Chuckling Whatsit

Richard Sala's The Chuckling Whatsit is a murder mystery told in comics, drawn in a style often compared to Edward Gorey and Charles Addams. Its tangled, melodramatic plot combines astrology, ghouls, academia and outsider art, and it moves between noir, horror and comedy.

The story centers on Broom, a writer without work, who finds himself caught up in a scheme involving the outsider artist Emile Jarnac, the secretive dealings of the Ghoul Appreciation Society Headquarters (GASH) and the enigmatic Mr. Ixnay. Sala's deadpan storytelling keeps the many layers of the plot moving quickly.

Sala's artwork draws on Hollywood monster movies, Dick Tracy, German expressionism and Grimm's fairy tales as well as the Gorey comparisons. His fascination with the grotesque runs throughout the book, and the drawings heighten the unease of the story.

Sala has worked for RAW magazine, MTV's Liquid Television, The New York Times and Playboy, and he continues his Evil Eye comic book series for Fantagraphics. Of his many projects, The Chuckling Whatsit is the one that has reached the widest audience.