had thrown away then reconsidered and offered them up to us as proof that he hasn't forgotten us. This 240-page book has certainly filled in some gaps for me as to what goes on in Columbia's mind... There seems to be something both amazing and horrifying around every corner, in any dark space, in the thick of the forest, in the bulbous eyes of maniacal creatures and the straight realistic lines of buildings that all have a dark window somewhere... It is truly a viscous treat and I am sure this one will never wash off." Graphic Novel Reporter - "Graphic Novel Picks for Fall 2009"
Review
"The twisted narratives and characters are presented so deftly--with such humor and visual panache--that their wrongness becomes right; and thus is the singular charm of Al Columbia." Molly Young
Review
"Successful art engenders powerful emotion in its observers. How do I know that Al Columbia's is an amazing work of art? Because it seriously made me feel ill. Uncomfortable. It made me question my sense of aesthetics; played havoc with my expectations. It's unquestionably an amazing book. ... Rating: 8/10." Molly Young We Love You So
Review
"With this book, Al Columbia has created not only one of the more unsettling works of horror in the medium of comics, but it also happens to be one of the greatest myth-making objects... No one is saved in Columbia's world." Jeremy Nisen Under the Radar
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"The book's spine calls its contents 'artifacts and bone fragments,' as if they're what's left for a forensic scientist to identify after a brutal murderer has had his way with them... But they're also showcases for Columbia's self-frustrating mastery: his absolute command of the idiom of lush, old-fashioned cartooning, and the unshakable eeriness of his visions of horror." Christopher Allen Comic Book Galaxy
Review
"It's possible to piece together narratives from the fragments here, the way you might reconstruct a crime scene from bits of evidence, or a nightmare from fading details. These stories may even be all the more potent for having to be inferred, like the phantasms we imagine when we listen to horror stories on the radio." Mario Z. Alipio The Truth About Comics - "Top 11 of 2009"
Review
"This is visceral, elemental terror that generally festers below -- or alongside invisibly -- human reckoning. ... Frontwards, backways, sneak-a-peek sideways, it all packs a monumentally disturbing wallop." Tim Kreider The Comics Journal
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"Columbia's book is positively festooned with frightening moments and tableaux... Any single upsetting image is a rosette on a much more ambitious and awesome-to-behold cake. Al Columbia... can haunt my nightmares for three days as an aside." Rich Kreiner The Comics Journal - "Yearlong Best of the Year"
Review
"There are no explanations here, and few conventional payoffs -- just images designed to remind readers what it was like to be a panicked, paranoid child, convinced that every nighttime shadow contained a beast more menacing and repulsive than any grown-up could conceive. [Grade] B+." Martyn Pedler Bookslut
Review
"[A] collection of what 'might have been'... It's the sort of thing that will frustrate some, but it does offer an elliptical, sideways path into Columbia's world, which perhaps makes the journey all that more frightening." The Onion A.V. Club
Review
"#33, Top 100 Comics of 2009: A totally creepy homage to the ink blot stylings of the early animation era, the book works as part horror comic, part abstract tour de force, part satire and all face melter, cementing Columbia's place as one of the most unique and mysterious voices in comics." Chris Mautner1010 Comic Book Resources
Review
" is a downright sadistic journey through the lives of its titular characters... The book succeeds rather well as both an introduction to the artist's work and as a standalone art book. It's simultaneously lush and sparse and terrifying and wonderful." Rachael M. Rollson Panel to Panel
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"A lavishly produced portal into the fantastic and frightful world of Pim & Francie. This gorgeous grimoire is part alchemy, part art book, part storybook, part comic book, and part conceptual art from the pen of Al Columbia, a longtime fan favorite contributor to comics anthologies like , , and, more recently, ....Never have such colorful, imaginative vistas instilled such an atmosphere of dread, and with such a wicked sense of humor." Rachel Molino Wizard
Review
"Gorgeously reproduced -- rough pencil marks, taped edges, discolorations, and all -- this might be the sweetest thing to stare at, dumbly, in my whole library." Paul Gravett
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"More a collection of images than a narrative, it's still something new from one of the most enigmatic and most influential cartoonists of the past 20 years. It's a bit like peeking at J. D. Salinger's notebooks, if his notebooks were pure nightmare fuel." Mario Z. Alipio The Truth About Comics - "Top 11 of 2009"
Review
"Columbia has a flair for the grotesque, which, when mixed with such cute cartooniness reminiscent of old-school Disney, makes for an especially creepy juxtaposition. ... It's a cascade of horror, page after page of mostly-unfinished nastiness, enough to stick in the mind and cause nightmares for weeks." Joe Gross Austin American-Statesman
Review
"One hell of a messed-up book. ... This isn't quite a collection of stories...: it's a collection of Columbia's rough and finished materials... that keeps veering toward storyhood, then jerking the steering wheel and plunging over the nearest cliff." Matthew J. Brady Warren Peace Sings the Blues
Synopsis
Collecting more than a decade's worth of excavations, comic strips, animation stills, storybook covers, and much more, this broken jigsaw puzzle of a graphic novel tells the story of Pim & Francie -- childlike male and female imps -- whose irresponsible antics get them into horrific, fantastic trouble. The brilliant, fairy tale-like backdrops hint at further layers of reality lurking under every gingerbread house or behind every sunny afternoon. Their loosely defined relationship only contributes to the existential fear that lingers underneath the various perils they are subjected to, which are threaded together by text and notes by the artist.
Synopsis
Originally published in 2010, Pim & Francie is a cult classic and the only collection of Al Columbia's work to be published. Collecting more than a decade's worth of comic strips, animation stills, storybook covers, and much more, this broken jigsaw puzzle of a book tells the story of a pair of childlike imps whose antics get them into horrific, fantastic trouble. Columbia's brilliant, fairy-tale-like backdrops hint at dread lurking under every gingerbread house and behind every sunny afternoon, all told with a wicked sense of humor.
Synopsis
Nominated for two 2010 Ignatz Awards (Outstanding Artist and Outstanding Graphic Novel): Al Columbia's lavishly produced portal into the fantastic and frightful world of Pim & Francie.
About the Author
Al Columbialives in Connecticut.