The Salon

By Nick Bertozzi
Published by St. Martin’s Press, 2007. $19.95

The Plot: Georges Braque, Erik Satie, Pablo Picasso and other artists form their own dysfunctional version of the Super Friends in order to stop a string of deaths amongst the art community. Their detective work leads them to an artist’s wife who has developed super powers and bloodlust after drinking too much magical absynthe. The blue elixir allows people to enter paintings, a literal interpretation of the ongoing philosophical discussions between the artists about how best to capture reality on the canvas.

The Good: Bertozzi does so much right here that it’s hard to single anything out. His art, of course, is gracefully efficient and leans more toward comic strips than comic books. Though he includes plenty of works from the Modernist masters, he doesn’t so much mimic it as incorporate it into his own style. Like Frank Espinosa, Bertozzi uses limited colors per panel, giving each page a strong emotional feel.

The story is just as strong. It walks the tightrope between an homage to famed characters and a farce aimed at lampooning them. More than anything, Bertozzi gives mostly accurate depictions of the characters and fits them skillfully into his narrative. The book is funny, introspective and surprisingly tense.

The Bad: It isn’t so much that there’s anything wrong with this book, but there is one area in which it could be better. The layouts are bland: four panels in every horizontal page, without variation. That comes from the book’s original online publication, and it doesn’t really hamper the reading.

The Grade: A It’s not too often I’ll give out such a high mark, but this book is just that good. It’s a must have for anyone with an interest in art history and further expands the realm of what a graphic novel can be. As I was reading it, I couldn’t help but think it seemed like the type of story the Coen brothers would make into a movie: quirky, filled with oddballs, fun, beautifully shot, hilarious and thoroughly memorable.