Brian has a fascinating introduction in this issue, going over his year in comics (he lays out just how many comics he put out last year and, once again, the sheer level of productivity should make other comic artists evaporate in shame), and it was a heck of a thing to have it all laid out like that. A general policy of this website, that readers may or may not have picked up on by now, is that I don’t like to have the same artist listed more than once on the main page at the same time. They cycle through as I add more reviews, so it’s rarely an issue, but Brian makes it tricky all by himself. I actually keep his “to review” comics in their own pile! Ah, another unwanted and possibly unwelcome peek behind the curtain here. This is a collection of short autobio comics, mostly things that Brian wanted to clear out of the way before getting to his more recent stuff in a future issue (according to the man himself), but there are still plenty of solid stories in here. Mostly single page stories, with the exception of the last time young Brian made a sandcastle; given a hundred chances I would still never have guessed how it ended. Other stories deal with the shame of buying pre-made pasta sauce as an Italian man, making his peace with being a runner, the sad inability to sleep in on the weekends, learning at a young age about a lack of Jedi powers, Jason Vorhees getting outsmarted by a lack of pants, “tips” for grilling a perfect burger, being generally OK with spiders, existential dread while stopped at a red light, and webworms. Which I did look up after being prompted in the comic, and I could have gone my whole life without knowing those things existed. And lots more stories, obviously. One of these days maybe Brian will put out a terrible comic so I can tell you to stay away, but today is not that day. Check it out, especially if you’re a parent too, as there’s plenty in here for you to relate to. $6
