Written by Dave Sim, Carson Grubaugh
Art by Carson Grubaugh
Published by Living The Line
About a decade ago, Dave Sim followed his record-breaking run on Cerebus with 26 issues of a truly odd experimental magazine entitled Glamourpuss. It wasn’t comics and there weren’t stories. The whole thing came across as a somewhat self-indulgent victory lap in which Dave was teaching himself—and us—very publicly about photorealism in comics. The most interesting aspect of Glamourpuss was certainly not its title character but rather an ongoing reflection on the intermingling art and lives of strip artists Stan Drake and Alex Raymond.
Drake was the artist on the long-running newspaper strip, The Heart of Juliet Jones and many years later he would take over Blondie in a wholly different style. Raymond was one of the most influential strip illustrators of all time with Flash Gordon, Jungle Jim, and Rip Kirby.
As befitting a man whose then-recently completed 6000-page epic meandered all over the map, the Drake/Raymond story—which inevitably leads to the latter’s death whilst speeding in the former’s sportscar—was relayed in over 250 pages in the most convoluted and surreal manner possible.
The new book, The Strange Death of Alex Raymond, by Dave Sim and Carson Grubaugh, has surprisingly little to do with any of those pages.
No, Sim chose to completely retell the tale, using probably 75% all new art and maybe 50% all new text. And while the story of Raymond’s death is truly interesting, this book—unlike the Glamourpuss version—never actually gets to that event.
Well, to be fair, it’s right there on the cover. The book begins with his death. And the very last image in the book is of the two men getting in the car, Raymond still alive. But in between those two non-sequential moments, although the death is briefly discussed, the reader finds more than 300 pages of utterly fascinating comics art history and technique analysis, philosophical and psychological revelations and presumptions, and unexpected conspiracy theories involving everyone from Aleister Crowley to Margaret (Gone with the Wind) Mitchell!
Dave Sim inserts himself into the narrative, as host, artist, storyteller, student, and teacher. And his art is gorgeous! For all of the talent and skills he developed on Cerebus and all he taught himself on Glamourpuss while we read along and watched, he succeeds here in showcasing an absolutely stunning photorealistic style of his own, even as writes again in some depth about studying the photo-realistic styles of the great comics masters of the 20th Century.
Dave being a character in his own story here gives it a nice meta feel. We can see him in the book…and then later he can see himself in the book! Before this new edition of the material was anywhere near done, Sim developed a mystery ailment which largely took away his ability to draw.
Enter Carson Grubaugh, an art instructor from Alabama and a quite talented illustrator and designer in his own right, who steps in to finish the last 100 pages plus with some input and minor art assists from Sim. There’s a little more to it than that and it’s all explained in some of the book’s text material.
Bottom line is that The Strange Death of Alex Raymond is a beautifully designed volume with endlessly clever use of pages, panels, black ink, and blank space. It’s clear that before his unfortunate medical issue, Sim has mastered the very photorealistic techniques he writes about as the art is the kind one continues to stare at long after one has finished reading the page. The book is funny, sad, frustrating, and bizarrely hypnotic, but I’m not sure there’s an audience for it. It’s too existential to be genuine art history, too name-droppy for the average reader, and just a bit too over-the-top in these days of daily conspiracy theories in all aspects of our lives.
I liked the book, myself. Read it all in one sitting to be honest—one all day sitting. Unless you’re a hardcore Dave Sim fan, though, or, like me, just an overall nut for this kind of inventive, wacky craziness, I think the book will have a limited appeal and I don’t I feel I can recommend it.
Wouldn’t be surprised if it picks up an Eisner nomination next year, though.
Spoiler: Even though his death is never technically shown in the book, Alex Raymond is, in fact, dead…Stan Drake, too. R.I.P.
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