The Search for Smilin' Ed!

Kim Deitch’s singular, decade-spanning epic for Fantagraphics follows a filmmaker’s obsessive quest to track down a mysterious, possibly supernatural children’s show host from the early days of television. Blending Deitch’s trademark psychedelic, folk-art style with a labyrinthine narrative, this single-issue series weaves a haunting tale of lost media, buried history, and the strange underbelly of American entertainment. A masterwork of cartooning from one of the medium’s most distinctive and enduring voices, it stands as a key entry in Deitch’s long-running, interconnected universe of oddball characters and uncanny events.