{"product_id":"the-lost-art-of-ah-pook-is-here-hardcover-by-malcolm-mcneill","title":"The Lost Art of Ah Pook Is Here Hardcover by Malcolm McNeill","description":"\u003cbody\u003e\n                \n                    \n                        \u003ch2\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eProduct Details\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/h2\u003e\n                        \u003cul\u003e\n                            \u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003ePublisher\u003c\/strong\u003e: \u003cb\u003eFantagraphics\u003c\/b\u003e \u003cb\u003e(2012-11-09)\u003c\/b\u003e\n\u003c\/li\u003e\n                            \u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eLanguage\u003c\/strong\u003e: \u003cstrong\u003eEnglish\u003c\/strong\u003e\n\u003c\/li\u003e\n                            \u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003ePaperback\u003c\/strong\u003e: \u003cstrong\u003e168\u003c\/strong\u003e \u003cb\u003epages\u003c\/b\u003e\n\u003c\/li\u003e\n                            \u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eISBN-13\u003c\/strong\u003e: \u003cstrong\u003e9781606994450\u003c\/strong\u003e\n\u003c\/li\u003e\n                            \u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eItem Weight\u003c\/strong\u003e: \u003cstrong\u003e567.0\u003c\/strong\u003e \u003cb\u003egrams\u003c\/b\u003e\n\u003c\/li\u003e\n                            \u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eDimensions\u003c\/strong\u003e: \u003cstrong\u003e0.0 x 0.0 x 0.0\u003c\/strong\u003e \u003cb\u003ecm\u003c\/b\u003e\n\u003c\/li\u003e\n                        \u003c\/ul\u003e\n                        \u003cbr\u003e\n                        \u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eImages from the legendary unpublished \u003ci\u003eAh Pook\u003c\/i\u003e graphic novel.\n\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eIn 1970, William S. Burroughs and artist Malcolm McNeill began a small collaborative project on a comic entitled \u003ci\u003eThe Unspeakable Mr. Hart\u003c\/i\u003e, which appeared in the first four issues of Cyclops, England’s first comics magazine for an adult readership. Soon after, Burroughs and McNeill agreed to collaborate on a book-length meditation on time, power, and control, and corruption that evoked the Mayan codices and specifically, the Mayan god of death, Ah Pook. \u003ci\u003eAh Pook is Here\u003c\/i\u003e was to include their character Mr. Hart, but stray from the conventional comics form to explore different juxtapositions of images and words.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003ci\u003eAh Pook\u003c\/i\u003e was never finished in its intended form. In a 1979 prose collection that included only the words from the collaboration, \u003ci\u003eAh Pook is Here and Other Texts\u003c\/i\u003e (Calder, 1979), Burroughs explains in the preface that they envisioned the work to be “one that falls into neither the category of the conventional illustrated book nor that of a comix publication.” Rather, the work was to include “about a hundred pages of artwork with text (thirty in full-color) and about fifty pages of text alone.” The book was conceived as a single painting in which text and images were combined in whatever form seemed appropriate to the narrative. It was conceived as 120 continuous pages that would ‘fold out.’ Such a book was, at the time, unprecedented, and no publisher was willing to take a chance and publish a “graphic novel.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eHowever, Malcolm McNeill created nearly a hundred paintings, illustrations, and sketches for the book, and these, finally, are seeing the light of day in \u003ci\u003eThe Lost Art of Ah Pook\u003c\/i\u003e. (Burroughs’ text will not be included.) McNeill himself is an exemplary craftsman and visionary painter whose images have languished for over 30 years, unseen. Even in a context divorced from the words, they represent a stunning precursor to the graphic novel form to come. Sara J. Van Ness contributes an historical essay chronicling the long history of Burroughs’ and McNeill’s work together, including its incomplete publishing history with \u003ci\u003eRolling Stone\u003c\/i\u003e’s Straight Arrow Press, the excerpt that ran in \u003ci\u003eRush\u003c\/i\u003e magazine, and the text that was published without pictures.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n                        \u003ch3\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eAbout the Author\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/h3\u003e\n                        \u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eMalcolm Mc Neill\u003c\/b\u003e is an Emmy award winning artist and writer, and \u003ci\u003eObserved While Falling\u003c\/i\u003e is the account of an event that should be of interest to all creative minds, regardless of their interest in William Burroughs, or familiarity with his other work.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eSara J. Van Nes\u003c\/b\u003e is the author of \u003ci\u003eWatchmen as Literature: A Critical Study of the Graphic Novel\u003c\/i\u003e (McFarland, 2010). She currently lives in New Jersey, where she teaches English and a course on graphic novels and visual literacy.\u003c\/p\u003e\n                    \n                \n            \u003c\/body\u003e","brand":"Best Bookstore","offers":[{"title":"New","offer_id":46556044198049,"sku":"BBSNIJ9781606994450","price":48.59,"currency_code":"CAD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0525\/2084\/5473\/files\/9781606994450_0e37d05c-b84b-460f-9451-88a06ef7bcdd.jpg?v=1781803979","url":"https:\/\/www.bestbookstore.ca\/products\/the-lost-art-of-ah-pook-is-here-hardcover-by-malcolm-mcneill","provider":"Best Book Store","version":"1.0","type":"link"}