by Kevin Bahler, SUNY Cortland
Posted in on Saturday, May 31
You can download a sample chapter here.
Dead in Desemboque is the story of Eddy Arellano’s trip to meet a woman in a city called Sonora. Eddy, his horse, and his two dogs fare many adventures and dangers on this ride. But the story is only part of the experience of this graphic novel.
The book is split into three chapters and each chapter was drawn by a different artist. William Schaff, who drew the first chapter, used the artistic styles of the native Mexican people. His pictures are rich in ink and in symbolism. Every picture seems a depiction of the actions of the story as well as the subtext. Alec Thibodeau uses a more conventional style of art. An initial glance at his pages would lead one to believe it is a children’s story until one looked closer and saw a man pulling out a knife or another man holding a beer saying, “We are all going to die.” Richard Schuler’s art has a stark contrast of black and white space. There is almost no shading, which make his scenes look very sharp and crisp.
In this book with different artists and artistic styles, it is the author, also named Eddy Arellano, who ties the pages together. His voice and his language remain constant from start to finish, which I appreciate. Arellano’s language, however, also kept me slightly detached from the story. There is a large amount of Spanish used in the text and narration. Although it was never enough to stop me from understanding what was happening, I always wondered what was actually being said. Where no immediate translations were provided, I found myself stopping to see if I could translate lines based on what little Spanish I’ve picked up over the years.
Overall, I do think that Dead in Desemboque is worth a read. The story keeps the reader wanting to see what happens next. The art is not only pleasant to look at, but it demonstrates how very differently a single voice or idea can be illustrated successfully.
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