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26 October 2012

Beautiful comic illustrates ugliness of capitalism

John Riordan's "Capital City" reads like a child's fairytale, but looks like a fever dream.

By Alex Hern

Artist (and, full disclosure, friend) John Riordan has produced a fantastic comic, inspired by Blake’s Prophetic Books, which tackles the ugliness of modern capitalism.

John writes about the project (with some pictures of his process at the link) that:

In the same way as Blake explored the big issues of his day, eg the American Revolution, I decided to try to tackle the big, ugly mess of our current economic cock-up in a phantasmagorical, pseudo-mythological narrative. This involved reading and trying to understand some books on economics, writing poetry (bring me my flouncy blouse) and figuring out a new aesthetic, less indebted to my previous comicsy-style and more rooted in messy paint, pastels and ink.

I’ve wanted to see the finished work since I first saw the watercolour originals, and with his permission, I’m reposting the whole comic here. Click on each image to see it full size, and if you want to read it in print (John uses the physicality of the page very nicely) it’s for sale here.

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