Swamp Preacher
David Sandlin
New York, NY: Fantagraphics Books. 2006

Drawn in the tradition of the classic pulp comic “origin” tales of super heroes and villains, Swamp Preacher tells the surreal backstory of Carl Bob deVille, an enigmatic, morally ambiguous character in Sandlin's sprawling epic series A Sinner's Progress (this is volume 6). Picking up the tale of Carl Bob's life where his confessional Alphabetical Ballad of Carnality leaves off, Swamp Preacher is a twisted bildungsroman related by the ultimate unreliable narrator. Was he really reared by worms? Sandlin's forty-page, two-color comic book with full-color soft cover will be available in November.