Jeet Heer more thoroughly and widely understands comics history and the
perplexing binomial life of the cartoonist better than anyone who's not
one. As well-versed in literature as he is in comics, he always gets at
the peculiar, poetical texture of his subject not only by what he
writes, but how he writes it--clearly, mellifluously, and beautifully.
Our humble discipline is singularly lucky to have him telling its
story.--Chris Ware
In a partnership spanning four decades, Françoise Mouly and Art
Spiegelman have become the pre-eminent power couple of cutting-edge
graphic art. Their landmark magazine Raw, which first published
artists such as Ben Katchor, Chris Ware, and Charles Burns, brought an
avant-garde sensibility to comics and, along with Spiegelman's legendary
graphic novel Maus, completely revolutionized the form. As art editor
of the New Yorker since 1993, Mouly has remade the face of that
venerable magazine with covers that capture the political and social
upheavals of the last two decades, such as the black-on-black cover
after 9/11 and the infamous Barack Obama fist-bump cartoon. Based on
exclusive interviews with Mouly, Spiegelman, and a pantheon of comics
artists--including Dan Clowes, Barry Blitt, Anita Kunz, and Adrian
Tomine--In Love with Art is both an intimate portrait of Mouly and a
rare, behind-the-scenes look at some of today's most iconic images.
Through the prism of an uncommonly successful relationship, the book
tells the story of one of the most remarkable artistic transformations
of our time.
Jeet Heer's writing has appeared in the Guardian, Slate, Boston
Globe, the American Prospect, and the Virginia Quarterly Review.
