Cinema Panopticum tells
several creepy tales in the manner of Roald Dahl or The Twilight Zone,
with pretty standard story-lines, but its charm lies in the wonderful artwork. 
Thomas Ott works in scratchboard, which is where a black waxy layer is put
over a white page, and then the work is created by carefully scraping away the
black wax with a special implement.  It is a rare skill that produces an effect
very different from using a black pen on a white page.  Ott’s artwork is
magnificent and easily carries off the task of telling a story without words. 

A girl has just five coins, but at
the fair she is visiting, everything seems to cost more.  She wanders around in
her zipper top and old fashioned skirt, with buckle shoes, gazing at the
different sideshows.  She starts out full of enthusiasm but becomes dejected. 
Then she stumbles upon the Cinema Panopticum, with five machines costing just
one coin each.  She puts a penny in the first one, called The Hotel, and she
watches a story of a man who checks into a hotel, but does not check out.  Without
giving away the ending, I will say that the final image of a large bug in a
kitchen is a feast for the eyes.

The girl looks at the machine with
a mixture of fascination and horror, but she quickly moves onto the next
machine.  Her eyes are big as she puts the coin into the slot to watch The Champion. 
This is set in Mexico; a champion wrestler receives an invitation to a mystery
match.  It turns out his opponent is Death, who is a skeleton in a black
cloak.  In a difficult fight, he defeats Death, and returns home proudly, only
to make a horrible discovery.

The girl goes on to view the three
other machines and sees other similarly spooky tales.  The book is a quick
read, with an appropriately twisted ending.  The artwork is very much in Ott’s
familiar style which is almost as distinctive as Edward Gorey’s.  Cinema Panopticum
will be a pleasure for fans of his work and it may also win him some new
devotees.

Links:

• Review of
  Thomas Ott’s Dead End
• Thomas Ott page
  at Comic Creator
• Fantagraphics
  Books

© 2005 Christian Perring. All
rights reserved.

Christian Perring, Ph.D., is
Chair of the Philosophy Department at Dowling College, Long Island, and editor
of Metapsychology Online Review.  His main research is on philosophical
issues in medicine, psychiatry and psychology.

Categories: ArtAndPhotography, Fiction