Storm in the Ware-house!

Den største læse- og fingerereoplevelse i den store, forunderlige bunke af kandidater til Ping-prisen var Chris Wares tegnserieÆSKE Building Stories med 14 bogELEMENTER i i alskens formater og størrelser, fra det mindste sammenfoldede papir til det største sammenfoldede brætspilsbræt, indeholdende en minutiøst opbygget (men, oplever man, også improviseret, minutiøst improviseret) fragmentarium af minimalfortællinger om en kvindes liv som ung kunststsuderende (og det hus hun boede og de øvrige beboere i det hus og deres liv) og midaldrende, eks-kunststuderende mor i denne karakteristiske, underligt livfuldt SKEMATISKE streg - tvangslæsning (og -fingerering) for samtlige  danske romanforfattere.


 


Og selvfølgelig vandt Chris Ware i går aftes Pingprisen for Bedste udenlandske tegneserie; han var ikke selv til stede, men havde sendt denne takkemail med et smukt SHOUT-OUT til STORM P, som jeg sgu var lige ved at græde ned i min fadøl over (og åbenbart, det fik jeg også nys om i går, er Storm P.s samlede opfindelser, med mit forord, kommet fra trykken!):

As much as I believe in the strict separation of art and competition, I'm nonetheless very flattered and moved that the judges would consider my elaborate and constipated experiment in reader tolerance worthy of an award named after the work of one of the greatest cartoonists who's ever lived. Storm Petersen's lifework represents a great discovery waiting to be made by American readers, and I hope that someday soon an edition of his thoughtful, curious and genuinely amazing comic strips will see print in English. Until then, I guess we're stuck with guys like me, and everyone in Denmark can be quietly proud of their secret national comics heritage.
In the meantime, I think it's important not to forget that life is extremely short, fairly emotionally painful and, probably, in most cases unfair, and as such that it's important to take it a little more seriously than contemporary culture (including our modest medium of comics) generally encourages us to. As a corollary of that maxim, one should also try to be as kind to others in as many situations as one can be. And, as a function of that, I thank you all very, very much.