As always with gigantic anthology collections like this, I like to make it easy on the reader. See that list of contributors in the tags? How many of your favorites do you see in there? Probably quite a few, huh? Then what’s left to think about? For the rest of you, or if you’re just trying to kill time at work, now I’ll say some stuff, then we can both go about our days. Hm, that seems like a grim way to sum up reviewing. Anyway! This is a collection of stories from people who are at their lowest points in life, so if you’re going into this expecting a barrel of laughs, you’ll be disappointed. There are some laughs, sure, as laughter can be the only way to get through some truly horrific times, but mostly it’s just sad. My biggest fear going into this, honestly, was seeing the worst parts of the lives of some of my favorite artists, but outside of a few of them, the artists were drawing the tales of people who submitted their stories anonymously. No, I’m not going to reveal which artists told their own stories; if you’re that curious about them get your own copy. There are also websites in the back so that anybody going through a similar issue in their own lives can get some help, so if you’re seeing too much of yourself in any of these stories, please do so. Not that you need to hear it from me, but I thought I’d throw it out there, because who knows when it’ll start seeming like good advice. There are roughly 40 stories in here, so I’m not going to go through them one by one, but I’ll give you some “highlights.” Subjects deal with reaching out for the last time and having it work out, the first time taking crack, getting beat up by cops (this one pops up more than a few times, which sadly isn’t shocking), using whiskey in a bong, getting addicted to voyeurism, a series of bottoms (a recurring theme was that there was rarely just one lowest point), having an imaginary dog, and very, very many slow descents to the bottom. It’s grim stuff, but it can also show you that there’s hope in even the worst times, as all of these people are still here to tell their stories. Get help if you need it, and give this comic a shot to see that however bad your situation is, there are people out there who have gone through something similar. $15
Right off the bat, I have to commend Sara on her use of panels. Yeah, that’s not something I usually notice/make note of, but her characters (and words) flit in and out of them so regularly that it’s impossible not to notice. You could say that they’re just the usual rushed strip comics, and the mess with the panels is actually sloppiness, but I don’t think that’s the case. What it actually means I’ll leave to the fine folks at The Comics Journal or some other suitably erudite operation, but I liked the effect that it had on her strips. On the other hand, some of these strips come from sources that don’t come across very well in a comic form (usually lined graph paper or sometimes maybe just bad copies), but that’s an occupational hazard whenever you make mini comics. Enough about the margins, how about the content? These are mostly single page strips about Sara’s life and whatever is going through her head at the time. This book covers the end of her 20’s, to give you some idea of where her head is at, but subjects include how The Simpsons never fails to center her (I can relate there), how Portlandia is barely even satire, shouting “buffet style!” everywhere she goes, enjoying being an adult on Halloween (and not enjoying the day after), the embarrassment of giant yogurt containers, swimming, bonding with her plants, and incest. And that’s just (roughly) the first half of the book! It’s a solid collection of strips, and since this is #6 it’s clearly something that she’s been doing for awhile. My only remotely negative comment would be that a few of the strips get awfully dark (literally, not in terms of subject matter), but it was very few strips and I could still read them all. Overall I’d recommend this highly to whoever still loves mini comics out there. $5
Posted by Kevin 
