Hamilton Sketchbook

I had read Collier's earlier narrative works, JUST THE FACTS and PORTRAITS FROM LIFE. They are wonderful collections of visual essays. I was looking forward to reading THE HAMILTON SKETCHBOOKS as well. I was surprised. This was exactly what it said it was. A sketchbook. And, although the art is endearlingly clumsy and I laughed for days over one of the pictures, I was a little disappointed that he did not return to the essay form. It seems, with the publishing of the follow up to this book, THE FRANK RITZA PAPERS, a combination of one essay and another series of sketches, that Collier is at a crossroads. He seems to have become more fascinated with the anecdotal story and less with the narrative. Which is a nice thing, both books still have his reserved self-effacing Canadian sensibility, but all the same, he is so good at the narrative that I hope he returns to it. Regardless, I am looking forward to his next Drawn & Quarterly publication, whatever it might be.