How many times in the past year have people told me to read Minimum Wage? A whole bunch. I came close to buying it a couple of times, but it was one of those things that I never had the money for. Now that I’ve read the first book… I’m an idiot. So the collected book has the second half AND 40 new pages? OK, before I get started, if you missed this one completely like I did… go get the collected edition. I’m guessing, I suppose the second half could fall apart or something, but this first book was incredible. It’s basically the story of Rob, an artist who makes a living drawing cartoons for porn magazines, Sylvia, his girlfriend who seems to be more than a little bit crazy, and Jack, Rob’s roommate who seems to have a few issues with the idea of Rob and Sylvia moving in together. Before you dismiss this as a soap opera, there’s a whole lot more to it than that. Bob explores making a living doing something at least slightly degrading, going to clubs when there’s no reason to be out, public sex, private sex, public urination in open wounds… There’s all kinds of stuff in here, and some of it is probably going to be pretty disgusting to you. The fact is that the man has an unbelievable ear for dialogue and I can always appreciate someone who packs his panels with as much stuff as he does. Damn it, I can’t afford to buy a collected book when I’m moving in a few days. Anyway, buy this, read it, and love it.
