Is This Guy For Real? The Unbelievable Andy Kaufman (Biography) (Graphic Novel)

By Box Brown

Published: First Second (January, 2018)

Softcover, 272 pages

          This is another biographical treat from Box Brown who brought us the life of Andre the Giant and the surprisingly intense history of the video game Tetris (Well, surprising to me at least). Now he has tackled the life of oddball comedian Andy Kaufman, or part of it.

          This is not the definitive life of Kaufman as it mostly focuses on his fascination with wrestling, which drove him to wrestle women for money (and apparently sexual arousal), leading up into his infamous confrontation with Jerry Lawler on the David Letterman Show (the smack heard round the world). While this is probably his most famous stunt, I always felt the explosion he had on the TV show Fridays was just as good.

          In retrospect, Kaufman’s humor sliced in two different ways. He was the original troll. We know now nearly everything he did was staged beforehand and we can appreciate people’s stunned reaction to him, laughing as much at them as the man himself. But there was a special charm, an edge of uncertainty, to seeing him live for the first time and always questioning whether it was real or fake. That doubt always gave his performances an extra bite, which time unfortunately has eroded.

          Additionally, the book delves into the Jerry Lawler's entrance into wrestling and the history of old time wrestling, before Vince McMahon Jr. took it mainstream. It demonstrates, accurately in my opinion, how Kaufman was ahead of its time in seeing the mainstream celebrity potential of wrestling (and not the gay Greco-Roman kind either). Within a year after Kaufman’s death and the death of McMahon Sr. the WWF exploded all over the country.

          As you can see from the photos included the art is minimalist, direct representation of the material. One guy said to me that it looked amateurish until I told him to shut up, which started up a whole big thing of pushing and shoving and horrible words exchanged. Then I got accused of “hate speech” and I retorted with, “Well I fucking hate you, so I guess I’m guilty!” Security jumped in and started tazing everyone, so I ran off with a stolen copy of this book.

But my point was that often with biographical material a minimalist look adds to the impact of the story. Something more elaborate would draw attention away from the life of those portrayed, might prevent the reader from becoming so engrossed in the narrative. You can see this in the original drawings for Maus, which were much more detailed (and somehow not as effective) as the later style used.

Maus original art

                                                        Maus finished art

           For more readings, try books by Rex Hurst.