Drew Friedman's Chosen People

Drew Friedman

Dec 2017 · Fantagraphics Books

About this ebook

Artists, cartoonists, comedians, musicians, actors, politicians, the famous and the infamous, these chosen people are just that: People chosen to be rendered by the man BoingBoing calls “The greatest living portrait artist.”

Ratings and reviews

I highly recommend Chosen People, in either the hardcover or digital edition. But I'm glad to have both. If pressed to choose I'd go with the hardcover. A great deal of wit and care has gone into the the juxtaposition of portraits on facing pages, and that dimension is lost when scrolling through the images. There is a difference in color between the two formats, with the hardcover being more subdued. There is one great advantage to the digital edition, in that it allows you to zoom in on the details. You can see the difference in the eyes of Lou Jacobi, his younger self aping the expression of a romantic lead focussing into something licentious and nearly depraved on the next page. Comparing Friedman's current work to the illustrations in Too Soon?, you can see his progression. These depictions are less presentational and possess far greater depth. The dimensions of the book is much smaller than his volumes of Heroes of the Comics and Old Jewish Comedians so it's simply easier to pick up and flip through for repeated viewings.

About the author

Drew Friedman 's work has appeared in The New York Times, Mad, New Yorker, Rolling Stone, and many other magazines. He is the author of several collections of comics and cartooning, including All the Presidents, Maverix and Lunatix: Icons of Underground Comix, Old Jewish Comedians, and Any Similarity to Persons Living or Dead is Purely Coincidental. He resides in Pennsylvania with his wife and collaborator, Kathy Bidus, and their beagles. Merrill Markoe is best known as the Emmy-winning co-creator of Late Night with David Letterman. A comedy writer, she's worked on TV shows such as Sex and the City and published collections of her essays. She lives in Malibu.