In the Shadow of No Towers

I can't complain about the quality of the content of this book, only that there's not enough of it!The artwork is incredibly crafted, and the large-format reproduction is spectacular. It's not as much a direct narrative as an overlapping, fractured, paranoid, angst-ridden blend of narrative slices, observations, and Spiegelman's thoughts and feelings on 9/11 and its aftermath. His visual story-telling skills, aided by references to comic book history, are as powerful and clever as ever -- the "Cuddly Tower Twins" sub-panel, featuring the Katzenjammer kids and their crazy uncle, says more in a few frames than most insta-pundits can get across in 10 minutes of cable news rants or in long-winded op-eds.But then, halfway through the book, you've read all of Spiegelman's new work. I was expecting more, but he makes clear in the foreward that it's painstakingly slow for him to produce. I'm guessing a rush to publish is a factor in how thin this collection is. I certainly hope he keeps working in this format -- for stuff this good, I can wait.The rest of the book is still rewarding -- a monograph on the old comic strips that influenced his work is followed by brilliant color reproductions of that old work. (Speigelman is upstaged in his own book by a stunning "Little Nemo in Slumberland" strip that's worth the price of admission alone.) By providing this window into his world of references, Speigelman makes his own work a little richer.WARNING: Not recommended for robots, tragedy fetishists, Bush lovers, or Britney Spears. But if you're even reading this you probably know that already.

I was deeply moved by Art Spiegelman's "In The Shadow Of No Towers" before I even opened the book. As a Manhattanite, the World Trade Center's twin towers used to be my New York City lodestone. With my lousy sense of direction, I always knew where I was by marking my location in relation to the two buildings, soaring skyward, so visible above everything else. Even now, three years after 9/11, I sometimes forget and look towards the southwest, expecting to see the buildings' lights. For days, weeks, months after September 11, I saw, in my minds eye, almost exactly the same image portrayed on the cover of "In The Shadow Of No Towers" - darkest black shadows of the two landmarks against a night sky - emptiness during the daylight. There is no more eloquent description to mark absence, to recall violence and infamy, than the cover picture of these two shadows.Mr. Spiegelman is best known for his Pulitzer Prize-winning book "Maus," where he used the medium of comic strips to portray the Holocaust, his parents' experience as survivors of Auschwitz, and his own experience as a child of Holocaust victims. Ironically, his parents taught him at an early age to "always keep my bags packed." He writes in the book's Introduction, an extraordinary essay, "I tend to be easily unhinged. Minor mishaps - a clogged drain, running late for an appointment - send me into a sky-is-falling tizzy. It's a trait that leaves one ill-equipped for coping when the sky actually falls." And the sky literally fell on the author and his family that day. They lived in the towers' shadow, in TriBeca, and their daughter was in school that morning - a school located at Ground Zero - a tizzy producing experience if there ever was one!!This unusual hybrid book, 42 oversized pages printed on heavy card stock, is a combination of comic book illustrations and prose. It is an extremely personal memoir of the attacks on the WTC, which Spiegelman and his family witnessed at close range. It is a raving rant about the after effects of the violence and its repercussions throughout the world at large, and the smaller interior world of the author's psyche. It is the intimate story of one family trying to cope. It is an editorial about the political exploitation of this terrible event. The book is designed to be read vertically, just like the old comic strip broadsheets that appeared in newspapers. Each strip is a story, ten of them, followed by a comic supplement.An image, seemingly burned into Spiegelman's eyelids, is the last sight he had of the North Tower just before it fell. He saw the building's skeleton, its very bones, lit up and glowing right before it vaporized. This image reoccurs throughout the book.The country, the world, has seemingly become inured to the unthinkable, just three years later. The further away one lives from Ground Zero, the more removed the event. Art Spiegelman has given us a strange gift with his book - an honest memory of a devastating tragedy - a memory that depicts humor as well as horror, confusion, terror and heartbreak. All of us must move on, move forward. Oddly enough, Spiegelman's book helps us to do so by chronicling 09/11/01 and its aftermath, allowing us to let its vividness go. "Still time keeps flying and even the New normal gets old." "...though three years later I am still ready to lose it all at the mere drop of a hat or a dirty bomb. I still believe the world is ending, but I concede that it seems to be ending more slowly than I once thought...so I figured I'd write this book."A beautiful book worth reading, worth keeping.JANA

This is a big expensive coffee-table book that takes about half an hour to read. What's there is interesting; Spiegelman's cartooning, especially his portrait of his own anxiety is great. The problem is that this is really short on content. The heavy board pages make it look as if there's a lot more to it than there is. It would be much better in a less grandiose format.

