Dead in Desemboque: Historias de Amor y Sangre! [Paperback]

Eddy Arellano (Author), William Schaff (Illustrator), Richard Schuler (Illustrator), Alec Thibodeau (Illustrator)

Book Description

Publication Date: June 15, 2008

Inspired by kitschy Mexican "historietas" (pocket-sized comic books), Roberto presents an English-language version featuring his alter-ego, Eddy Arellano. When a dama named Juanita calls him down to Sonora, Eddy crosses the Rio Bravo and never looks back. Soon he's embroiled in a complex, comic drama featuring a memorable gallery of quirky characters.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"Dead in Desemboque is a brief 'historieta,' or Mexican comic book, about how death dogs Eddy as he follows an alluring woman across Sonora. Three illustrators collaborate with writer Roberto Arellano in this surreal tale. Will Schaff's ornate images evoke the Mexican days of the dead; Richard Schuler's more regular art evokes a rougher Robert Crumb; and Alec Thibodeau's calculatedly primitive, open style compliments the psychedelic landscape Arellano conjures in three tongues: English, Spanish, and forked." -- The Boston Globe

"Dead in Desemboque is pure, fun-loving fiction, but there are some truths hiding under the surface." -- Amy Dalness

"This marvelous chronicle of a death foretold is a stunning achievement that invites comparisons to Homer's Odyssey -- also a story about a love disrupted by the trials and tribulations during one man's dangerous journey back to the arms of his beloved. The changing illustrators give each episode a distinctive and appropriate tone, and Eddy, though his appearance changes slightly with each section, remains an endearing down-on-his-luck hero through every panel and every peril.

Arellano's text in Dead in Desemboque moves the genre into a more literary sphere, though it maintains its roots to the tried and true Mexican tradition of engaging storytelling. This graphic novel, aptly subtitled "Historias de Amor y Sangre" ("Tales of Love and Blood"), is a grown-up, old-fashioned Western at heart that highlights the Mexican male in a leading protagonist role and not in a secondary, stereotypical depiction.

This intra-lingual, international historieta is an excellent addition to the popular graphic novel genre." -- El Paso Times

Arellano has created a brilliant novel of political satire. Never lets the reader down. -- Library Journal

Dead in Desemboque seems infused by the type of fear that invades the U.S.-Mexico border these days. Arellano is an artist with cojones. Nothing is too sacred for him. Think José Guadalupe Posada and Ambrose Bierce in dialogue, sharing Tequila shots, while a border-patrol helicopter hovers over the sky. Ay cabrón! -- Ilan Stavans, author of Latino U.S.A.: A Cartoon History

Product Details

• Paperback: 108 pages
• Publisher: Soft Skull Press; 1st edition (June 15, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0979663644
• ISBN-13: 978-0979663642
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 7 x 0.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 4.8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #710,235 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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0 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Dead in Desemboque trailer, June 13, 2008

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E. Robert Arellano - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Dead in Desemboque: Historias de Amor y Sangre! (Paperback)

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