Art Young’s Inferno

Fans of Dante’s time when he visited Hell will enjoy Art Young’s Inferno. Slightly different from Dante, but on the same topic, Young created a book with text and cartoon pictures to lead the reader with him on a once-in-a-lifetime experience through Hell. Young was an established cartoonist in the early 1900s, mainly political and socialist; his Inferno showcases his thoughts on the inhabitants of Hell, its atmosphere, and the inner workings of this mysterious place. Inferno was written in a time when people were starting to become skeptical that Hell was a real place. Art Young’s work is a unique experience that will stick with you.

I like that Inferno isn’t just a sequential art book, but that it also contains a story to accompany the cartoons. In my opinion, there are only a few mildly disturbing cartoons, but the majority of the pictures do include naked people, though not anatomically correct. I am impressed at the detail that Young put into imagining Hell’s atmosphere; exercise, marital issues, banking, disease, politics, schooling, and amusement parks are a few of the many topics in this book.