Eighty-nine-year-old Jules Feiffer delivers the tour de force of his illustrious career in this epic finale that dares "to try things that film noir could only dream of" (Chris Ware). In The Ghost Script, Feiffer plunges us into the blowzy, boozy world of Blacklist Hollywood, circa 1953: witch hunts and Reds and pinkos and starlets and a mysterious, orchid-growing mastermind, the renamed "Cousin Joseph," running a back- channel clearinghouse for victims of the entertainment world's purge. Stumbling his way through this maze is private eye Archie Goldman, a tough-talking good guy, always a step or two behind in this fast-moving story of plots, counterplots, and goon violence. Meet Lola Burns, the buxom Blacklistee, desperate to get back into pictures, and O. Z. McCay and Fay Bloom, the booze-swilling, hard-living communist screenwriters. In this satiric assault on our past and present, Feiffer shows how the arc of American history evolves from starry dreams to thwarted and sold- out dreams.
Eighty-nine-year-old Jules Feiffer delivers the tour de force of his illustrious career in this epic finale that dares "to try things that film noir could only dream of" (Chris Ware). In The Ghost Script, Feiffer plunges us into the blowzy, boozy world of Blacklist Hollywood, circa 1953: witch hunts and Reds and pinkos and starlets and a mysterious, orchid-growing mastermind, the renamed "Cousin Joseph," running a back- channel clearinghouse for victims of the entertainment world's purge. Stumbling his way through this maze is private eye Archie Goldman, a tough-talking good guy, always a step or two behind in this fast-moving story of plots, counterplots, and goon violence. Meet Lola Burns, the buxom Blacklistee, desperate to get back into pictures, and O. Z. McCay and Fay Bloom, the booze-swilling, hard-living communist screenwriters. In this satiric assault on our past and present, Feiffer shows how the arc of American history evolves from starry dreams to thwarted and sold- out dreams.
Jules Feiffer (1929-2025) was a cartoonist, playwright, screenwriter, children's book author and illustrator, and member of the American Academy of Arts and Letters. He taught a humor-writing class at Stony Brook Southampton College and lived in East Hampton, New York.
"Feiffer is a master of sequential art and he takes us effortlessly
on a story of betrayal and revenge with plenty of twists to the
plot to keep the tempo fast moving and totally engrossing. The
characters are created with both empathy and insight that ensures
they keep our attention and the plot stays believable."
*Gnash Comics*
"Eighty-nine-year-old Jules Feiffer is a comics legend, and The
Ghost Script proves that age is just a number when it comes to
telling a compelling story... Feiffer’s skill at juggling noir
tropes with real-world Hollywood history is fascinating… he hits
every twisted beat, enlists and skewers every stereotype, and
employs his trademark drawing style to excellent effect – there’s a
fluidity to every character, a subtlety that proves you don’t have
to fill in every detail of a face and body to make the subject come
alive on the page."
*Starburst*
"This is a vibrant, speedy and, yes, at times angry, account of the
McCarthy era in Hollywood circa 1953, a mix-up of private eyes,
pinko writers, Union goons and right-wing loons."
*The Herald*
"Less emotionally stressful, though with deep seriousness lurking
beneath its shrewd wit and artistic energy, is Jules Feiffer’s The
Ghost Script ... the third in a trilogy of graphic novels by a
veteran cartoon satirist (Feiffer is 89). In straggly, super-vivid
monotone art, it pays homage to the Spirit comics of Will Eisner,
whom Feiffer once assisted, and the PI stories of mid-century
Hollywood."
*Tim Martin - The Spectator*
"... a mark of Feiffer’s mastery is that everything seems
inevitable once it has happened. It’s convincing genre
fiction."
*New Statesman*
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