Ive just come out of a University level unit in graphic novels. Im now totally hooked so decided to purchase Spiegelman's "In the Shadows of No Towers" (while trying to finish Saga, Papergirls, Are You My Mother and awaiting H. Chute's "Graphic Women: Life Narrative and Contemporary Comics"). I was deeply affected by Spiegelman's work and physically reacted to the frantic search for his daughter. As an Australian .. I dont have a handle on Spiegelman's use of older comic strips but by jingo I am loving the art work. As our fabulous University Lecturer (NT at UNE, Armidale) has repeatedly stressed.....reread, reread, reread. This is what I plan to do. PS: Im 61 and feel very fortunate that I can now research and learn about the hx of comix, graphic novels and confound my book club who umm yeah...dont get it.

I was hoping for an in-depth, personal look at life in New York, told in comic book form, both during and after the attacks on Sept. 11. Not being a resident of New York, I wanted some details, especially from a personal perspective. Instead, this book sidetracks all over the place. There are some brief glimpses into Spiegelman's reaction to the towers falling, his desperate rush to school to get his daughter and his fears afterwards. But these glimpses are brief indeed and far more of the book contains takeoffs on other comics, often confusing ones. He seems to be trying to paste together a montage of information, much of it surreal or only vaguely touching on Sept 11. Having read Spiegleman's wonderful book Maus, I expected more, something with more heart and soul. This wasn't it. Not only that but the pages are heavy cardboard stock, thick, the kind you'd find in children's board books and so there are relatively few pages. Not much substance for the relatively high price. I wouldn't buy it again, ekther for personal use or for a gift.

Book arrived earlier than expected, packaged neatly. As mentioned there were light notes every few pages- in German but they do not devaluate the book in any way.I read Art Spiegleman's Maus a few months ago and it was one of the most poignant books I had every read. I feel so lucky to have been able to get In the Shadow of No Towers which is every bit as important in capturing the hysteria, fear, and struggle to make meaning of 9/11. Thank you!

Excellent book! I loved the style of the book and the comics inside. It was a present and they were very very pleased with it! Was a bit slow in delivery but other than that, very good.

A sombre and shocking subject - 9/11 - told by one who was there, is the son of a holocaust victim and an acclaimed graphic novelist. It is sparse - the pages are of card and the last half of the book is a historical thriller - but nevertheless a stunning and highly worthwhile purchase

"In the Shadow of no Towers" ist ein in vielerlei Hinsicht beeindruckendes Werk. Es beginnt damit, dass es sich hierbei nicht um ein Buch gewöhlichen Formates handelt, sondern ein 27x37cm großes Buch mit schweren Pappdeckeln und Pappseiten handelt. Nach eigenen Angaben hat der Autor dieses Format gewählt, um dem von ihm dargestellten Chaos noch mehr Platz zu bieten und das Geschehen im wahrsten Sinne zu überzeichnen. Und das gelingt ihm hervorragend. Das Werk des renommierten Autors Art Spiegelmann ist zwar nur entfernt als Comic zu bezeichnen, er nutzt Collagen, um dem Leser eindrucksvolle und aussagekräftige Bilder zu präsentieren, die das Geschehen vom elften September 2001 sehr treffend darstellen. "In the Shadow of no Towers" ist ein besonderes Buch, das sehr tiefgründig auf die Hintergründe und Auswirkungen der Anschläge eingeht. Weiter ist es sehr realitätsnah und von daher auf jeden Fall eine empfehlenswerte Lektüre für alle, die sich mit dem Thema elfter September befassen.

Un grand format pour un grand dessein :c'est d'abord un bel ouvrage, grand et solide (pages en carton), qui se contemple par doubles pages bourrées de dessins de qualité, de couleurs (si,si, lecteurs de Maus I et II, Art Spiegelman aime les couleurs !!!) et de petits et grands clins d'oeil au Monde. Les 2 Tours sont là tout au long de cette promenade dans la vie et la tête d'AS, et la double hauteur du support lui offre un super espace pour projeter ses visions.Je l'ai reçu aujourd'hui (merci, amazon, pour la version en VO, et en plus elle est moins chère que la VF !!!) et me suis plongé une heure dans le (nouveau) monde d'après le 9/11 : j'y retournerai demain car j'ai encore plein de choses à y découvrir.C'est un peu comme si on retrouvait un vieil ami perdu de vue, qui a vécu ces dernières années en même temps que nous les évènements mondialisés par toutes les télés.... et la façon dont il voit ce monde est bizarrement proche et familière :-)En deuxième partie, des très vieux comic strips, mais je n'ai pas encore pris le temps de les visiter tranquillement : juste pour vous dire qu'on y retrouve pas mal des héros de nos vieilles BD, celles qui traînaient au fond des greniers depuis bien longtemps : salut Little Nemo !Bref, j'adore cet ouvrage... la preuve : c'est la première fois que je me fends d'un commentaire sur amazon ;-)))Bonne balade à tous !JCB