



By Ian Melton

It isn't his first OGN, but Jonathan Case has something special with his most recent book from Dark Horse The New Deal. Perhaps best known of late for having worked on Batman '66, his latest work is also a blast from the past, but not an era that most modern comic book readers would know except from history books. Taking place in 1936, during the era the book takes its name from, the plot follows along with a bellhop and maid working at the famous Waldorf Astoria Hotel in New York. Theresa Harris and Frank O'Mallery are both looking to elevate their place in life, Theresa through acting and Frank anyway he can. When a wealthy socialite takes a liking to them, she provides them both with support and help, but a crime in the hotel threatens both Frank and Theresa's jobs and futures.

When speaking with Jonathan Case about the book, during his promotion of it at Rose City Comic-Con, his desire to do the book came from one thing: "I love old things." A love of movies and history, plus the chance to play with racial issues, stereotypes, and history made it a project he really wanted to do. "In the end I got to do it because of all the ideas I pitched to Scott Allie this was the one he liked the most." In addition to selling copies of the book early, Dark Horse made 250 limited edition prints that the creator signed at Rose City and his enthusiasm about the book showed in every fan he got to give a copy to.

The book has a wonderfully polished feel and with a blue-tone coloring job that gives the story an old school "black and white movie" vibe but feels warm and inviting. Case's art in particularly is strong and serves his story very well, but in particular in his facial expressions and the lively actions of his characters. Theresa in particular seems to want to jump off the page any moment with her energy, and Frank's subtle facial expressions serve to make his character have a unique voice that doesn't always involve him speaking.

The story is clearly a period piece but done in a way to not blow out of proportion the "history" of the story. The story and elements are very well crafted and could, with some changes, happen in any time period, but the story would lose its unique voice. Jonathan Case's choice to set it during the era of "the New Deal" in American history provides a background for our characters that provides more interesting facets to their personalities, Frank's gambling, an all-African American production of Macbeth by Orson Welles (a whole story about that play would be great to read), how Theresa is unapologetically discriminated against at work; these elements of Americana during "the New Deal" era enrich the story and really give it a very rich canvas.

Jonathan Case made it very clear when talking about the book that he really wanted to play with elements of race relations, cultural stereotypes, and searching for the American Dream with the characters in this book and he has done a great job. This graphic novel serves as an excellent example of what can be done with the medium in telling enjoyable layered stories. It is very much a rich read that everyone should take time to enjoy and hopefully Jonathan Case is hard at work on another graphic novel for Dark Horse.