Syncopated

    (Syncopated, 2005)
™ and © 2005 respective creators

Self-publishing New Yorker Brendan Burford assembled this outstanding 64-page anthology series of original comic strips and short prose dealing with the theme of reportage. That is, for each issue, Burford asked several writers and cartoonists to submit a piece of work that reports on something of interest to them—people they know, places they go, or some other subject they each feel merits profiling in a short comic or prose format.

What might sound like a service of weak tea becomes an open bar of full-flavored brews. Mr. Burford and his talented crew of contributors—including, among others, Canadian cartoonist Rina Piccolo (Six Chix, Tina’s Groove), webcomic producer Sara Rosenbaum (Catburglar’s Daughter), and Jim Campbell (Krachmacher)—have a tony, literary product that stands toe-to-toe with the best work coming out of Drawn and Quarterly or Fantagraphics.

Adding up to more than the sum of its parts—as all good anthologies strive to do—Syncopated contains memorable strips that serve as studies in effective comics storytelling and short essays evocative of an artist’s unique sensibility. Ms. Rosenbaum’s poignant “Obit” economizes on image and text to produce an outsized emotional result while essayist Sherwin Dunner’s discourse on a forgotten blues singer recalls Seymour in Daniel Clowes’ Ghost World.

Ostensibly without a wide distribution vector and presently without any web presence, Burford welcomes email at bluebrendan at hotmail dot com for help finding issues of Syncopated.

— Leland Burrill
Jump to issue:
  • 1
    #1
    Sep 2002
    Cover: $6.95
    W: Brendan Burford, Nick Bruel, Ruben Bolling, James Kochalka, Jennifer Sorensen, Brian Haimes, Nate Powell, A.D. Condo, Ivan Brunetti  ·  A: Brendan Burford, Jim Campbell, Rina Piccolo, Brian Haimes, Glenn Mott, Sara Rosenbaum, Trish Vandenbergh, Sherwin Dunner
    1 copy for $5.50
  • 3
    #3
    Jan 2007
    Cover: $15.00
    W: Brendan Burford, Jim Campbell, Rina Piccolo, Dave Kiersh, Nick Bertozzi, Greg Cook, Tom Devlin, John Martz, Paul Hoppe, Susie Cagle  ·  A: Brendan Burford, Jim Campbell, Rina Piccolo, Dave Kiersh, Nick Bertozzi, Greg Cook, Tom Devlin, John Martz, Paul Hoppe, Susie Cagle, Gary Gianni
    8”x 11”; Squarebound; B&W
    1 copy for $12.00