Kim Deitch

I dearly love Kim Deitch's stories--they're some of the most bizarre bits of Americana you can find. Kim portrays himself as the narrator in books past but this time he takes the back seat as Waldo, his full-time tormentor and part-time revelator who begins life as a Disney-esque cat and takes on a life of his own as a minor demon from hell. This is the third book I've read of Deitch's (the first two were "Boulevard of Broken Dreams" and "Alias the Cat") and they've all been as equally show more enjoyable, mixing forgotten bits of Americana (children's shows, cartoons, movies, comics, etc.) with the psychedelia of characters who are tormented by invisible demons and hidden midget towns. show less

It took me a while to engage the style of this work, which is sort of a more graphically rigorous and less sordid version R. Crumb. It's not nearly as appealing at first glance as Chris Ware, for example. Once you are engaged, though, the visual storytelling is masterful. The story spans the very beginnings of animation in Vaudeville to the present-day world of theme parks and licensed collectibles. Deitch lays out a twisting moral and psychological path largely through the eyes of Ted show more Mishkin, an alcoholic animator tormented by the mischievous, sometimes demonic, but also pathetic character of Waldo the Cat. show less

This was kind of a strange book and totally not what I thought it would be about. But the story is very interesting and once you wrap your head around what it's actually about (i.e. not Waldo the cat but his creators and the life and death of their studio) you realize how interesting it really is.

This book is beautifully illustrated with intricate psychadelic splash pages that are dizzying even with their lack of color, if derivative of well-worn artistic territory pioneered by, for example, R. Crumb. The art is the highlight of an otherwise mediocre, sophomoric book. I didn't want the book on my shelf after I finished it, it was so disposeable.

An artist is tortured by a character he supposedly invented, but who is actually channeled from his own repressed desires. The character is show more marketed for children by a ruthless corporate opportunist, but moonlights in ruining the artists' life, driving him insane. It is Felix the Cat meets Fritz the Cat, replete with cat cartoon character. The female lead character Lillian, is a lone beacon of interesting writing in this book. It is too bad the comic was not about her instead. show less