The Chuckling Whatsit

New hardcover edition. In The Chuckling Whatsit, Sala weaves the gothic cartooning traditions of Edward Gorey and Charles Addams with a densely constructed, melodramatic murder mystery involving astrology, ghouls, academia and outsider art. Part noir, part horror and part comedy, this labyrinthian tale of intrigue follows an unemployed writer named Broom who becomes unwittingly ensnared 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, while most often compared to Edward Gorey, 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. Sala's eclectic career includes contributions to Art Spiegelman's RAW magazine, MTV's Liquid Television, The New York Times, Playboy and his ongoing Evil Eye comic book series from Fantagraphics, though The Chuckling Whatsit remains his most popular work.

Mike Mignola

"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."

Daniel Handler (aka Lemony Snicket)

"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."

Publishers Weekly

"Sala’s wildly imaginative storytelling and sly pastiche of lurid pulp material make an appealing mix."

Booklist

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

The Slings & Arrows

"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 Beat

"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."

Syfy Wire

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

NeoText

"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."

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.

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