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Mar 25, 2014 Issue #49 - February/March 2014 - Portlandia By Hays Davis

Prepare to be hurled deep into the past century to a vividly entrancing, pre-CG place of whimsy and wonder. For a few decades, the pencils and brushes of cartoonist/illustrator George Carlson seemed to have touched every area of print medium, from children’s publications and comics to commercial design and classic books. Perfect Nonsense is the first career retrospective of the artist’s wide-reaching work, spanning from 1907 to just before World War II, and it’s exactly what this innovator deserves.

Carlson’s best-known contribution may have been his book jacket illustration for the first edition of Margaret Mitchell’s Gone with the Wind, but this expansive volume, edited by Daniel F. Yezbick, offers the full scope of Carlson’s talent. Poring over the rich detail enlivening children’s rhymes or his depiction of the Queen Mary ocean liner can be equally arresting and transporting.

In 1940, Carlson was chosen to contribute to the Crypt of Civilization, a time capsule that was sealed for reopening in 8113 A.D. With Perfect Nonsense, there’s no need to wait quite so long for the discovery. (www.fantagraphics.com)

Author rating: 8/10