Flung out of Space Inspired by the indecent adventures of Patricia Highsmith

In Flung Out of Space, readers get an unvarnished look at Patricia Highsmith's struggles during one of her most fruitful creative periods. While working at a comic book publisher, she starts freelancing with the competitor, Timely Comics (run by Stan Lee), in order to pay her exorbitant psychoanalyst bills. What Patricia wants more than anything is to be a New York literary writer, so she keeps her name off the comics she writes and subjects herself to psychoanalysis to in an effort to treat her lesbianism. Meanwhile, Patricia attempts to hide her relationships with women and lashes out at the people around her. After writing Strangers on a Train, Patricia is inspired to write what will be Carol. Despite suffering discrimination, the lauded writer holds her own unfair prejudices. The art style indulges in Highsmith's status as a writer of thrillers and pulp novels, painting her as an isolated, gritty noir figure. A thorough and honest portrayal of a towering figure of queer literary history, this book is perfect for fans of graphic biographies like Radioactive by Lauren Redniss.

Shot through with thick cigarette smoke and snappy dialogue, this graphic account by Ellis (the Moonstruck series) and Templer (Cosmoknights) of Patricia Highsmith's early career evokes the mood of the 1940s, along with its misogyny and homophobia--neither of which Highsmith, as a lesbian and ambitious artist, was immune to herself. Highsmith spends her days writing low-brow comics and her nights typing out "good novels with criminal elements." The mood is playfully captured in a panel where Stan Lee tries to recruit her. Highsmith's speech bubble is filled with smoke, a handgun, and a close-up of men trying to strangle each other. (Lee's sports caped super heroes.) Highsmith seeks psychoanalysis to become straight, but begins a romance with Virginia, a married redhead in her support group for "latent homosexuals," and their romance and breakup form the seed of her novel The Price of Salt (later Carol). After she finally finds a pulp publisher, a fan says the work inspired her to "find my own Carol and live happily ever after." Highsmith refuses to play the victim, but never quite escapes the forces that oppress her, which echo in the noir-esque art (dense shadows, imposing buildings). Highsmith devotees will appreciate this glimpse into how a life of secrets extended beyond the pages of her fiction. Agent (for Templer): Charlie Olsen, InkWell Management. (Mar.)