The Chuckling Whatsit

by Richard Sala

Overview

The 1997 magnum opus of the late Richard Sala, master of graphic noir, has been out of print for years and is now available in hardcover for the very first time.

Sala weaves the gothic cartooning traditions of Edward Gorey and Charles Addams with a melodramatic murder mystery involving astrology, ghouls, academia, and outsider art. Part noir, part horror, and part comedy, this labyrinthine tale of intrigue follows an unemployed writer named Broom who becomes ensnared unwittingly in a complex plot involving mysterious outsider artist Emile Jarnac, the shadowy machinations of the Ghoul Appreciation Society Headquarters (GASH), and the enigmatic Mr. Ixnay. Sala's deadpan delivery makes this ingeniously layered narrative a roller-coaster ride of darkly pure comic suspense. Sala's drawing style also reveals the influence of everything from Hollywood monster movies and Dick Tracy to German expressionism and Grimm's fairy tales. It's a style that's perfectly suited to the narrative, constantly flirting with Sala's fascination for the grotesque and lending palpable tension to the gruesome riddle of The Chuckling Whatsit.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781683966975
Publisher:	Fantagraphics
Publication date:	01/17/2023
Pages:	200
Product dimensions:	7.40(w) x 10.30(h) x 1.00(d)

About the Author

Richard Sala (1954–2020) grew up in Chicago. He had an MFA from Mills College, created over a dozen graphic novels, collaborated with Lemony Snicket, and illustrated a Jack Kerouac script. He spent most of his adult life in Berkeley, CA.

Editorial Reviews

"Pulp fiction tropes are gleefully plundered, but Sala wrangles it all together with brilliant invention, and winning charm, managing to be both gruesome and glorious, horrific and hilarious, with fantastically fiendish reveals. It’s packed with ironic humor, yet it’s increasingly gripping, and whenever Sala seems to have pulled all the plot threads together, there’s another twist."

The Slings & Arrows

"Richard Sala was wonderfully unique. It was all there in everything he did, his love of old monster movies, the pulps, mystery and horror in general — the good stuff and the terrible — wore it all like a badge of honor and did wonderful things with it. I miss him."

Mike Mignola

"Labyrinthian in plotting and constantly sending the readers down new avenues before arriving at a titillating conclusion, Sala’s shadowy humor, along with his bold line, consistently make for nothing short of a fully-formed reading experience."

NeoText

"Recipe for ‘The Chuckling Whatsit’: 2 oz. wood-ear-mushroom-infused bourbon, 2 oz. brandy, a few of shakes angostura bitters. In memory of an artist of great flourish and influence."

Daniel Handler (aka Lemony Snicket)

"Sala's parody is so deliciously apt that he doesn't need actual jokes or comedy to be howlingly funny."

Booklist

"One of the great comics minds of the past half-century, a testament to the power of pure, unfiltered imagination."

Syfy Wire

"This new edition is a welcome reminder that the The Chuckling Whatsit is a timeless and towering achievement of both the spooky thriller genre and of the graphic fiction medium."

The Beat

Pulp fiction lives (or at least lurches about entertainingly) in this lurid melodrama that features a swarm of characters in manic pursuit of the eponymous Whatsit, a leather doll that laughs when shaken and may be made from flayed human skin. Unlike The Maltese Falcon, there's no smart, unsentimental Sam Spade on hand to sort things out. Instead, intrepid but rather dense reporter Broom wanders through a tangled plot, bumping repeatedly into assassins, femme fatales, dangerous servants, obsessed doll collectors and a lunatic, leather-masked serial killer. Even though almost everyone dies along the way, the mystery persists through the final bloodbath. The considerable fun is in watching the action slosh further and further over the top. Sala's black and white art is appropriately grotesque, looking like a comics version of The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari: buildings tilt ominously around misshapen characters whose noses point in multiple directions and whose feet only sometimes touch the ground. The wildly imaginative storytelling and sly pastiche of lurid pulp material make an appealing mix. (Nov.) Copyright 2005 Reed Business Information.

Publishers Weekly

Sala, whose work has been seen in the New York Times, Esquire, and Playboy, here offers a novel first serialized in Zero, Zero. This mildly chilling black-and-white work concerns the hunt for the "Chuckling Whatsit," a doll rumored to be made from the skin and hair of victims of a serial killer supposedly dead. Protagonist Broom, a daily horoscope writer, quickly falls into dangerous company because he allegedly has information about the murderer. Instead of running, Broom joins the hunt, believing that if he identifies the killer he will be paid handsomely. Sala's style nicely mixes the humorous and the horrific as he appropriately distances himself from his protagonist and other supporting characters. In a story that leaves no survivors, readers are nevertheless more amused than terrified. For larger public libraries.Stephen Weiner, Maynard P.L., Mass.

Library Journal