Lon Chaney speaks

Dorian's bold illustrations match the broad strokes of his debut, an "imagined biography" of film legend Lon Chaney (1883--1930), remembered as "The Man of a Thousand Faces." In the introduction, Dorian notes that Chaney's extreme privacy necessitated taking some artistic license in scripting the details of his portrait from known facts. He sets the stage with Chaney's childhood in Colorado, raised by parents who were deaf, with the suggestion that their loving relationship imbued Chaney with empathy for the social outcasts he later portrayed with nuance on-screen. Chaney rises from working backstage and performing in vaudeville to launching his career in moving pictures. Milestones from his personal life are filled in, including his miserable first marriage; the birth of his son, Creighton (later to become a known actor in his own right as Lon Chaney, Jr.); and a happy second marriage with devoted wife Hazel. When Chaney achieves a successful film career, he is celebrated by critics and audiences alike for his transformative, often physically taxing makeup artistry in classic films like The Phantom of the Opera and London After Midnight. Dorian's nostalgic drawing style, reminiscent of cartooning great Syd Hoff, is energetic and accessible. This spirited homage honors Chaney's life, as well as the silent film era in which he formed his legacy, appealing to cinema and comics fans alike. (Oct.)

DEBUT In his first graphic novel, Dorian pays tribute to silent film legend Lon Chaney (1883--1930), nicknamed "the man of a thousand faces" for his uncanny ability to alter nearly every detail of his appearance. As a young man, the pantomime skills and empathy for outsiders ingrained in Chaney by his deaf parents help him gain success as a vaudeville performer. Following the acrimonious end of his first marriage, he sought work in the fledgling motion picture industry, where his skill as a makeup artist enabled him to play an enormous range of roles. With the support of his second wife, Hazel, Chaney spent years maneuvering the punishing studio system, appearing in nearly 100 films before finally achieving massive stardom for his sensitive portrayals of Quasimodo in The Hunchback of Notre Dame in 1923 and the titular role in The Phantom of the Opera in 1925, just five years before his untimely death. VERDICT Dorian evokes Chaney's personality in richly detailed scenes made even more impressive by the fact that an introductory note stresses that his subject's extreme aversion to divulging details of his private life necessitated that this be "an imagined biography…inspired by real events and research."

A cartoonist, designer, and filmmaker captures the voice and soul of Lon Chaney (1883-1930). Dorian, an instructor at Pratt and the School of Visual Arts whose credits range from the New Yorker to the Cartoon Network's Adult Swim, calls this "an imagined biography." That description, while useful, doesn't fully convey the power of this impressively ambitious work of imagination. The narrative is more of an imagined autobiography in which Chaney, who "chose to keep his personal life hidden," opens up and tells all--or at least most. Dorian's audacious, vital illustrations reflect the artistic spirit of the era and the rise of the star from humble means through vaudeville and a series of starring film roles, including The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1923) and The Phantom of the Opera (1925). Chaney and the motion picture industry came of age together, and, with a troubled marriage and a son to support, he would do whatever it took to set himself apart from other actors. When he learned that he could make an extra $5 per day on horseback for a cowboy role, he hopped right on. "And so I began my career in film as a centaur, part man…part horse," Chaney says, before revealing the contents of his "magic box," which allowed him to transform himself into whatever a role might call for long before the wizardry of makeup and special effects. "I searched for something that other actors couldn't…or wouldn't do," he explains. "I threw myself into each part physically and mentally….A cast of my head, made by a sculptor, gave me another canvas to experiment with." As the narrative takes readers through the films, the period-piece artistry suggests Dorian's labor-of-love passion for the project, making us care for Chaney as much as he does. A dazzling debut in which the actor known as "The Man of a Thousand Faces" reveals himself. Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.