"Comics' answer to Finnegan's Wake, an inspired work of obsessive
genius that will take a long time to untangle." - Rob Salkowitz, Senior
Contributor, FORBES
"The Strange Death of Alex Raymond is one of the most spectacular
comics I have ever read or seen. I can't recommend it enough, although you may
hate it. Bizarre and beautiful and completely unique." - Jim Rugg, Cartoonist Kayfabe, Street Angel, The P.L.A.I.N. Janes
"This is a master work. I'm honoured to have even laid eyes on it." - E.S.
Glenn, author of Unsmooth, cartoonist for The New Yorker
"A
must-read for anyone interested in the history and craft of comics" - Brandon
Graham, King City, Warhead, Prophet
"Grubaugh provides a brilliant and fitting conclusion to what would have
otherwise been one of the most notable unfinished works of recent times. I for
one am excited at holding the completed Strange Death of Alex Raymond in
my hands." - Gary Spencer Millidge, Strangehaven, Alan Moore: Portrait of an
Extraordinary Gentleman
Legendary creator Dave Sim is renowned
world-wide for his groundbreaking Cerebus the Aardvark. Now, in The
Strange Death of Alex Raymond, Sim brings to life the history of comics'
greatest creators, using their own techniques. Equal parts Understanding
Comics and From Hell, Strange Death is a head-on collision of
ink drawing and spiritual intrigue, pulp comics and movies, history and fiction.
The story traces the lives and techniques of Alex Raymond (Flash Gordon, Rip
Kirby), Stan Drake (Juliet Jones), Hal Foster (Prince Valiant), and more, dissecting their techniques through recreations of their artwork,
and highlighting the metatextual resonances that bind them together.
The Strange Death of Alex Raymond is a beautifully drawn but largely inscrutable graphic novel begun by Dave Sim and more or less completed by Carson Grubaugh. Due out in Aug 2021, it's 320 pages and will be available in hardcover format.
This is a difficult book to evaluate and review. On the one hand the art is top notch - beautifully rendered and clean - it mesmerizes. The story on the other hand is just strange and very disjointed. It begins (mostly) understandably, with a parallel narrative essay on photorealism generously interleaved with kind of nutsobonkers conspiracy theory and soon switches into turbo-numerology and around that point I lost (and never found) the plot again.
If it's truly sublime genius, a modern comics stream-of-consciousness nod to Finnegan's Wake, Anna Karenina and other classics, or simply self absorbed navel gazing must be left to wiser minds than mine. I do know that I simply couldn't catch any narrative threads and wasn't able to sink myself into the story at any point, but I really loved looking at the art.
Five stars for the art. Two stars for the narrative (which may well have been too intellectual and subtle for me). Three and a half stars overall. For Dave Sim completionists, this will be a must-buy. Probably important for public library acquisition, otherwise I'm in a bit of a quandary for audiences for whom this will be a good fit.
Disclosure: I received an ARC at no cost from the author/publisher for review purposes.
