Nightmare Alley

    (Fantagraphics, 2003)
™ and © Fantagraphics Books, Inc.

From reading Editor Gary Groth’s foreword, one might think that the title of this book stemmed from its arduous 12-year path from conception to publication — a journey that began with an entirely different writer and publisher before the project finally found a home at Fantagraphics.

Fans of 1940s-era noir novels and films will know before reading Groth’s introduction, however, that this story first saw light as a novel by William Lindsay Gresham and was then adapted into a Tyrone Power feature film more than 50 years before this graphic novel. And noir-ish it is, chronicling the rise and fall of carnival magician and false-spiritual con-artist Stanton Carlisle.

But beyond the dark and seamy backstage carnival atmosphere, it’s a fairly typical story of a bottom-rung performance artist’s hunger for fame and fortune and how his vices and greed eventually bring on his downfall. Spain’s lengthy adaptation gives the story breathing room and sufficient space to unfold, but, rather than use this space to give the story any kind of artistic hook, his simple layouts and dry narrative make this read more like an adaptation of a 12-hour documentary than a two-hour film. The result isn’t bad or unlikable by any means, but it could have been better.

— Jim Johnson
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