When last we spoke, I spent most of the review on (what I thought at the time) was a lengthy four page text piece from Dan instead of the comic. Well, this time it’s an 8 page text piece, between the intro and the outro, and it’s maybe my favorite piece of writing from him yet. I feel like I’ve said that before, meaning that if I put them side by side and read them I’d have to choose, but time only moves in the one direction, and the me of right now feels pretty confident in declaring this one the winner. It has Dan wrestling with the meaning behind creating a comic for 20+ years when so few people read it (“wrestling” might be too strong a word, the man is dedicating to keeping this going, which is great news for all of us), what he thinks might end up happening to his comics after he sends them out into the wild, being guilty (and then getting over it) about actually enjoying his day job, and so very much more. I usually save this for the end of the reviews, but seriously, if you’re not reading his stuff, there’s exactly zero other comics creators out there like him. You could really start just about anywhere, but heck, why not start with this one! It’s full color and fresh, fresh, fresh! Oh right, I should probably mention what this comic is about, since that is definitely the part of this process that convinces doubtful readers to spend some money on comics. Well, Oliver Platt has to build and ride (with his entire family) the fastest water slide ever so that he could make the movie Simon Burch. There are complications, to put it mildly, and things aren’t helped at all by Oliver being turned into a skeleton. But there are also rainbow tears, eating chex mix until a grasshopper asks for some water because it had eaten too many of the ones that fell on the ground, pinocchio, and Toby (that’s the grasshopper) getting to heaven and seeing what’s happening up there these days. And, again, so much more. Dan, if you’re reading this, and if you’re really wondering if it was wise to put that last image into your comic or if it ruined everything: you did the right thing. To everybody else, buy this and read it! I want to talk to people about these comics, and to do that more of you have to read them. And then talk to me about them. $5
