Word: kuper
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...KEITH KUPER, ACKLEY, IOWA...
...JUNGLE By Upton Sinclair, adapted by Peter Kuper The praised adaptation of Sinclair's novel will arrive in paperback. See TIME.comix review of the hardcover
...rendering Sinclair's vision, Kuper uses the full power of his graphic style to remarkable effect. His airbrush effect implicitly evokes a sense of violence or sex gone wild, which perfectly matches the blood and sweat of the Chicago slaughterhouses. In the fertilizer factory, for instance, he makes it appear as if Jurgis is working in a literal shit-storm. By adding his own purely visual commentary, Kuper essentially doubles the power of the book's social message. The swirling winds turn into predatory monsters when Jurgis loses his job, for example. In spite of its bleak story, "The Jungle...
...only wishes it were longer. The circumscribed length of Kuper's version of "The Jungle" dispenses with much of the minor character development - so much so that it gets a bit confusing. It also lacks the details of atrocity that made each of Sinclair's chapters seem like a punch in the gut. On the other hand, Kuper wisely does away with the anti-climactic Socialist agitprop that made up the last few chapters of the original book. Instead he ends on the hope of a new beginning. While certainly no substitute for the original, Kuper's adaptation makes...
...Peter Kuper's dedication to using comix to foment social change, or at least keep social inequities on the table, makes him one of a long history of politically aware comix makers. Of his two latest books, "Sticks and Stones" will likely age as poorly as the anti-Nixon spoofs from the underground era, but "The Jungle" successfully mixes both artistic and political agendas into a new work of engaged literature...