Written and Illustrated by Kim Deitch
Published by Fantagraphics Books
Kim Deitch is one of those creators that really has made some of the best alternative comics that there ever has been. He is so good at what he does, yet he makes it look so simple.
It is a book that is billed as not being just how Kim Deitch makes comics but also how comics made him. And that to me was an intriguing idea.
I wasn’t sure what to expect from this book at first but man, once I dug info it I really could not stop. This is a hell of a book, a one of a kind, done by a one of a kind artist.
It is a little hard to review this book but I am going to try.
Deitch is a creature who creates very, VERY dense works. In some ways, his work is very close to prose in its density. We get to see Kim Deitch at every aspect of his creative process.
The gateway to all of the various aspects of this book lay in Deitch himself. Here, we get to see him pitch story after story to his partner Pam Butler. Butler is a regular in his usual autobiographical comics so we get to see the usual back and forth between the two. What is different here, is that each time he pitches a work, it sort of takes on a life of its own.
Each story that Deitch comes up with really expands out. We get to see fiction and non fiction sort of blend together. We get to see past and present sort of bleed together. We get a story of a friendship that is struck with Forrest J. Ackerman and Deitch’s mother Marie.
This one is particularly interesting as we get to see Marie meet and talk with some semi famous people at Clinton’s Cafeteria in Los Angeles. With this, Deitch explores the way a story can become its own dimension in a sense. Did this story with his mother actually happen? Or did only some of it happen and the rest is made up? Does it really matter in the end anyway?
All of it is very interesting and bigger questions are raised throughout. And even when we get answers, it just leads to more questions.
We also get to see Deitch’s own fascination with the early comics in the early 30s and the 40s, at the beginning of the Golden Age of Superheroes. We get to see affection that Deitch has for Little Orphan Annie and such comics. We see the influence that it has on him and on his own professional work. This is especially interesting as we get to see how it affects his development and all of the work he has done. We even see how it affected him to actually choose to become an artist in his own right. It really is quite fascinating to read.
Deitch also loves animals. We get to see that in the book’s elaborate framing sequences for sure. We see Deitch’s pet cats, sure. We see his apartment with all various sorts of stuffed animals. But we also get to see that love of animals in his work. He certainly has a lot of anthropomorphic animals in his comics work. And there are certainly some of that in this book as well. He really does show us what he enjoys to draw each time he does it. It makes his work so identifiable and easy to digest. His work definitely shows what he is passionate about and what he loves.
The question that Deitch asks is “what makes a good story?” He explores that question to the hilt during the course of this book. He shows the many dimensions that a good story can have and all of the challenges and possibilities as well. He also does so in the most joyous and inspiring ways that he is able to.
This is a very different book for him, maybe a once in a lifetime kind of thing. But he is at the top of his game here, and really shows that he still has a lot to contribute to the world. I ended up loving this book. It is truly a memorable read from start to finish.
RATING: A
