Mint copy in hardcovers, Water Row press, MA, 2000, scarce edition of 2000 copies. <\/p>\n
Originally self-published by Mark Beyer in 1982 in stapled covers, offered here is the Limited Hardcover Edition published by Water Row Press in 2000. Beyer’s characters Amy & Jordan face attack dogs, hateful people, sickness, death and misery as they stumble through the pages of Dead Stories – one of Mark Beyer’s finest works.<\/p>\n
\u201cIn terms Of style, Beyer creates the surreal dreamscape Of a nightmare and reveals the
\nelements of the dream (the images of snowmen, giant birds, a house crossing a road, attacking dogs) in the incipient forms Of a child\u2019s caricatural rendering Of reality.
\nThe effect is simultaneously eccentric and amusing, and Beyer\u2019s extravagantly formal-
\nized expression of the reality distances the essential frightening tone and spirit of the
\ndream. And yet. , . there is a deep and brooding melancholy to these images ofAmy and Jordan\u2019s world that is often more than a little disquieting.<\/p>\n
Mark Beyer\u2019s is an extraordinary vision, and Dead Things is a remarkably consistent,
\ncohesive piece Of work. This is a vastly more abstracted account Of human reality than
\nhas probably ever been seen in comic books. (Many will certainly dismiss it outright as
\nan embodiment Of the Outre.) It\u2019s a wildly original comic-horrific vision of things,
\nthough, and it would be incorrect to allege that Beyer hasn\u2019t sorted Out. the complex
\nfears and anxieties that permeate these intricate fables. As an excusion into the realm
\nOf shroud-wearing fantasy, Dead Stories is an astonishing collection of work.\u201d<\/p>\n