Giraffes on Horseback Salad

February 1, 2019

In the late 1930s, a mutual admiration between surrealist painter Salvador Dali and Harpo Marx led to Dali's developing a treatment for a Marx Brothers movie that the two unsuccessfully pitched to MGM Studios. After the idea was rejected, the project was considered lost, aside from a collection of notes and sketches in Dali's papers. Drawing on those primary sources and years of research, author Frank (The Good Inn: A Novel) and comedian Heidecker have assembled a look at what might have been. The story follows Jimmy, a Spanish aristocrat living in exile, as he becomes infatuated with a mysterious figure known as the Woman Surreal and finds himself in a world gone mad with bizarre imagery and Groucho's quips in equal measure. Artist Pertega excels at portraying dreamlike illustrations but falters when tasked with expressing more mundane sequences of humans conversing, robbing many of the Marx Brothers-centric scenes of any energy. VERDICT A fascinating project inspired by obvious passion from everyone involved, but subpar illustration ultimately results in a volume that will, owing to a few text pieces describing the origins of the project and reprints of Dali's initial treatment and notes, appeal primarily to die-hard fans alone.

Copyright 2019 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

January 15, 2019
With help from comedian Heidecker (Tim and Eric's Zone Theory, 2015, etc.) and illustrator Pertega, "pop-culture archaeologist" Frank (The Good Inn, 2014, etc.) adapts into a graphic novel a never-produced film collaboration between surrealist artist Salvador Dalí and classic-Hollywood absurdist Harpo Marx.The first 40 pages of this graphic novel are mostly straight-text exposition, detailing how Frank came to reconstruct the unproduced film and explaining the brief time Dalí and Marx spent together in mutual admiration. This sluggish start sets the stage for what is to come: an illustrated adventure that kicks off in 1930s New York but eventually engulfs the world, thanks to "the Surrealist Woman," an enigmatic beauty with fantastical reality-altering powers. We first encounter her through visionary businessman Jimmy, who discovers an artistic self he never knew was inside him when the Surrealist Woman arranges an otherworldly musical performance. As Jimmy and the Surrealist Woman fall in love, the happiness she feels triggers global chaos (the Great Pyramid floods, Venice runs dry, the streets of Paris suddenly all go in one direction). Jimmy's vulgar, ambitious, unfaithful fiancee, Linda, becomes enraged by the attention the Surrealist Woman receives--both from Jimmy and from society--and rallies the forces of order to prosecute the Surrealist Woman. The story is a bit on the nose about freedom of expression versus societal oppression and expectation. Most enjoyable are Groucho and Chico Marx, who work on behalf of the Surrealist Woman; their playful, punny dialogue contrasts with the stiff exchanges between Jimmy and Linda or Jimmy and the Surrealist Woman. Pertega's art shines in detailed close-ups and as the story delves deeper into surrealism (dripping wax effects, rivers of hair, complex page layouts), while the plainer scenes and more distant perspectives render the characters flat.An intriguing pop-culture artifact--more so for its background than its execution.

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February 15, 2019
This frenetic interpretation brings to fruition a movie idea developed by surrealist painter Salvador Dal� and the Marx Brothers during the 1930s and said to be the strangest never made. Because no full script existed, the authors pieced together fragments from various sources, arranging original scenes into a logical story and creating dialogue where necessary. The final homage is presented as a film in graphic novel format. In it, a young man falls in love with a nameless Surreal Woman, whose existence warps and restructures everything around her. Despite the emphasis on the surreal, underneath the bizarre imagery this remains a typical love story, albeit one with constant interruptions from the Marx Brothers and their comedic antics. Visually, the pages are rich with imagery, beginning in classic movie grayscale and morphing into vibrant color as the story becomes ever stranger. Supplemental materials include several forewords, a few surviving pages of the original script, and excerpts from Dali's sketchbooks. Appeal may be limited, but classic cinema buffs and Dal� fanatics will appreciate the care and effort taken by the authors.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2019, American Library Association.)