Kings in Disguise

AUTHOR: Vance, James

ARTIST: Dan Burr (illustrator)

PUBLISHERS: Kitchen Sink Press; W. W. Norton

FIRST SERIAL PUBLICATION: 1988

FIRST BOOK PUBLICATION: 1990

Publication History

Kings in Disguise was originally released as a six-issue series in 1988 through Kitchen Sink Press. Author James Vance noted that the script for the graphic novel was originally from his play about people during the Depression and was further based on a play sponsored by the Franklin D. Roosevelt-era Works Progress Administration (WPA) of the 1930’s.

As Vance worked on the adaptation of his play into a graphic novel, Dan Burr was chosen for his illustration work. Vance wanted someone who could capture the plight of the homeless during the Depression. The six-issue comic book series was later released as a graphic novel in 1990, and it garnered critical acclaim for both the creators and Kitchen Sink Press.

Kings in Disguise was part of a movement to bring to light realistic comics that did not fit the heroic mold but instead looked at actual situations. It was also part of an early wave of graphic novels, including Art Spiegelman’s Maus (1986), that looked at historical events. Kings in Disguise also enjoyed commercial success in Europe, where it was reprinted in several editions and translations. The book was later acquired and republished by W. W. Norton in April, 2006.

Plot

Kings in Disguise focuses on the life of Frederick “Freddie” Bloch, a twelve-year-old boy from California, during the middle of the Depression, specifically 1932. Freddie’s great pleasure is watching films, using them as an escape; this fantasy life helps him ignore, or at least diminish, the problems that the Depression is causing in his town. Freddie also escapes from his drunken, yet doting, father and older brother Albert. After witnessing an unemployed man attack a richer man for not providing employment, Freddie becomes far more aware of the troubles that many are facing.

As the Depression affected the entire United States, California was seen as a place where one could find work. However, this was not the case, as increased competition placed more pressure on the jobs that were available. A spiritual person, Freddie’s father tried to keep Freddie grounded in his Jewish faith, especially as he neared his Bar Mitzvah, at age thirteen. The death of Freddie’s mom prior to the beginning of the story adds more strain to the family and drives his father to drink.

Following a fight between Freddie’s father and brother, Freddie wakes to find his father has abandoned them. Albert tries to give Freddie some sense of normalcy, but the situation slowly gets worse. Albert sacrifices much, and ultimately he turns to robbery to gain money to pay bills. The attempt ends when the person whom he is robbing attacks him, hitting him in the head with a bottle; he tells Freddie to run and hide so the authorities do not catch him and send him to an orphanage. Freddie packs and then sets off on his adventure, with the ultimate goal of finding his father, who went to Detroit to find work at the Ford Motor Company plant, according to a postcard the boys received.

As Freddie attempts to join a group of hoboes riding freight trains, he is accosted and assaulted by a man named Joker. As he tries to fight off the physical attack, Freddie is rescued by a man who identifies himself as Sammy the King of Spain, who claims to be traveling in disguise as a hobo. From this point on, the two travel together; Sammy teaches Freddie the ways of the road and helps him look for his father.

Finally, Freddie and Sammy arrive in Detroit. Their trip is ultimately fruitless, as the two do not find Freddie’s father or uncle. They become enmeshed in an attempt to unionize at the Ford Motor Company’s River Rouge Plant. The Ford union busters use violence to break up the protest. Sammy is hit in the ribs as he and Freddie attempt to escape by train. The two go back to the mission where they had stayed, and Sammy attempts to recuperate. Finally, as the pair gets ready to move, someone gives Freddie “porcupine balls” (opium poppies) to ease Sammy’s pain.

In the last part of the book, Freddie tries both to nurse Sammy back to health and to get them back to California. Two fellow hoboes help Freddie by buying a train ticket for him and a box to ship Sammy, who is doped but not dead. As Freddie enjoys the trip and the brief semblance of normalcy, he witnesses a train robbery thwarted by an elderly man with a gun. The man identifies himself as Jesse James. Jesse gets off the train with Freddie and the now-conscious Sammy, and the three travel together. Sammy and Jesse are acquaintances and have traveled together before. The “robbery” is in fact a stunt to gain publicity for Jesse, who then gives lectures, sells books, and holds shooting demonstrations for money.

Characters

•Frederick Bloch, a.k.a. Freddie, is a twelve-year-old Jewish boy from California. His is a coming-of-age story. Freddie’s driving force is to find his father and to either make amends or reprimand him for leaving Freddie and his brother.

