num_pages: 144
description: Originally created in 1997 and 1998 for the underground anthology Zero Zero The Search for Smilin Ed! is the latest of Kim Deitchs graphic novels to showcase his obsessive burrowing into the nooks and crannies of vintage American popular culture. Where Boulevard of Broken Dreams focused on the earliest days of the animation industry Alias the Cat delved into the history of comic strips and Molly ODare (collected in Shadowland) concerned vintage movie serials The search for Smilin Ed! explores the wacky world of childrens TV shows. Launched on his latest investigation by a remark from his brother about a shared childhood favorite (Yknow I heard that when Smilin Ed died... his body was never found!) Deitch begins to uncover some truly amazing things about the kiddie-show host and his malevolent sidekick Froggy the Gremlin. Meanwhile Deitchs muse and nemesis Waldo the Cat abandons Deitch to hang out with some demon buddies and soon both Waldo and Deitch are closing in on the mysteries of Smilin Ed and Froggy. Ranging across the entire twentieth century replete with flashbacks stories within stories and guest appearances from other Deitch regulars The Search for Smilin Ed! is a narrative whirligig that shows Deitch at his wildest and woolliest. For those whose heads have started to spin at the complexity of Deitch world Deitch scholar Bill Kartalopoulos offers a lengthy essay on the ins and outs of this ever-evolving ever-expanding world where fantasy reality and satire combine clash and are sometimes downright indistinguishable. Bonus! Deitch has also created a brand new story starring Waldo in his twenty-first century post-Alias The Cat state of domestic bliss stumbling across an army of (French-) talking beavers. Of course theres a story behind that...
language: English
title: The Search for Smilin' Ed!
publisher: Fantagraphics