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Cannibal
Ants
By
Ruth McGurk. The artist's darkly comic imagination is sparked by
a strange-but-true occurrence on a Royal Jordanian Airlines flight.
Hundreds of Bible "fans" returning from the Holy Land
drop to their knees in the aisles as the plane descends. Meanwhile,
the artist wonders if they have seen the emergency instructions
card's serene depiction of a crash at sea. Yellow chutes launch
themselves from the plane and metamorphose into festive tents on
a pond; no chaos, no smoke, no body parts. Only a note to the doomed
to remove their high heels on the way out. The loopy pictograms
spurred McGurk to do a cartoon disaster book. The result is this
tale of an airliner crash in the jungle with only a few survivors
who are themselves subsequently devoured by flesh-eating ants. This
hardly-appealing-on-the-surface storyline is brought to humorous
life through McGurk's intricate, linocut illustrations of the jungle
drama. Spare text on the pages and a story synopsis on the front
cover flap guide us through the unfolding events. An engaging journey.
Letterpress from reduction blocks and Ultra Bodoni Italic type on
BFK Rives paper. Handbound in red printed wrappers with exposed
spine sewing. (6.25 x 9.25 inches.) 1996.
$400
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