<![CDATA[Bottomless Belly Button]]>

false <![CDATA[Bottomless Belly Button]]>

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A major new graphic novel from a major new talent. The Bottomless Belly Button is a comedy-drama that follows the dysfunctional adventures of the Loony Family. After 40-some years of marriage, Maggie and David Loony shock their children with their announcement of a planned divorce. But the reason for splitting isn't itself shocking: they're "just not in love any more." The announcement sparks a week long Loony family reunion at Maggie and David's creepy (and possibly haunted) beach house. The eldest child, Dennis, struggles with his parents' decision while facing difficulties of his own in his recent marriage. Believing that his parents are hiding the true reasons behind their estrangement, Dennis embarks on a quest to discover the truth and searches through clues, trap doors, and secret tunnels in attempt to find an answer. Claire, the middle child, is a single mother whose 16-year-old daughter, Jill, is apathetic to the divorce but confounded by Claire and troubled by her own "mannish" appearance. The youngest child, Peter, is a hack filmmaker suffering from paralyzing insecurities who establishes an unorthodox romance with a mysterious day care counselor at the beach. In a six-day period rich with atmospheric sequences, these characters stumble blindly around one another, often ignoring their surroundings and consumed by their own daily conflicts. Visually, Shaw employs a leisurely storytelling pace that allows room for exploring the interconnecting relationships among the characters and plays to his strength as a cartoonistsmall gestural details and nuanced expressions that bring the characters to vivid and intimate life. If the controversial R.D. Laing wrote an episode of The Simpsons, it might read something like The Bottomless Belly Button.

2148599

2008

Bottomless Belly Button

total:382|5:93|4:154|3:95|2:33|1:7|

382

1439

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2 2 false false Sat Jul 19 00:00:00 -0700 2008 Fri Jul 11 14:20:30 -0700 2008 Sat Jul 19 16:46:13 -0700 2008 The Bottomless Bellybutton represents a certain side of art-house indie cartooning that just doesn't resonate with me. There is a scene late in the comic when the grandmoth...more...]]> 4 2 false false Tue Jan 01 00:00:00 -0800 2008 Sat Sep 20 17:22:02 -0700 2008 Sat Sep 20 17:28:43 -0700 2008 more...]]> 4 1 false false Fri Aug 08 00:00:00 -0700 2008 Sat Aug 09 06:57:40 -0700 2008 Sat Aug 09 07:39:01 -0700 2008 "exhuberance" & its visual swagger -- using maps, rebuses & secret codes to detail the tale of a family, where no one resembles another*, impacted by the divorce of the parents...more...]]> 1 3 false false Sun Aug 10 23:06:46 -0700 2008 Sun Aug 10 23:36:26 -0700 2008
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There is detail here. Shaw has paid attention to it and so should you. Note the coming of dusk. Note the one "true" glimpse of Peter. Note how the "x" marks the "...more...]]> 4 0 false false Wed Oct 28 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Tue Oct 27 09:26:14 -0700 2009 Wed Oct 28 06:53:12 -0700 2009
...more...]]> 4 0 false false Sat Oct 10 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Mon Oct 12 17:30:24 -0700 2009 Mon Oct 12 17:30:24 -0700 2009 Hope Larson's (much prettier) work. He has the guts (or patience or balls) to leave blank space halfway through 9 or 16 panel grids. He wastes pages, either with half panels or f...more...]]> 3 0 false false Sun Oct 04 18:52:43 -0700 2009 Sun Oct 04 18:58:36 -0700 2009 more...]]> 5 0 false false Sat Aug 01 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Sat Aug 15 21:27:01 -0700 2009 Sat Aug 15 22:11:42 -0700 2009 more...]]> 3 0 false false Thu Aug 13 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Thu Aug 13 14:40:07 -0700 2009 Fri Aug 14 02:00:14 -0700 2009 Bottomless Belly Button might not be described by most readers ...more...]]> 5 0 false false Tue Oct 13 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Thu Oct 08 15:58:54 -0700 2009 Tue Oct 13 11:48:48 -0700 2009 more...]]> 4 1 false false Sun Apr 20 00:00:00 -0700 2008 Tue Apr 22 13:58:33 -0700 2008 Tue Apr 22 14:01:21 -0700 2008 more...]]> 3 0 false false Mon Jan 05 00:00:00 -0800 2009 Thu Dec 25 07:37:37 -0800 2008 Mon Jan 05 08:14:37 -0800 2009 more...]]> 4 0 false false Wed Jan 07 00:00:00 -0800 2009 Mon Jan 05 02:38:38 -0800 2009 Sun Jan 18 12:05:19 -0800 2009 This is one big and heavy book! I had it mailed at work and had to carry it all the way home with me and it really weighed on my shoulder. Once home I got into it right away but followed the author advice and forced myself to take a 24-hour break between the different parts of the story. This was qu...

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Oddly, the most notable dysfunction about this book is its weight. I was reading it in bed one night and I accidentally dropped it on my face. I was so angry that right then and th...more...]]> 5 0 false false Sun Jan 04 13:16:02 -0800 2009 Tue Jan 06 17:10:29 -0800 2009 more...]]> 4 0 false false Tue Mar 17 08:38:52 -0700 2009 Tue Mar 17 08:48:44 -0700 2009 more...]]> 3 0 false false Wed Mar 11 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Sun Feb 08 21:32:57 -0800 2009 Mon Mar 16 09:02:52 -0700 2009 more...]]> 2 0 false false Fri May 01 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Tue May 12 14:09:33 -0700 2009 Tue May 12 14:15:08 -0700 2009 more...]]> 3 0 false false Sat Jan 17 00:00:00 -0800 2009 Tue Dec 30 04:54:04 -0800 2008 Sat Jan 17 08:41:28 -0800 2009 more...]]>