Deitch's Pictorama

Before the start of Deitch's Pictorama (Fantagraphics; $18.99), underground comics veteran Kim Deitch explains how the concept of graphic novels predates comic books themselves. While collecting Victorian
novels in the ’80s, Deitch found illustrations in many of them. While Charles Dickens hired artists to illustrate his books, William Thackeray did the work himself. Mark Twain went further, bringing illustrations into every page of Pudd'nhead Wilson.

The book starts with the longest story, "The Sunshine Girl," where Kim illustrates a fictional tale about two crown bottle cap collecting siblings and an adventure centering around the Sunshine Girl, the Holy Grail of bottle caps. Save for a few tangents, such as cocaine being the main ingredient of the original Coca-Cola and how Sunshine Soda was made with LSD, the story rolls merrily downhill as a long-lost relative is found, a new "crown cap king of, almost, the world" is named, and a religious conversion involving caps with the stations of the cross printed on them. Kim's other solo piece, "The Cop On The Beat, The Man In The Moon And Me," is grounded into reality, taking place in New York during 1968. While drawing cartoons for the East Village Other, Kim and his crush (a lead singer for a musical group) are drawn into the life of an old handyman who was part of the music scene in his prime. Near the end, the story goes off to the side, as Kim goes on about big band singers of the early 20th Century, indulging his taste for music made before his time. While the segue is somewhat unwarranted, Kim does provide a good resource for the subject, and his love of such talents as Russ Columbo, Eddie Lang and Bing Crosby shines through.

The other spotlighted brother in the book is Seth. Simon does pop up to provide illustrations for "The Golem," written by Seth. The story is told from three points of view: an 8th Century alchemist, his lovely daughter, and a modern-day archeologist piecing together the myth of the Golem, a tragic tale of vengeance and destruction. Simon's pictures are few in number, but they compliment the story better than Kim's cartoon style would have. Seth's other tale, "Children of Aruf" is strictly prose, with one illustration from Kim. The story takes place in a world where a dog joined Adam in leaving the Garden of Eden. This results in dogs that can speak. The narration is very matter-of-fact about this twist, though it isn't overplayed, even as the dogs are not deep thinkers by any means, yet almost incapable of lying.

The book's peak comes right in the middle with "Unlikely Hours," which is written by Seth with art from Kim.  Seth places himself as a late-night worker at a big laboratory, who is slowly drawn to the bizarre activities of alley rats. As time goes on, the story gets odder and odder, climaxing with a mad chase involving the rats, a makeshift blimp, and Seth's manuscript featuring the son of Zorro. While there is an air of horror and death, the mere sentence "I think the rats are up to something" adds a dark humor to the story, as well as a great tag line.

In the end, Deitch's Pictorama succeeds in entertaining, as well as a unique way to read comics. Readers should hope for a Deitch family reunion to happen soon in order for a follow-up to be printed.

-Jason Borelli