In anticipation of his sitting in with the Hour Cosmic crew in a few weeks, I’ve been brushing up on Matt Kindt’s work over the past few weeks. One of his works that I have wanted to read for some time now was “3 Story: The Secret History of the Giant Man.”
I didn’t realize what a tragic, beautiful, clever and deep story I was in for. Hit the cut for my thoughts on why you need to track down this book as soon as you can.
“3 Story: The Secret History of the Giant Man” is written, designed, lettered and illustrated by Matt Kindt – the book is the story of Craig Pressgang, from before his life begins to after his life ends, and does so in various ways, from accounts of people close to him (his mother, his wife, his daughter), classified government records, to excerpts from newspaper articles and books written about him, advertisements, even architectural blueprints. We are presented with a complete dossier on the man’s life, and yet are never given a real look inside to see who he truly is; we get the public view of a man forced to live his life publicly, because there is literally nowhere he can go to hide.
The first part of the story is really the story of Craig’s mother – she tells her story of meeting Craig’s father all the way through Craig leaving home. The story is told in an ambiguous way, where you’re not quite sure if Craig is heartless towards his mother, if she is cold towards him, or if they simply cannot understand each other.
The second piece is the story of Craig’s meeting, courtship, marriage, and abandoning of his wife, Jo. There are forays into the art world, the world of espionage, architecture, the minutia of married life, and the decline of the physical body.
The third story is that of Craig’s daughter, Iris, searching for him years after he left home. Both the most hopeful and bleak of the stories, in some ways the tale in which he barely appears tells us the most about how Craig lived his life – more of a myth, leaving mystery and confusion wherever he went, than someone who was able to interact with others on a personal basis.
Kindt is a master of design, and this book clearly had hours and hours of thought put into every small detail. From the die-cut cover, to the childhood sketches (provided by his daughter, Emma), to the adverts starring Craig, the book feels like a complete story, assembled from scraps here and there. The art is beautiful, simple and elegant.
Recently, Dark Horse released “3 Story: Secret Files of the Giant Man,” a collection of three pieces originally published digitally through MySpace (LOL, MySpace) which deal with Craig’s time as a spy for the CIA, which offers another small glimpse into Craig’s life, without revealing too much.
Ultimately, this is a heartbreaking story of fantasy that feels unbelievably real. The loneliness he feels is raw and familiar, the isolation is terrifying, and the distance from normalcy is something we have all felt at some point. My only complaint is that I wish there was more.
Buy it here, ya goof.
