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The Boulevard of Broken Dreams Kim Deitch 9780375421914 Books

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The Boulevard of Broken Dreams Kim Deitch 9780375421914 Books

It is brilliant in its complex take, mixing some historic facts with Deutch’s imagination to tell a somewhat nightmare-ish narrative. Very imaginative layouts.


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The Boulevard of Broken Dreams Kim Deitch 9780375421914 Books Reviews

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.
erf aka Jon Backderf has a talent for depicting people at their crazy obsessive best. His comic My Friend Dahmer / Young Jeffrey Dahmer was a classic in the genre of books with the theme of "should have known" while his book about the Cleveland bar where his friends would go in high school to see all the new wave and punk acts is memorable for the way it captures the sheer energy and enthusiasm that comes with find a place that is so outside your normal surroundings that it feels magical.

I mention Derf because Deitch has a similar style. A little cleaner with the lines and more classic as befits a story about a Disney-like animator who makes a living out of a cartoon cat that doubles as his evil imaginary friend. Ted is at times romantic, lost in his dreams, drunk and mentally ill. This story includes scenes of a vaudeville that never was (complete with elephants), animators hunched over their desks, mental illness, red baiting and the mysterious deaths that turn into legends or footnotes depending on how they happen. There's a love story in the middle of this tale between the animator and Lillian, a fellow animator unrecognized for her talents and at the mercy of the rest of the men who use her, forget about her and in one case dies on her. She's not written as a slut thankfully so much as a woman who lives in a time when she's not really allowed to make the kind of bad choices she's making and still hold onto her career, reputation, etc. These two main characters don't exactly end up together because they are meant to be together (as implied by the opening when he's helping her with her animation while unwittingly talking about her affair with his brother) so much as they are the only two survivors after all this time and they come to each other as broken individuals that need to take care of each other.

However, I'm more impressed with the depiction of artists as craftsmen grinding out animation cells while creating some of most innovative art without realizing it. The story relies on the way this kind of grind can drive you crazy or make you even crazier and the cartoon cat only makes the whole thing that much more psychotic. In the art world, there are respected artists and great artists and often it takes death and nostalgia to merge the two.
Set primarily in the early 20th century, this is the story of a burgeoning cartoon studio that becomes famous producing animated shorts featuring Waldo the Cat. Except he's real but can only be seen by the head animator! The story follows disturbing events that led to the downfall of the studio and the wreckage remaining years later.

Anyone who has read Kim Deitch before will recognise many of the same themes prevalent in this book as explored in previous books the early days of cinema/animation, early 20th century curios, unreliable narrators usually drunk/on drugs, and the hinting that Waldo is a demon in cat form. This is all well and good but after reading most of Deitch's books ("Shadowland", "Alias the Cat!", "The Search for Smilin' Ed", "A Shroud for Waldo") it's getting a bit repetitive and boring.

Don't get me wrong, I still like his work, I mean his artwork is always brilliant and inventive, his layouts imaginative and drawing style instantly recognisable - but coupled with a mediocre story where there's no real main character and the theme seems to be anti-corporate art, "Boulevard of Broken Dreams" isn't a very involving read and rambles at times. The characters have an on-again-off-again romance but compared to, say, the inventiveness of "Smilin' Ed" or "Shadowland", "Boulevard" is a drab and uninteresting book set in drawing studios or run down apartments. Waldo pops in now and then but doesn't play a big part in the story.

Deitch is a wonderful comic book artist and writer and I had hoped "Boulevard of Broken Dreams" would be a masterwork but it's a disappointing and fairly minor piece. I recommend others to seek out "The Search for Smilin' Ed" or "Shadowland" for better examples of Kim Deitch's brilliance.
Not sure why. I guess it's just not my thing. Others will probably like it. I might have to re-visit it if I can find it again. Did I sell it or is it in storage?
It's got a great in-depth story. Wonderful drawings and just so unique. It's one of my favorite comics(not sure if graphic novel is the right word) of all time and I'd recommend it to anyone!
Not bad. The art is much better than the disjointed story.
Excellent comic from one of the modern cartooning forefather. Delightful story with touch of pathos and elements of cosmic humor. A must read.
It is brilliant in its complex take, mixing some historic facts with Deutch’s imagination to tell a somewhat nightmare-ish narrative. Very imaginative layouts.