Funds for Bookworm are provided in part by Lannin Foundation.

You are a human animal.

You are a very special breed.

Or you are the only animal.

Who can think, who can reason, who can read.

From KCRW, Santa Monica, I'm Michael Silverblatt, and this is Bookworm. Today I'm thrilled

to have it for this show, Breakdowns by my friend Art Spiegelman. Its subtitle is Portrait of the Artist as a Young Blankety Blank. And, you know,

I choose the books very carefully, but there's nothing I like better than to have Art Spiegelman.

And when he has a new book, you can be sure that you're going to hear about it on Bookworm.

Now, because this book breakdowns is very concerned with the tools of the cartoonists' art,

you know Art Spiegelman from Mouse and the fabulous and famous covers of the New Yorker

and from many bookworm programs.

Because this book is concerned with the tools of the cartoonist art,

the title, Portrait of the Artist as a Young Blankety Blank,

is made up of signs that are beloved of cartoonists world over.

And how would you say blankety blank art?

Oh, let's see.

Percent, Arabats, Squiggle, Star, exclamation point.

I actually was going to have it as the title rather than the subtitle,

and I realized I'd be shooting myself in the foot because nobody could ask for the book.

They wouldn't know what to say because most of the ways of asking for it would involve getting kicked out of the store.

Now, first, the book is in two major sections with an afterward, and breakdowns is the center of the book.

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