Persiflage

When does the shadow of a legend merely block out the sun?

Everyone remembers The Rest of Quiglet, that heartwarming sitcom starring Grace Mannix. For four years it told the story of a typical teenage girl, her widowed father, and their robot maid (played by the exotic 'Biltong'). The legend was made complete by the chance casting of the show's composer, Sherman Schiegel, in an onscreen role as Quiglet's boyfriend.

In perpetual syndication, the show still has many avid fans. Elyse Argawal, charting its progress and absorbing its teachings, has made it the focus of a successful academic career, while teenage twins Tabby and Billy Tibbins have pursued their obsession with the show's machinations in their fanzine, Silent Zone.

A crucial part of Quiglet mythology is its much discussed but long suppressed finale: the so-called 'murder episode.' But while doing research in Eastern Europe after the fall of the Iron Curtain, Elyse stumbles upon a copy of this jewel in the Quiglet crown. And when she and Billy fall in love, she faces the same dilemma Quiglet's cast has long faced: what is their identity without the myth that brought them fame and fortune?

Extending over four decades and told from a range of perspectives and paradigms, this debut graphic novel explores ambition, desire, and the pursuit of perfection.

• "David Nichols has a voice unique in comics, and Persiflage is a satirical, madcap look at pop culture, with power-mad writers, greedy executives, overnight media sensations, obsessive fans, and the convoluted meta-analysis of pop academia all focused under his wry, absurdist lens."JOHN PORCELLINO

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