Long Time Relationship

by Julie Doucet

For the past two years, legendary cartoonist Julie Doucet has spent much of her time in her Montreal studio producing a series of bold lino-cut prints and now for the first time ever they are collected in Long Time Relationship , a beautifully-produced book available exclusively in this cloth edition. The book is divided into six chapters, each focusing on a theme; one is a series of eerily compelling portraits based on a dozen family photographs Doucet found discarded in a garbage can in Berlin. In another series, Doucet explores gender issues as no one else can with twenty hilarious, somewhat unflattering portraits of the "modern man". She deftly explores other themes, ranging from fortune cookies to female sexuality (go figure!), and everything is neatly encompassed in this sharply-designed art book. Julie Doucet is internationally renowned for her wry, sexually-charged work, a sort of "female R. Crumb" of comics. She is the author of four books, including the 2000 Firecracker Award-Winner My New York Diary.

Genres: Comics, Graphic Novels, Graphic Novels Comics, Art, Comix

152 pages, Hardcover

First published October 1, 2001

About the author

Julie Doucet is a Canadian underground cartoonist and artist, best known for her autobiographical works such as Dirty Plotte and My New York Diary.

Doucet began cartooning in 1987. Her efforts quickly began to attract critical attention, and she won the 1991 Harvey Award for "Best New Talent".
Shortly thereafter, she moved to New York. Although she moved to Seattle the following year, her experiences in New York formed the basis of the critically-acclaimed My New York Diary (1999). She moved from Seattle to Berlin in 1995, before finally returning to Montreal in 1998. Once there, she released the twelfth and final issue of Dirty Plotte before beginning a brief hiatus from comics.
She returned to the field in 2000 with The Madame Paul Affair, a slice-of-life look at contemporary Montreal which was originally serialized in Ici-Montreal, a local alternative weekly. At the same time, she was branching out into more experimental territory, culminating with the 2001 release of Long Time Relationship, a collection of prints and engravings. In 2004, Doucet also published in French an illustrated diary (Journal) chronicling about a year of her life and, in 2006, an autobiography made from a collage of words cut from magazines and newspapers (J comme Je).
In 2007, Doucet published 365 Days, in which she chronicles her life for a year, starting in late 2002.
After a long hiatus, Doucet came back to publication with Time Zone J (2022).

Reviews

[Shazia · Rating 4 out of 5]

I've read quite a few of Doucet's works recently and I wouldn't say I'm a huge fan but I actually really enjoyed Long Time Relationship! I liked taking a look at her different works, from the portraits she created based on random photographs, to her illustrations of fortune cookie messages. And I'll admit, sometimes I just don't "get" her art (e.g. Carpet Sweeper Tales), but I do think she is a talented artist.

[StrictlySequential · Rating 2 out of 5]

Zero story and obsessively hectic. Compulsively GROSS.

At least you get to see her work in colors, wood-cuts and lino-cuts.

Collections of real and imagined people done in mostly Canada and Germany with no consistent language- swerving between English, German and French.

Reflections and ruminations on herself throughout.

Issues 1, 34*, and 2 of her "Sophie Punt" mini-comic from stay in Germany.

*she was 34 years old

[Al McCarty · Rating 5 out of 5]

Julie Doucet is one of a kind.

I do wish we had a few more books like this, though.
I will take what I can get.
As for this, it's essential, joyful
cartooning-as-art.

[Lily O'Donnell · Rating 5 out of 5]

My fav collection of doucett work . Really funny and a good time . Would read again.

[Sara Ghotb · Rating 2 out of 5]

Totally pointless and boring. There was no clear story, just a bunch of paintings of different people. I didn't even enjoy the paintings themselves.

[Jason · Rating 2 out of 5]

Some of the drawings are alright, pretty funny. This is sort of like scraps. Like releasing tracks of a dead artist, pre-released studio recorded for the sake of selling just something else. I found it kind of pointless though.

[P. · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is sort of a collection of zines and artwork, not a sustained narrative. I liked it. I liked that there was an underlying streak of cruelty that made me uncomfortable.

[Hannah Garden · Rating 3 out of 5]

I mean what I'm gonna say I don't like this no, I'm not gonna say that. It's not a story though it's just pages. Fftt.

[Dania · Rating 2 out of 5]

Traumatizing in the most uninspiring way

[A.K. · Rating 3 out of 5]

Fixated on the grotesque, neurotic, non-linear. Doucet is my kind of woman.