Kochalka, James – Sketchbook Diares Volume Three

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Sketchbook Diaries Volume Three

Ah, life will be good as long as Top Shelf continues to put these books out. This one is primarily about 2001, so it also includes James’ reaction to 9/11. Not that you would care, but I thought it worth mentioning. If I have one complaint from reading a bunch of these it’s that if he has nothing at all to say in a day (and that could be argued for weeks, I’m sure), then he should really just wait until the next day and do two strips. I’m mostly talking about the times when he just obviously throws something together at the last minute because he’s exhausted/wasted. That’s fine, but I’d rather see a recap the next day of the previous night’s events. A minor quibble, as most of his “quick” strips are at least kind of funny too, but I thought I should complain about something. Other than that, his daily strips have never failed to cheer me up. The man has an optimism about life that just can’t be destroyed. You can read these daily for free at his website, or you could just spend $1.95 a month and check out the archives too. Make him independently wealthy! But not too rich that he stops drawing comics…