Derby Dugan's Depression Funnies: A Novel

"The story wanders and straggles the way real life does, rife with loose ends and unresolved questions and random twists and turns....[The novel] works best and comes alive most antically when Mr. DeHaven is dealing with the workings and lore of the comics world, which he clearly knows inside out....[He] seems as fond of Depression-era New York City as he is of comic strips, and is at pains to imbue his setting with the gritty...atmosphere of a Berenice Abbott photo album....In his cover art and full-page frontispiece, and in the frieze of characters that is repeated across the top of every page, the witty and sly Art Spiegelman has supplied a tantalizing glimpse of what the 'Derby Dugan' strip might have looked like.Tom De Haven is the author of 'Derby Dugan's Depression Funnies: A Novel', published 2002 under ISBN 9780312421335 and ISBN 0312421338.