Take a photo of a barcode or cover
mschlat 's review for:
The Art of Charlie Chan Hock Chye
by Sonny Liew
[Note: there's a spoilerish conceit to this book that I will discuss in this review. Avoid reading this if you want to come to the book with no foreknowledge.]
I decided to buy this pretty much sight unseen just because it was by Sonny Liew. I loved his series [b:Malinky Robot|11983440|Malinky Robot Collected Stories and Other Bits|Sonny Liew|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1327953993s/11983440.jpg|16946965] and his collaborations with [a:Mike Carey|9018|Mike Carey|https://d.gr-assets.com/authors/1334894864p2/9018.jpg] ([b:My Faith in Frankie|534181|My Faith in Frankie|Mike Carey|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1309581031s/534181.jpg|521689] and [b:Re-Gifters|925826|Re-Gifters|Mike Carey|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1348045307s/925826.jpg|2683187]). When I looked at previews of this book, I was interested in the politics, but confused. Who was this Charlie Chan Hock Chye? Was this really an art book with Liew commenting on Chan's creations? And why did all of Chan's artwork look like Liew's pencils?
And the answer to all the above is .... this is a work of fiction. (It says so in the colophon!) What Liew has done here has created Charlie Chan Hock Chye (and all of his creations) to tell the story of Singapore. Chan lives through and documents Singapore's moves from a British colony to an independent nation ruled by a dictator, from the merger with Malaysia to the dissolution of that merger. Chan tells the story of the different classes in Singapore --- the English speakers, the Chinese speakers --- and how the partnership between those classes first raises Singapore up and then sends it into chaos.
Chan does all this documentation through comics, and so the book is an amazing use of the comics medium. We not only get panels interviewing Chan in present-day and panels showing Liew describing the history of Singapore, we get "reprints" of Chan's work (complete with browned pages and taped-up dialogue) that echo most of comics history. There are clear references to Astro Boy, Pogo, EC war comics, Dan Dare, Spider-man, the Shadow, The Dark Knight Returns, Little Nemo in Slumberland, Mad Magazine, and the Carl Barks Donald Duck stories (and that's just what I recognize --- I'm still unsure what some of Chan's comics are paying to). It's a tour de force of comics imitation that still movingly gets across the politics of Singapore and Liew's feelings.
I think that if I was more aware of Asian politics and history, this book would have meant so much more to me. However, it was more of a disjoint learning experience. Before this book, I didn't know exactly where Singapore was or its connection to China, Britain, and Malaysia. So as I read, I researched a bit and tried to absorb as much of Liew's presentation as I could. The result was a interesting read interspersed with (usually) temporary confusion. It's an amazing work of and about comics and --- if you are interested in twentieth century Asian politics --- a fascinating historical story.
I decided to buy this pretty much sight unseen just because it was by Sonny Liew. I loved his series [b:Malinky Robot|11983440|Malinky Robot Collected Stories and Other Bits|Sonny Liew|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1327953993s/11983440.jpg|16946965] and his collaborations with [a:Mike Carey|9018|Mike Carey|https://d.gr-assets.com/authors/1334894864p2/9018.jpg] ([b:My Faith in Frankie|534181|My Faith in Frankie|Mike Carey|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1309581031s/534181.jpg|521689] and [b:Re-Gifters|925826|Re-Gifters|Mike Carey|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1348045307s/925826.jpg|2683187]). When I looked at previews of this book, I was interested in the politics, but confused. Who was this Charlie Chan Hock Chye? Was this really an art book with Liew commenting on Chan's creations? And why did all of Chan's artwork look like Liew's pencils?
And the answer to all the above is .... this is a work of fiction. (It says so in the colophon!) What Liew has done here has created Charlie Chan Hock Chye (and all of his creations) to tell the story of Singapore. Chan lives through and documents Singapore's moves from a British colony to an independent nation ruled by a dictator, from the merger with Malaysia to the dissolution of that merger. Chan tells the story of the different classes in Singapore --- the English speakers, the Chinese speakers --- and how the partnership between those classes first raises Singapore up and then sends it into chaos.
Chan does all this documentation through comics, and so the book is an amazing use of the comics medium. We not only get panels interviewing Chan in present-day and panels showing Liew describing the history of Singapore, we get "reprints" of Chan's work (complete with browned pages and taped-up dialogue) that echo most of comics history. There are clear references to Astro Boy, Pogo, EC war comics, Dan Dare, Spider-man, the Shadow, The Dark Knight Returns, Little Nemo in Slumberland, Mad Magazine, and the Carl Barks Donald Duck stories (and that's just what I recognize --- I'm still unsure what some of Chan's comics are paying to). It's a tour de force of comics imitation that still movingly gets across the politics of Singapore and Liew's feelings.
I think that if I was more aware of Asian politics and history, this book would have meant so much more to me. However, it was more of a disjoint learning experience. Before this book, I didn't know exactly where Singapore was or its connection to China, Britain, and Malaysia. So as I read, I researched a bit and tried to absorb as much of Liew's presentation as I could. The result was a interesting read interspersed with (usually) temporary confusion. It's an amazing work of and about comics and --- if you are interested in twentieth century Asian politics --- a fascinating historical story.