Reviews

Al Capp: A Life to the Contrary by Michael Schumacher, Denis Kitchen

scottapeshot's review against another edition

4.0

Just finished Al Capp: a Life to the Contrary, the recent biography. A very rewarding drawing together of many half-heard fragments and factoids that had come to me previously regarding the Little Abner creator. Co-written by comix publisher and cartoonist Denis Kitchen, the book particularly succeeds in satisfying a comic artist's curiosity about Capp's entry into the industry and his practical experiences day-to-day as a novice. The business details of Capp's feud with Ham Fisher and his marketing successes with Lil' Abner are also nicely illuminated. The book does not hesitate to also delve into Capp's personal life, which was often less than savory, while delicately maintaining a cool balance from declaring the man a complete degenerate. As a man, Capp was a serial rapist, at best, so the authors' task in that regard, couldn't have been easy. And while the book does reveal Capp's dark side, it certainly still humanizes him by clearly delineating the tragedies and poignant moments that punctuated his personal history. The prose style is a bit muddled, and the presentation of events is often less than clear in the book, but overall the book fulfills expectations for the biography of one of cartooning's greatest stars handily.