by RUPERT BOTTENBERG

In 1998, the Mirror resurrected Montreal comic artist Rick Trembles' weekly Motion Picture Purgatory - originally a source of controversy in the '80s, now rightly regarded as a dazzling display of both comic craft and cinematic criticism. The U.K.'s FAB Press recognized the strip's worth and has published an overdue collection of Trembles' accumulated MPPs, already acclaimed by cartoonist Peter Bagge, B-movie mogul Lloyd Kaufman, England's Empire film mag and many others. On the eve of the book finally hitting the racks, the Mirror threw conflict of interest out the window and quizzed Trembles on MPP.

Mirror: What are the advantages and disadvantages in using the comic-strip format for film criticism?

Rick Trembles: Advantages: Plot trajectories can be cross-sectioned, schematized and illustrated like maps or mazes, and a picture can be worth a thousand words. Disadvantages: Comics still suffer the kid-stuff stigma and people have an allergic reaction towards taking them seriously. Their loss.

M: Whenever possible, you construct the review/strip like a Rube Goldberg device or an amusement-park ride schematic. In fact, amusement-park rides are a longtime recurring element in your work, no?

RT: There was a point where I was mesmerized by Situationism for a bit - you know, all the world's an amusement park and stuff like that - which might account for the series of debauched tableaus I started compiling in the late '80s called God's Cocksuckers, that featured endless orgies of Dernier Cri-style sex and violence in theme-park settings. The MPPs happen to be drawn in the same proportions as those Cocksuckers, so it probably carried over a bit, but also, some Hollywood films these days are actually constructed in simultaneity with tie-in theme-park rides (e.g. the recent Van Helsing) so it's not such a stretch.

M: Every now and then, you contradict your usual dense and wordy approach for a simple, even abstract, non-verbal piece - I'm thinking of Being John Malkovich, the Planet of the Apes remake and Life. Why?

RT: If a simple gag pops up in my head, it makes my life easier because those text-heavy ones can turn into real feats of engineering. But I usually take the less-is-more route when I've been forced to sit through a movie I consider a complete turd, because I figure if the filmmakers didn't think their audience deserved any effort, why should I bust my ass with my review? It reflects my contempt.

Book launch at Fichtre! (436 de Bienville)
on Saturday, Oct. 30, 4 p.m.