{"id":1392,"date":"2007-03-15T06:35:49","date_gmt":"2007-03-15T11:35:49","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/explain-that-to-st-peter-mon-general\/"},"modified":"2007-03-15T06:35:49","modified_gmt":"2007-03-15T11:35:49","slug":"explain-that-to-st-peter-mon-general","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/explain-that-to-st-peter-mon-general","title":{"rendered":"Explain that to St. Peter, mon General"},"content":{"rendered":"

It’s all a bit of a blur after I invented wine.<\/p>\n

–Bacchus<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Doing the Islands with Bacchus<\/a>, a collection of comics by Eddie Campbell, is one of my all-time faves. Consisting of a travelogue of Bacchus and friends around the Greek islands, the comics relate the “real” stories behind some of the Greek myths, along with digressions on the history of fashion, the art of vinoculture, the discovery of champagne, and the nature of the afterlife (or afterdeath, as it turns out). Importantly, Campbell achieves this while keeping his characters as characters. That is, they don’t simply recite facts, but rather bring different perspectives and styles.<\/p>\n

The Last of the Summer Wine,<\/em> a 24-pager narrated by Bacchus’ companion Simpson as he, Bacchus and Hermes travel to Naxos by boat, is a marvel. The story manages to convey the glory of ancient Greek culture, make wry observations (verbal and visual) about the power of myth, and lead to a wonderfully poignant conclusion about the essence of love. Maybe it’s that inner classics-geek I’ve been referring to lately, but the final page of that comic always chokes me up.<\/p>\n

I bring all this up because Campbell recently wrote about one of his major influences on those comic strips<\/a>: the books of Walter James. I’d never heard of James before this, and with good reason. Sez Campbell, “He was an Australian wine maker who wrote several volumes of diaristic thoughts on just about everything, but mostly about winemaking and his enthusiasm for reading. They were published between 1949 (Barrel and Book,) and 1957 (Antipasto) and amounted to six volumes, of which I’ve managed to find four.”<\/p>\n

Give Eddie’s post a read<\/a>, take some delight in the excerpts of James’ writing, and tip a little libation to Bacchus, wouldja?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

It’s all a bit of a blur after I invented wine. –Bacchus Doing the Islands with Bacchus, a collection of comics by Eddie Campbell, is one of my all-time faves. Consisting of a travelogue of Bacchus and friends around the Greek islands, the comics relate the “real” stories behind some of the Greek myths, along … <\/p>\n

