The Boulevard of Broken Dreams is a strange work inspiring
a mixture of feelings. On the one hand,
it is an impressive work in that it is a sustained piece, with about 190 pages
of carefully drawn comics. There’s a
long detailed story spanning much of the twentieth century. It is politically aware, fully of historical
references and clearly sophisticated in its understanding of American
comics. The story verges on the surreal
and uses many absurd motifs of talking animals and circuses. Dietch is an excellent artist and the book
has few rivals in terms of its ambition and genre-expanding approach. However, I have to confess I found it almost
unreadable. The plot was tortuously
convoluted and didn’t hold my interest. 
The book would probably appeal
to devotees of underground comics and fans of Dietch will probably admire this
as one of his crowning achievement. I
would recommend that others curious about alternative comics start
elsewhere.

Link: Publisher’s
website

© 2003 Christian Perring. All rights reserved.

Christian
Perring, Ph.D., is Chair of the Philosophy Department at Dowling College,
Long Island, and editor of Metapsychology Online Review. His main research
is on philosophical issues in medicine, psychiatry and psychology.

Categories: ArtAndPhotography