A Preview of Percy Gloom

Cathy Malkasian will be having her first graphic novel, Percy Gloom, come out some time very soon through Fantagraphics. (In fact, some advance copies will be on sale at APE, but I understand that supply will be very limited.) I’ve had the good fortune of seeing this book develop over the last year, and it’s really terrific. On the surface, it’s about aspiring cautionary writer Percy Gloom moving to a new village to fulfill his dream of writing warnings on. The town is full of eccentrics, actually the whole world that Cathy creates is eccentric, and the tale is completely absurd, but again, that’s on the surface. Through all of the craziness there is something there, at the root of this world that is universal and keeps it all grounded.


Here’s the description from Amazon:

Occupying an unreal world of secret societies, benevolent families, and bureaucratic security, lazy-eyed Percy Gloom fights to overcome the loss of his wife, Lila, to a truth-pointing, lotharian cult-leader. Pursued by the muffin-throwing daughter of the city's important family and purposeless in life, Percy finds some security and meaning through a position testing various everyday items (such as hairbrushes and encyclopedias) for their danger potential. Approached by his doctor to help protect some special people and given advice by some talking goats, Percy comes to terms with his place in the gloomy world and finds himself reaching enlightenment (literally).



If you liked Pater Contrarious, then you’ve got to pick this up. It’s drawn in a similar style and I understand will be printed using the same duotone process. However, where Pater Contrarious was 16 pages, this one is 150.




Also, check out the new Percy Gloom website. You'll find a recipe for blue berry muffins and can listen to goats sing opera.