Never too Late to Read Classics discussion

Graphic novel and comics fans, welcome to our read for Sept / Oct, Kings in Disguise by James Vance. The book was first published in 1990.

This award-winning tale, set in the height of the Great Depression, received rave reviews long before graphic novels became the phenomenon they are today. Hailed as one of the top 100 comics of all time by The Comics Journal, Kings in Disguise now reemerges as a classic. It is January 1932, and movie-loving Freddie Bloch is trading his father's liquor bottles for the cost a matinee: "Dreams were only a dime, but empty bottles [only] brought a penny apiece." When his father disappears and his brother gets arrested, Freddie finds himself homeless and adrift, trying to survive during the Detroit labor riots and amid the furor of violent, anti-communist mobs. Winner of the Eisner Award and the Harvey Award for Best New Series and an additional Eisner Award for Best Single Issue. (GR)

To anyone picking up Kings in Disguise , I would highly recommend reading the author’s preface. James Vance goes over the different events (both the obvious ones in the historical past as well as those during the time he was writing) that influenced his thinking. He also recounts the rather complicated evolution of this graphic novel and its central character, Freddie Bloch.

(view spoiler)[Set during the Great Depression, Kings in Disguise is a Bildungsroman, tracing roughly a year in the life of young Freddie, who at the novel’s outset lives in the fictional town of Marion, California. In short order, Freddie’s father, unable to find work, abandons the family and Freddie’s only remaining caretaker, his older brother, soon thereafter runs afoul of the law, the end result being that Freddie flees home to live the life of a hobo.

Some of themes encapsulated include the fragility of civilization, as when Freddie’s relatively comfortable world swiftly falls apart; and the need to confront life and the forces of oppression, even when those efforts are doomed to fail. The author’s perspective throughout the tale is unabashedly progressive. When, for example, Freddie is caught up in the 1932 Ford Hunger March, Vance’s sympathies are never in doubt. (hide spoiler)]

The artwork by Dan Burr is for the most part impressive. My only complaint, one I admittedly often have with graphic novels, is that it was sometimes difficult to tell the characters apart.

Overall, a solid thumbs up for Vance’s celebrated novel. Thanks to whoever recommended it for a group read.

✭✭✭✭

This was a very moving novel. I was surprised how much I liked it, given the difficult time period for people. I did have to study the faces to tell the difference between two young men or two older men.

I agree with Canavan to read the preface about how the graphic novel came to be.

I appreciate y’all’s insights about reading the preface. I know a lot of people tend to skip stuff like that in the beginning of a book.

I was able to pick up a cheap, used copy of James Vance’s On the Ropes , sort of a sequel to Kings in Disguise . I plan to read it within the next week or so. I’ll post any thoughts I have on it here.

Canavan, please do let us know your thoughts on the sequel. How crazy that you happened upon a used copy right after reading Kings in Disguise!