•Sammy, a.k.a. the King of Spain, is a hobo who befriends Freddie at a critical juncture. He is a man running from his past. He has been on the road some time and knows the tricks of the trade. Despite issues with family, friends, and drugs while on the road, he is a stalwart friend to Freddie.

•Joker is one of the less-than-honorable hoboes who rides the rails during the Depression. His malevolence early in the story is Freddie’s first exposure to the harsh realities of life on the road. His view of life and people has become altered by events, and his actions bring a bad name to those seeking a better life by riding the rails.

•Jesse James is an older man who claims to be the infamous outlaw of the same name. Whether he is or not is in dispute, but because the public believes him, he is able to put on shows and make money while traveling. He is an acquaintance of Sammy, which grants Sammy and Freddie access to some money.

Artistic Style

Kings in Disguise is rendered in a realistic style. Since the book discusses the harshness of the Depression, the characters are not drawn in a humorous or distended format. The black-ink illustrations reflect both the style of the films of the 1930’s and the iconic images of the Depression published in Life magazine during the era, such as the photographs taken by Dorothea Lange. Burr took considerable time and effort to give subtle yet realistic touches to the illustrations, especially with regard to the impromptu housing that the downtrodden assembled out of whatever materials were available.

Burr takes considerable time to give emotion to the characters, which he conveys mostly through their eyes. The reader often sees the desperation brought on by the Depression through those trying to live and survive in those hard times. While the characters may seem somewhat exaggerated, the eyes often tell the true nature of the events. For example, when a crazy traveler attacks Freddie, the look in the man’s eyes is one of lust and insanity.

The crowd scenes, full of detail, make readers feel as if they are in the moment. Burr’s use of space often makes the depicted circumstances seem cold and foreboding; his artwork successfully conveys the mood.

Themes

The key theme of the book is transition. At the beginning, readers look at the Depression through the eyes of an average twelve-year-old, as Freddie is forced to adapt to several adult situations, including the dangers inherent in the type of travel he has undertaken. Over the course of the story, Freddie transitions from a child to a man. Sammy transitions from a wandering vagabond without responsibility to one who must take care of Freddie. He even transitions from opium addiction to sobriety. The way the other characters are presented emphasizes how they have changed from “regular” folks into something more primal because of the lack of basic necessities during the Depression. Change was a critical concept in the work world of the 1930’s, and real events, such as unionization in the automotive industry in Detroit and racial tensions resulting from the Great Migration of African Americans, become part of the story as well.

The idealization of the past is another theme of Kings in Disguise. The idealization of home and what life should be versus the cold reality of what life became during the Depression are key components undergirding the text.

Impact

Kings in Disguise was published during a period in which the superhero genre was still dominant in American comic book culture. Itwas a mix of historical fact and fictional contrivance and has been seen as an influence on Jason Lutes’s Berlin: City of Stones (2000), a novel set in the Weimar Republic, and James Sturm’s The Golem’s Mighty Swing (2001), about a fictitious 1920’s Jewish American baseball team. Kings in Disguise was the type of story that the average reader who was unfamiliar with the comic book genre might gravitate toward.

The book’s creators paid close attention to historical detail, rendering things such as WPA projects according to archival documents. The story’s realistic tone gained it readership and interest that it might not have had otherwise. Renowned comics creator Alan Moore considered the work important enough to write the introduction to W. W. Norton’s reprinted edition. Vance noted that the interest was strong enough that, as of 2011, a sequel was being written. The title of the book was also the inspiration for a popular musical group of some renown.

Further Reading

Buhle, Paul, and Nicole Schulman, eds. Wobblies! The Graphic History of the International Workers of the World (2005).

Collins, Max Allan, and Richard Piers Rayner. Road to Perdition (1998).

Sturm, James. The Golem’s Mighty Swing (2001).

Bibliography

Arnold, Andrew D. “Return of the Kings.” Time, April 19, 2006. http://www.time.com/time/arts/article/0,8599,1184802,00.html.

Oklahoma History Center. “James Vance: Writer/Editor, Tulsa.” The Uncanny Adventures of Okie Cartoonists. http://www.okiecartoonists.org/jvance.html.

Vance, James. “A Short Interview with James Vance.” Interview by Tom Spurgeon. The Comics Reporter, August 13, 2006. http://www.comicsreporter.com/index.php/resources/interviews/5875.