Staff Picks (January): Goldtiger

I love the style of 60’s era spy/action and I love ideas that defy the norm and modify our expectations to make something more complex than what you may expect. These are the ideas that draw me to a book like Goldtiger.

Part comic strip, part artistic biography, and wholly a work of surreal, 4th-wall-breaching fiction, this book tells the story of two creators and their 60’s action comic strip that never really was… until now. It reads like a painstakingly researched scrapbook to the time period and its playful ideology of women, sexuality, and the common struggles of an unappreciated artist that can be appreciated even now. The history behind Goldtiger may be a work of fiction but the comic strips throughout the book are still very real and very reminiscent of the true 60’s comics that inspired them.

While other media like the Austin Powers franchise may blatantly parody these same types of adventure stories, Goldtiger stealthily conceals itself as a nearly genuine example of historical fiction. The art and writing often feel so genuine that only the moments of self-aware humor are what reminds us that it is all a very fun ruse between the writer and the reader.

—Jay Spence

Publisher: Rebellion/2000AD Item Code: JAN161619 Release Date: 03/30/16 SRP: $27.99