You'd think it'd feel weird when a guy who's so good at old-school underground comics humor decides to do a realistic historical character piece; but it doesn't, because Van Sciver's strengths are all put to great use here.

First, his dialogue is great-- economical, illuminating, and hilarious. This is a very funny book, and the humor is grounded in character. The most memorable example is an early scene where Lincoln (on his roommate's advice) slouches off to a brothel, feeling both sordid and curious, but at the last minute realizes he can't afford the $5 fee and makes the most awkward exit possible while still trying to be friendly. Another writer might have turned the anxiety up to 11 and made it into a joke about 19th-century sexual hangups, or had the woman's response be all nonplused impatience; but here it has a gentle tone that hints at the care and strength behind Lincoln's oddness, and the real joke is a timeless one: both romance and horniness have to take a rain check when you're broke. And then the joke, instead of closing the scene, is displaced by the kind of line whose odd wording sticks in your head for no obvious reason: "I actually forgot my hat."

Second, the goofy but textured visual style-- which owes something to Crumb and to Gahan Wilson-- works surprisingly well for drama, in the same way that an actor who's very good at comedy is often the best choice for a serious role: he knows how to communicate something real through precise exaggeration. His faces are expressive and tactile in a way that makes me want to grab them by the ears. And his female characters are clearly of the same species as the men-- something a lot of male humor cartoonists have trouble with (I think of it as the Bloom County/Howard the Duck effect: the male author-identified characters are midget animals or gangly bigfeet, while the female love interest is all smooth lines, pert of body and nose), but Van Sciver lets all the people be people, lumpy heads and all.

Third, he's honest about the dark side: when he did stories about depression and anxiety in Blammo, they were often funny but he wasn't kidding, and the parts of this book that deal with major depression are some of the most accurate I've ever seen. It's hard to express how inconsistent the experience can be. Lincoln becomes hideously non-functional, but when other people try to help him he passively accepts, while still being sure he's doomed. At a particularly joyless low, he proposes marriage to a stranger because maybe that'll help somehow. He's never sure whether this is something that's happening to him or something he's doing, or why it gets better when it does. Even though Lincoln mentions wanting to accomplish great things some day, it's not about how a great man's vision helps him overcome the darkness; he just manages to survive it, mostly because although he feels alone, he isn't.

My only problem with the book is that the pace feels a little off in the last third: Van Sciver spends a fair amount of time on Lincoln's half-assed duel with James Shields, which is a good story, but would've worked better for me if it were the middle of a longer book rather than the end of a medium-short one. If the whole thing were as well constructed as the first half it'd be one of the best books of the decade. As it is, it's just extremely good, unique, and full of heart. ( )

The title refers to what Lincoln called his terrible bouts of dark melancholy, a depression that drove him to mental breakdown and thoughts of suicide. For a good study of this aspect of Lincoln's personality, I highly recommend Lincoln's Melancholy: How Depression Challenged a President and Fueled His Greatness by Joshua Wolf Shenk. ( )

It is a beautiful book and a grand story of early Lincoln lore. And reading Noah's blog during the years he sweated out the ink that came to fill these pages added another layer to my appreciation for the art and storytelling displayed here. ( )

I really enjoy graphic novels that have intelligent narratives and this is definitely one of my favorite graphic novels! It has our hero Lincoln under dire circumstances! Poverty, illness, political turmoil, duels!, being scorned by the family of the woman he wishes to wed...this has it all. It is just as melodramatic as it is political and there is a great sense of art to the drawings that make the storyline enhanced and intriguing to the last. I couldn't help but think that this would probably be Sarah Vowell's favorite graphic novel if she read it (maybe she has!)

In any case, such a delight! I relished in poor Lincoln's trials. I felt his deep melancholia, his sense of despair and I again re-realized that it was only be being a deep thinking individual that he was able to see some changes that were best for our country.

I wish there were more graphic novels like this! ( )