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Orr and Ullman (Bobby, But not Norm)By Joe Hilliard Since Comicon 2008 is taking place in San Diego even as I type this, I figured what better time to do a column about … hockey. It's been awhile since I've wrote about my one real sports obsession; a few years ago I opined on Cam Neely's election to the Hockey Hall of Fame. Oddly enough, we are going to talk about the Boston Bruins again. I'm not a particular Bruins fan, but there is no denying their place as one of the preeminent franchises in the sport. And one of the enduring legacies of the team is the play of defenseman Bobby Orr.
Stephen Brunt 's 2007 book Searching for Bobby Orr examines the state of hockey in the late-60s/early-70s, the career of Bobby Orr, and, to a lesser extent, the zeitgeist of Canada in that same period. Tracking Orr from his youth in small town Parry Sound, Ontario on up to his present-day career as a hockey agent, the book alternately drops you into the very intimate world of Bobby Orr then swoops back up into the ether, making Orr an enigmatic cipher. Which makes the book interesting, but not necessarily a great, biography. Brunt is best in the early chapters when he concentrates on the details of the pre-expansion National Hockey League and its influence on small town Canada, a world of amorphous territories to be poached by the big clubs, kids eager to make it to the highest level of the sport, and the personalities of that time. These sections are much more vibrant than the views of Orr's actual NHL career and its aftermath. Those sections are not nearly as complete, leaving too much unsaid. Similarly, the early life of Orr is painted very vibrantly, but his adult life is hidden for the most part behind a veil. Brunt hints at Orr's dark side, starts some anecdotes, then pauses, and disappears back into his over-reaching story of the state of hockey. His mea culpa at the end of not wanting to aggravate Orr and his family rings hollow; he wants to have his cake and eat it too. Perhaps the biggest omission is most glaring by its presence in several places, notably the end of the book. Alan Eagleson. Brunt spends a good portion of the early life of Orr to build up Eagleson, his habits, his charm. It runs like a biography within a biography for much of the first half of the book. We get to see who he is, what he means to Orr, to hockey. And yet, just as his own career plunges into flames, he disappears until a token court appearance at the very end. If you're not familiar with the story, then you have little idea to what meaning to ascribe his downfall in terms of Orr, and in terms of the sport of hockey. To be sure, there are books on Eagleson available, but it leaves a lurch in the second half. I was also disappointed in the lack of photographs. For a sport built upon images of flashy skaters, rugged defenders and daredevil goalies, the book is very light in that department, and the photos that are used are not particularly inspiring. There are so many great photos of that time period you see, especially of Orr; it's a shame not to have more of them here to illustrate his story. It's a funny thing. The negatives outweigh the positives in many regards when it comes to this book. And yet it is a very compelling read. If you're not a hockey fan, this won't convert you. It won't even interest you. But, if you are a hockey fan, and a hockey history fan, then you should pick this one up, read it, and enjoy it.
In contrast, the work of Robert Ullman is accessible and enjoyable by everyone. Keeping with the theme of the column, we'll look at his self-published comic, Old-Timey Hockey Tales! A scant sixteen pages long, the book is primarily a biography of goaltender Terry Sawchuk. And it's a darn good one at that. In many ways more successfully than Brunt, he captures the nature of the prickly Sawchuk and the flavor of 1950s/60s hockey. His evocative drawings of Sawchuk bring him to life as photographs would not. Of particular note is an 3/4 page of Sawchuk in his Red Wings uniform with details of all the injuries his body took over the years penciled in around him. It's fascinating. It's disturbing. And yet also amazingly beautiful. And extra points for the cover which recreates a hockey program cover of old. I love his funky Black Hawks jerseys. At $2, it's worth every penny. Ullman's website is: http://ullman.lurid.com/. Check it out for not just his comics, but his pin-up work, and his children's books. He does some mighty fine work all the way around. Searching for Bobby Orr was published by Triumph Books, a division of Random House 
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