Bardin the superrealist
Created over a period of ten years by the acclaimed Spanish cartoonist Max (The Extended Dream of Mr. D, Drawn and Quarterly), Bardín the Superrealist is a suite of stories, musings and gags that can be read individually or together as one overarching story. Heavily influenced by surrealists such as Luis Buñuel, and graphically by "clear-line" cartoonists from Hergé (Tintin) to Chris Ware, Bardín the Superrealist begins when everyman Bardín finds himself suddenly transported (well, at least his upper half) to another dimension, where an "Andalusian Dog" (a reference to Buñuel's Un Chien Andalou) serves as his ill-tempered guide. In a series of vignettes, gags, illustrations, text pieces, and dream stories, ping-ponging back between the surrealist world and the "real" world, Bardín examines, questions, and defends his own beliefs, convictions and philosophies while tangling with the Dog and the Holy Trinity in a variety of guises (including a familiar-looking mouse with red shorts and white gloves). Bardín the Superrealist is a playful, hilarious, thought-provoking (and beautifully illustrated) major work by one of the great European cartoonists.
Winner: Best Book, Best Drawing and Best Script, Saló Internacional del Còmic, Barcelona
Awarded the Premio Nacional del Cómic 2007 (National Comics Award) by the Spanish Ministry of Culture; "The jury considers [Bardín the Superrealist] a graphically overwhelming work, with an original script and filled with literary, philosophical and cinematographic references."
"Wild, illogical, surreal, and utterly charming... sometimes read like a mad cross between Peanuts, Jimmy Corrigan, Salvador Dalí, and the Rarebit Fiend, but beautifully executed in Max's underground/ligne claire style... an important new body of work from a major cartoonist." – Indy Magazine
"Max skillfully portrays dream logic in the language of comics... What makes this a great comic is its light touch and comic timing." – Sequart
"I think this is the closest you can get to a natural high while only reading a book (although a glass of wine helped)... one of the very few really surrealist comics around." – Wim Lockefeer