Lee Thacker's Magnum Opus
When Dave Sim tells you a graphic novel or comic book series is worth checking out he knows whereof he speaks and I for one am willing to fork out my well earned pesos and purchase said book and see for myself.
Such was the case with Lee Thacker’s Magnum Opus One for Sorrow. Written between February 1991 and August 2000 and published to minimal reaction from Comic Books buyers and afficiandos of illustrated books.
I wasn't familiar with the nursery rhyme that the title comes from but I have read quite a few graphic novels and this is one of the better unappreciated ones that I've ever come across.
You won't find it in 1001 Comic Books You Must Read Before You Die and if you're looking for yet another tome with Superheroes flying around in their capes who wear their underwear on the outside you're going to be disappointed but if you want something to make you think and feel and experience raw emotions then you should definitely try this.
By comparison with Dave’s own 6,000 page 300 issue series Lee’s 800 pages and 40 issues is nowhere near as impressive but it’s definitely more than just another drop in the ocean. Also for me Cerebus only went from really good to great once Gerhard starting doing the backgrounds and Lee did this all on his own whilst working a full time job and still found time to produce other books at the same time.
Like Dave in Cerebus Book One Lee's arwork isn't all that impressive to begin with but he soon hits his stride and develops as the series progresses. This is the story of Carol Roswell (1969-2024) as told in flashbacks being read by her daughter some years later. There's an unneccesary prelude which is a bit 2000 ADish and sorta reminds me of Alan Moore's Ballad of Halo Jones but that soon regresses into the background and is forgotten.
Basically what we get is the story of a girl growing up in the 80s and how she copes with the truly terrible horrible life that she leads after escaping from her awful home situation. This part of the plot reminds me of Bryan Talbot's Tale of One Bad Rat .
Another part of the story was inspired by Howard Chaykin's Black Kiss which I'm not familiar with so to me it made me think more of Alan Moore & Eddie Campbell's From Hell. It's hard to believe but something which was as controversial as Black Kiss when it was first published is now available in its' entirety online.
At different times a slice of like kitchen drama turned surrealist mindfuck and at others horrorshow graphically violent and intimidating plot turns you never know what's going to happen next as the story progresses and pulls you in to its' sad sorrowful conclusion.
I'm going to have to reread this at a later date and write up a much better appreciation of it all.
Book One is dedicated to his girlfriend and at one time the only sympathetic reader of the work while Volume 2 is for Dave Sim "whose dedication to completing what he started inspired this book". Dave's 2005 letter of praise about it is the Introduction to Book One.
The one complaint that I would make about the HC 2 volume edition of this book which I have is that it's all in Black and White so you don't get to see the great colour versions of the single issue covers inside.
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You can purchase a copy from
(named after the character from Watchmen) along with Lee's other publications which I intend to try out once I return from my long overdue long service leave vacation I will be departing on soon.
This sort of images makes me wish more of the book could have been colourised ....
Some extra links
Lee on Cerebus in My Life