Continue reading “Explain that to St. Peter, mon General”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[26,4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1392","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-comics","category-literature"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p4C7K-ms","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":13472,"url":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/covid-check-in-with-eddie-campbell","url_meta":{"origin":1392,"position":0},"title":"COVID Check-In with Eddie Campbell","author":"Gil","date":"May 29, 2020","format":"audio","excerpt":"Virtual Memories Show COVID Check-In: Eddie Campbell Cartoonist & comics-historian Eddie Campbell checks in from Chicago. We talk Pandemic Hair, surviving with a pair of 2-month-old kittens (acquired by yesterday's guest, Eddie's wife Audrey Niffenegger), finishing his book on the great cartoonist and interviewer Kate Carew, the difference between imagining\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Art"","block_context":{"text":"Art","link":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/category\/art"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/wp-content\/uploads\/covideddiecomp.jpg?fit=1200%2C600&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/wp-content\/uploads\/covideddiecomp.jpg?fit=1200%2C600&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/wp-content\/uploads\/covideddiecomp.jpg?fit=1200%2C600&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/wp-content\/uploads\/covideddiecomp.jpg?fit=1200%2C600&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/wp-content\/uploads\/covideddiecomp.jpg?fit=1200%2C600&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":11838,"url":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/episode-292-eddie-campbell","url_meta":{"origin":1392,"position":1},"title":"Episode 292 – Eddie Campbell","author":"Gil","date":"October 23, 2018","format":"audio","excerpt":"Virtual Memories Show 292: Eddie Campbell \"What if you could be employed just sitting in a pub telling stories? I think that's where it began for me.\" Legendary cartoonist Eddie Campbell joins the show to talk about his first (sorta) prose book, The Goat Getters: Jack Johnson, the Fight of\u2026","rel":"","context":"In \"Alan Moore\"","block_context":{"text":"Alan Moore","link":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/tag\/alan-moore"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/wp-content\/uploads\/IMG_0853.jpg?fit=1200%2C1200&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/wp-content\/uploads\/IMG_0853.jpg?fit=1200%2C1200&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/wp-content\/uploads\/IMG_0853.jpg?fit=1200%2C1200&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/wp-content\/uploads\/IMG_0853.jpg?fit=1200%2C1200&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/wp-content\/uploads\/IMG_0853.jpg?fit=1200%2C1200&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":16165,"url":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/episode-545-eddie-campbell","url_meta":{"origin":1392,"position":2},"title":"Episode 545 – Eddie Campbell","author":"Gil","date":"July 11, 2023","format":"audio","excerpt":"Virtual Memories Show 545: Eddie Campbell \"There's probably a memento mori that runs through all my work, including The Fate of the Artist & The Second Fake Death of Eddie Campbell. The reminder that life is short and don't take it for granted.\" With the publication of The Second Fake\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Art"","block_context":{"text":"Art","link":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/category\/art"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/wp-content\/uploads\/campbell2023.jpg?fit=1200%2C524&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/wp-content\/uploads\/campbell2023.jpg?fit=1200%2C524&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/wp-content\/uploads\/campbell2023.jpg?fit=1200%2C524&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/wp-content\/uploads\/campbell2023.jpg?fit=1200%2C524&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/wp-content\/uploads\/campbell2023.jpg?fit=1200%2C524&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":1511,"url":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/track-record","url_meta":{"origin":1392,"position":3},"title":"Track Record","author":"Gil","date":"May 18, 2007","format":false,"excerpt":"Alan Bacchus at Daily Film Dose offers us a list of great long tracking shots in cinema (with clips)! 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But that's the very thing that distinguishes Kate Carew from all the others.\" Cartoonist & historian Eddie Campbell returns to the show with his fantastic new book, KATE\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Art"","block_context":{"text":"Art","link":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/category\/art"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/wp-content\/uploads\/campbell2024comp.jpg?fit=1200%2C533&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/wp-content\/uploads\/campbell2024comp.jpg?fit=1200%2C533&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/wp-content\/uploads\/campbell2024comp.jpg?fit=1200%2C533&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/wp-content\/uploads\/campbell2024comp.jpg?fit=1200%2C533&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/wp-content\/uploads\/campbell2024comp.jpg?fit=1200%2C533&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":9917,"url":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/episode-188-hayley-campbell","url_meta":{"origin":1392,"position":5},"title":"Episode 188 – Hayley Campbell","author":"Gil","date":"October 2, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"Virtual Memories Show #188: Hayley Campbell \"I love finding people who are obsessed with things. People who devote their lives to things are my obsession.\" Writer and Twitter provocateur Hayley Campbell joins the show for a conversation about her inability to describe her job (don't call her a \"content provider\").\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Comic books & strips"","block_context":{"text":"Comic books & strips","link":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/category\/literature\/comics"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/wp-content\/uploads\/29993554956_b8c114e6de_k.jpg?fit=1200%2C900&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/wp-content\/uploads\/29993554956_b8c114e6de_k.jpg?fit=1200%2C900&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/wp-content\/uploads\/29993554956_b8c114e6de_k.jpg?fit=1200%2C900&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/wp-content\/uploads\/29993554956_b8c114e6de_k.jpg?fit=1200%2C900&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/wp-content\/uploads\/29993554956_b8c114e6de_k.jpg?fit=1200%2C900&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1392","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1392"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1392\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1392"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1392"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1392"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}