NEWS: 3/1/24

My first book is now available on Amazon

GET MY BOOK

You’ve seen the questions and memes on Reddit and Facebook, “Did kids in the 70’s really just go out and play the in the woods all day and your parents had no idea where you were?” “Did you really sneak out of an open window to go to a giant, raging house party with beer in plastic red cups like in those 80’s movies?” and “Shoutout to all the kids who told their parents they were at a sleepover when they were really face down in a field dying of alcohol poisoning.”

Author and artist Dean Giagni lived through it and, more importantly – remembers how it was and how it felt. In his first book, Main Character Syndrome, he creates an illustrated historical diary of those times, looking back into his own life. This is all the joy of a new love, a first kiss, having a bonfire with your friends but also the sobering reality of being bullied in school, breaking up and the death of friends and family.

The book’s chapters are organized by year, following the author from age four to thirty-four with the high school, college and young adult years having multiple entries as life gets more interesting, independent and complex. This personal narrative is punctuated by references to AIDS, OJ Simpson and 9/11 – the ebb and flow of the outside world putting its own pressures on everyday life.

Each story and page is illuminated by Dean’s energetic, frenetic, insistent ink drawings. Described in the Detroit Free Press as “a scribbler”, his expressive brushstrokes, jagged lines, washes and spatters retain a sense of spontaneity while delivering the detail and subtly of memories carefully observed. The energy of a Friday night restaurant rush, the thrill of driving with the top down in a snowstorm, the face of anguish and tears of loss are captured from the past and rendered with an “as it happens” immediacy. There’s pathos and poignancy but also honesty and self-deprecating humor. Dean shows us his 70’s mullet and his 90’s growing bald spot in between drawings of him trying to look cool. The funky hand made images are combined with an organic page design and a font created from the artist’s own handwriting. The result is an authentic, intimate experience, like reading a heartfelt letter from a close friend.