All Over Coffee, $24.95, 173pgs, City Lights Books,
261 Columbus Ave. San Francisco, CA 94133
www.citylights.com
Paul Madonna takes a one-panel comic and turns the
punch line into poetry. The images are of rooftops,
power lines and buildings. These urban landscapes are
ink washed in a sepia tone with a charming, careful
whimsy.
The text reads like fragments of overheard conversion.
Exploring the expanse between mundane every day talk
to tiny profound moments of revelation. There are no
speech bubbles in Madonna’s work. There are no people.
The words float over the scenic snapshots.
All Over Coffee is laid out like a hardcover calendar.
It takes time for your eyes to wander the large
cityscapes. I am reminded of Italian graphic novelist
Gipi’s quiet moments. The ones where he is just
setting the scene, an All Over Coffee seems to do just
that. Set the scene.
The absence of people in the frame allows you to paint
the people into the situation. Attaching the text to
imaginary people, building a beginning and end around
the middle that is presented. As a result each comic
demands time and space for invention as well as
contemplation, as you make your own connections
between the text and the image.
All Over Coffee has run in the San Francisco Chronicle
since Feb 2004 and readers either love it or hate it.I
wasn’t sure which side of the fence I’d be on, but
when the book arrived it was beautiful to behold.
Although not every piece is a gem, there are by far
more hits then misses in this collection. I was
excited to explore each page, to notice the tiny
splashes of colour and to take the time to see where
the text would take my thoughts. A refreshing and
intelligent subversion of the daily comic strip.(S Malik)
Labels: review
Here is the lovely Sarah Jacobs presenting 
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