Eddie Campbell's SECOND FAKE DEATH has hit stores!

July 12, 2023

After revisiting the award-winning bestseller From Hell with a newly-colored Master Edition, the internationally beloved raconteur and master of observational comics Eddie Campbell found himself stuck at home in a pandemic lockdown, itching to return to the multi-layered meta-memoir approach of his 2006 classic The Fate of the Artist. The result, released today, is not just a deluxe new edition of that long-out-of-print gem but also a brand-new sequel, joined at the hip in a delightful "flip-book" hardcover that starts at either end.

Praise for The Second Fake Death of Eddie Campbell:

“Through a collage of early 1900s–style illustrations, blunt political cartoons, subtle slice-of-life moments, gallows humor, and a surreal crime story, Campbell wrestles with his own existential crisis as he attempts to uncover the truth behind his apparent doppelgänger. It’s an indelible pseudo-autobiography from a true master of comics storytelling.” — Publishers Weekly (starred review)
“Campbell merges memoir and hardboiled mystery to create a fascinating and revealing portrait of how world events impact an individual’s sense of self and creative drive.” — Library Journal

Eddie Campbell is not himself. But these days, who is? It’s meta-fictional mystery and mischief as the award-winning artist of From Hell sets out to find his own imposter. Plus, on the flipside: a deluxe new presentation of The Fate of the Artist, Eddie Campbell’s classic work of graphic meta-memoir!

-- SIDE A: The Second Fake Death of Eddie Campbell, by Eddie Campbell, is a spiritual sequel to his acclaimed graphic novel The Fate of the Artist, in which the author was missing from his own autobiography. Many years later, during an endless Covid lockdown in which everybody wears a mask and needs a haircut, Eddie’s wife is certain that he has been supplanted by an imposter. She hires a detective, the square-jawed Royler Boom, to solve the mystery. What follows — interspersed with Campbell’s trademark wry anecdotes, dreams, parodic pastiches, and pandemic peccadilloes — is a thrilling investigation that builds to a car chase and a violent conclusion. The author cunningly passes this off as another piece of autobiography.

-- SIDE B: The Fate of the Artist: In an autobiography, the author and the subject are the same person… but now they’ve both gone missing. The Fate of the Artist is a complex weaving of different strains of invention including a mock prose detective story, an imaginary Sunday comic strip, a mock fumetti-style interview with the author's daughter, intertwined with Campbell's beloved brand of autobiographical comic storytelling. In this deluxe reissue of a groundbreaking book, the award-winning cartoonist of From Hell and Alec presents a complex, caustic, and fiendishly clever meditation on the lonely life of the artist and the busy life that swirls around him. “Marvelous… a kind of intently controlled nervous breakdown on paper.” — Publishers Weekly (starred review)

The Second Fake Death of Eddie Campbell & The Fate of the Artist [FLIP HARDCOVER] by Eddie Campbell
ISBN 978-1-60309-524-2 | Diamond: MAY231367 | $29.99 (US) | 192 pages
Full-color hardcover graphic novel (double-sided flip book — two graphic novels in one!)
6.75” x 9” | For mature readers (16+)
Available now!
Pick it up today from the shop of your choice!