The Boulevard of Broken Dreams

Sometime when I was in university and looking for a break from the dense and exhausting curriculum of the English major I wandered into the on-campus comic store and bought the thickest book available. That was "Bone: One Volume Edition" by Jeff Smith and since then I've been like a junkie. I'd discovered this intricate, wonderful, seemingly bottomless world of art, that I was, until now, totally ignorant of. And beginning with D.C.'s Vertigo imprint, I was slowly initiated into the society of Comic Geek. We're supposed to call them "Graphic Novels" now so that they can be reviewed by the likes of "Time Magazine" and allow the critics to give a guilt free review of kid's stuff in the latest issue. Well whatever, however society chooses to embrace this art I'm just glad the age of "by a minority for a minority" has passed. Which brings us to "Boulevard of Broken Dreams" by Kim Deitch. I had never heard of this book before I bought it, nor had I heard of Kim Deitch or Waldo the Cat. I had heard good things, though, about this book and as I flipped though it I thought it looked a bit like R. Crumb and imagined it as some sort of surreal pseudo-psychedelic nightmare detailing repressed sexuality and high-school embarrassments. That was what I thought. What I found was a wonderfully intricate and ambitious story that jumped through time and chronicled the various lives of the people affected by the insanity of Waldo, the epitome of creative idealism. What's great about this book, and why it would appeal to anyone interested in modern art or animation is that at its core it's about the integration of the artist into The Machine. The artist's work is praised then decried then bastardized; it's reborn and sold as kitsch then condemned as a sell out. It's about the struggle of a vision to be told; of a dream to be remembered. It echoes, in many respects, the struggles of Max Fleischer and deals with the impact of the Comics Code Authority and the general, let's not say "Disney-fication" let's just say "Cute-ificaton" of comics. The marketing of a developing art; the loss of control of a dream... the birth of a nightmare... This is a brilliant book with an involved and fascinating story. Every page is crowded with art, characters break through their frames; a light from one panel illuminates another. But more than that this story fits into a continuum of art. It marks the progress of a past age and comments on the popularity of the current one. I think all comics are inherently meta-fictional but this one combines the feverish artistic impulse with the need to sell in a way that is unique to this form of art. I encourage anyone who's made it this far in the review to read it. It's wonderful. And Waldo, well - he'll haunt you. He'll be there the next time you strike out in front of a girl or say the wrong thing to your boss. Oh yes, he'll be there, and he'll laugh and laugh and laugh and -

Kim Deitch is one of the great "underground" cartoonists, one of the artists whose groundbreaking work in the sixties and early seventies broke taboos against adult subject matter in comics. His work, though, always stood apart from that of contemporaries R. Crumb, Jack Jackson, Richard Corben and others. First, his visual style was never an attempt to mimic reality. It has always been, for lack of a better term, "cartoony". Second, though sex, drugs and rock `n' roll figure in his comics, they're usually in service of an actual story. Deitch's best-known character is Waldo, a cat, and Waldo is a featured character in the graphic novel, Boulevard of Broken Dreams. The book is a thinly-disguised history of animation focusing on artist Ted Mishkin's slow decline as Disney comes to dominate the industry. Deitch's art is astounding. He's one of the few comics artists who can bring the qualities of animation to the printed page. At first his art appears crude and one-dimensional. But as you look at it you realize there's so much more going on than talking heads in front of a sparse background.

Boulevard of Broken Dreams is a fascinating comic about the steady decline of an animator named Ted and the industry into which he breathed new life. An animation company of the '30s era creates "Waldo the Cat" shorts, but with the rise of Disney, the company tosses originality in favor of the cutesy watered-down style that has become so popular. New bosses, scandal, and tragedy rides the degradation of the cartoons all the way into the '90s. And all the while, Ted is tormented by hallucinations of the cartoon cat he created. This is the twisted story that Deitch has woven. And it's a good one, to be sure. From Ted's mind springs a popping, psychedelic world brimming with confusion and madness. While Ted is engulfed by his delusions, the people around him, his shifty brother Al, his uncertain romantic interest Lillian, and the aging great Winsor Newton all face the harsh realities of a business that loses its heart. The story makes references to classic animators, so cartoon history buffs can enjoy a few in-jokes. Tension and mystery abound, and it's a wonderful story for those who understand alienation or like a bit of bizarro reading.

I don't smoke, but I felt compelled to smoke while reading this book JUST to add to the cool facade that reading this was creating.you WILL look cool wherever you read this book. This is not lie. I repeat, you WILL look cool while reading this book. It's a good book about cool things, and if someone doesn't think you look cool while reading this book, you can be really pretentious and say something like, "well, nobody would expect you to understand anyways..." and slightly brush your hand against the air in dismay. "And besides, my thrift-store-Bohemain style is way cooler than your Wal-Mart style..."And the art and story are alright too.

One of the very best comic stories I've ever read. The art is amazing. The layouts from page to page are staggering in their creativity. The story itself is meshed so much with historical elements from early animation that you don't know where the fiction begins. The story is quite compelling, and very dark. Reads like non-fiction, if it were possible. This book will stay with you long after you put it down. Highest recommendation for anyone, comic fan or not.