The Last Days of Hollywood, U.S.A.

In this five-issue series from the mid-1990s, writer and artist Mark Tompkins crafts a surreal, satirical look at the death throes of the American film industry. Published during a period of indie-comics experimentation, the story follows a cast of disillusioned Hollywood insiders as the town literally unravels around them. Tompkins’s scratchy, expressive art and deadpan dialogue give the series a distinctive, off-kilter energy that captures the era’s cynical yet creative spirit. It matters as a cult artifact of 1990s alternative comics, offering a sharply funny and weirdly prescient critique of celebrity and commerce.