William Softkey and The Purple Spider – CF
William Softkey and The Purple Spider by CF / ISBN 9781944860301 / 80-page paperback (with cool foldout cover flaps), 6 x 9.7 inches, from Anthology Editions
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Buried deep under sand sits a library the size of a small city, owned by the eerily powerful Mr. Wish and protected by roving bands of toughs and lethal sentient vehicles. When a small but heavy interdimensional spider demands access to the vault, poor William Softkey, with assistance from the gravity-experimenter Gigglewindow sisters, is hired to deal with the problem. Rendered in the artist’s trademark stark linework—against a backdrop of paranoid techno-fantasy, strange emblematic beings, and woozy halftone patterns—William Softkey and the Purple Spider is acclaimed cartoonist CF’s second dreamy narrative published under the Anthology Editions banner.
CF (Christopher Forgues) is an artist and musician born in 1979. Called one of the two “most important cartoonists of [his] generation” (Art in America), he is best known for his association with the maverick Providence, RI underground arts scene, and for his graphic novel series Powr Mastrs. His work has appeared in acclaimed anthologies like Kramers Ergot and The Best American Comics as well as mainstream publications like The New York Times.