Giant: Orson Welles, the Artist and the Shadow

From graphic novelist Youssef Daoudi comes a radically new look at the director of Citizen Kane and Touch of Evil: legendary filmmaker Orson Welles.

Long after his death in 1985, the shadow of Orson Welles still looms over Hollywood. By twenty-three, Welles had revolutionized theatre and radio with The War of the Worlds; by twenty-five, he had secured his place in history with his debut film, Citizen Kane. Yet four films and less than a decade later, his career suffered a spectacular collapse, and Welles, once the most promising director in America, was written off as a “would-be genius”―a bad bet in an increasingly money-conscious industry.

In The Giant, Youssef Daoudi weaves together reality and mythology to create a radical new look at one of Hollywood’s most legendary figures and poses a question as timeless as Orson Welles himself: What happens when a true artist comes up against the rest of the world?

“Gloriously unruly...an incisive look at an artist who never recovered from the success of his youth.” ―Publishers Weekly

Author/Artist: Youssef Daoudi
Publisher: 23rd St.
Page Count: 272pp
Size: 8 x 10.25 x 1
Notes: hardcover, full color
Date of Publication: May 6, 2025
ISBN: 978-1250805942