Alex Graham’s ‘The Devil’s Grin: Book One’ Gets a Fantagraphics Edition and ArtReview Review
The Devil’s Grin: Book One, Alex Graham’s surreal comic series, is now available as a $29.99 softcover from Fantagraphics, collecting the first six issues of her self-published run. The review in ArtReview’s Summer 2025 issue highlights Graham’s style—echoing Otto Dix, R. Crumb, and Simon Hanselmann—and her characters, who are human-animal fusions. The narrative centers on Robert, a doglike poet flushed by his mother Harriet, who abandoned him to become a painter. Robert’s obsessions include sewers, his car Agnes, and breasts, while his neighbor Gary secretly creates a comic that appears to be the one being read. The ghostly devil morphs from a Scream-like mask to David Bowie. ArtReview’s Nirmala Devi reviews the publication.
Key facts
- The Devil’s Grin: Book One collects the first six issues of Alex Graham’s self-published comic series.
- The book is published by Fantagraphics as a $29.99 softcover.
- The review appears in ArtReview’s Summer 2025 issue.
- Graham’s style is compared to Otto Dix, R. Crumb, and Simon Hanselmann.
- The comic features human-animal fusions and a ghostly devil morphing from Scream to David Bowie.
- Robert, the central character, was flushed as a foetus by his mother Harriet.
- Robert’s neighbor Gary is creating a comic book that appears to be the one being read.
- The reviewer is Nirmala Devi (from the source URL).
Entities
Artists
- Alex Graham
- Otto Dix
- R. Crumb
- Simon Hanselmann
- David Bowie
- Nirmala Devi
Institutions
- Fantagraphics
- ArtReview
- Art News