What kind of obstacles did you face while putting this title together?
The methods Dave uses to communicate are trying for someone my age. He is all about faxes and phone calls. He won’t make decisions about art on a screen, so he requires a printed copy of anything before he can form an opinion about it. I just wanted to email everything back and forth. Receiving a fax of an 11” x 17” photo mock-up in my inbox wasn’t particularly helpful. These faxes could get forwarded to me from any of three different intermediaries, which often led to confusion and breakdowns in communication.
One of the three intermediaries was a hired employee of Dave’s, who would send digital files through e-mail, but that was a one-way street. I could get things from the employee but was not supposed to send anything back through that channel. Anything I wanted Dave to look at had to be sent to Alfonso Espinosa at Studio Com.IX Press, a print shop in Dave’s hometown. Dave would go in every Monday to get anything that had been sent so he could review it.
This process delayed revisions by weeks. Things that could have been solved in less than an hour through email could take two to three weeks, or more, using this process. Extremely frustrating for me, but the opposite would have been frustrating for Dave. So, his book, his rules.
There were also restrictions on when I could call or fax Dave. Sunday’s, and many hours every day were off limits for religious observations – Dave follows a daily Islamic prayer schedule – and a period from like…Wednesday evening through Friday morning, that he had set aside to work on another project, so he asked that no communication about SDAOR happen during whatever those particular hours were. Sadly, given my profession as a college educator those were often the best times for me, so that caused issues and delayed decisions being made.
The largest obstacle was Dave’s own reluctance to publish the book. This delayed the project for many years. We were supposed to do four separate volumes. The art for Volume One had been completed by the end of 2016. Dave delayed publication until he walked away in the summer of 2020. There was always one more thing that needed to be done before the book got published.
You would think Dave walking away would have been the biggest obstacle, but actually it cleared the way for Sean and me to control the future of the project, which is why the work is finally seeing publication. And thank goodness Dave has been so gracious about letting us do this and letting me end the book the way I see fit.
What would you say is the most rewarding part of having Strange Death of Alex Raymond published?
The fact that it is going to be on sales shelf means everything to me. I was an anxiously awaiting fan of this work for many years before I got involved. I offered my services, for free, because I wanted to see the work finished so badly.
This is all about making sure the world gets to see the amazing work Dave created. SDOAR is the work of an apex-level-creator doing the best work he has ever done, an absolute masterclass in the potential of the medium. The thought that it might never see the light of day tortured me. That I somehow get to be the guy to wrap it up and bring it to the market is totally baffling.
In terms of audience, who is this book for?
I think there will be multiple audiences who value the work for different reasons. Some possibilities:
Anyone who loves comics as a medium should love it. Dave’s mastery of the form is more powerful than it has ever been in these pages.
Anyone who loves occult horror stories should love it. The clear connection between Ward Greene, Aleister Crowley and William Seabrook, combined with the voodoo Dave thinks Greene was doing in his scripts for Raymond’s comics is chilling. I am scared to have even worked on the book!
Anyone who loves the history of comics, or historical comics, will love it. Dave brings back to light the stunning accomplishments of a long-neglected generation of comic masters and forms the ground floor for further historical research into the topic of photorealistic illustration in comics. He also unearths some bombshell information about the possible blackmailing of Margaret Mitchell by Ward Greene, which should appeal to historians of literature.
Anyone who enjoys autobiographical comics should love it as it is ultimately the account of a creator who got so deep into a work that he could not find his way out.
Any academic who loves post-modern meta-textual literary analysis should love it. The layers, and layers, and layers of visual and textual metaphor Dave builds are endlessly rich sources for study.
Lovers of black-and-white ink illustrations will be able to appreciate this book without ever reading a single word. Just flipping through it is a true joy. If you enjoy beautiful art, you will love this book. If you enjoy insanely detailed art, you will love this book.
If you like beautiful book production, you will love this book. Our publisher, Sean Robinson, is the absolute best when it comes to preparing line-work for press. The quality of the printing on this thing is going to raise the bar several levels. See any of Sean’s restoration work on the Cerebus trades for a good indication of what the man can do. So many artists deserve better reproduction than they get. The entire industry should study what Sean does on this book and aim for the caliber of production he delivers.
It is not an easy work, but it is a great work, so anyone who loves great works of art should own this book.
What are you hoping readers take away from Strange Death of Alex Raymond?
We could have easily Kickstarted this work, made a pretty penny, and avoided the work of a public release. There is enough of a built-in fan base for that. I insisted we must bring to the shelves, especially bookstore shelves. I personally love walking through a good comic shop or bookstore, seeing a big, thick, beautiful looking book I have never heard of picking it up, and having my mind blown open.
This book is one of those books. My greatest hope is that a good number of budding artists who have never heard of it stumble upon it, are shook to the core, exposed to the great legacy of photorealistic pen and ink art Alex Raymond sired, which Dave and I are feebly tried to carry the torch for, and go on to produce the first great piece of photorealistic graphic literature.
Please, come kick the pants off all of us, future-art-legend. I want to read your book so bad!!!
As an academic, it would thrill me to see some academic writing both about the book and building on the floor that Dave lays. If anyone does such work, PLEASE pass it on!
Personally, I learned that devoting one’s life entirely to big-A Art is a damned pursuit that one should weigh very carefully. So, as much as I want to read that photorealistic graphic masterpiece by the next generation master of this style, please don’t create it at the expense of healthy relationships with friends and family. Your graphic novels aren’t going to be there for you when it matters most.
Realistically, the work is densely packed with multiple possible interpretations, so please make your own sense of it.
