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
I’m leaving the review above this one as I wrote it, even though I regret the tone of it, to show you guys a few things. One of them is that I’m not a nice guy all the time with these books, and the other thing is that I can be an unfair prick at times. It doesn’t matter how much I dislike a book, I always try to throw in some kind of positive remark (I know how hard it is to put out comics and risk people commenting on them), and I didn’t. No, I didn’t like the book at all, but there are more diplomatic ways to say that then what I did. That being said, I was glad to get another comic in the mail from Tatiana. An informed opinion is always much better than assuming the worst after one early comic. As for this book, well. I liked it a lot. This book has two stories in it, one about a vacation Tatiana took with her family to Tijunana (complete with pictures, the reason for which is obvious once you read it) and the other one is the story of the music she’s listened to throughout her life. A couple of thoroughly entertaining stories, well worth a look. I’m guessing it’s $2 or so, check out her website to see what else she has available.
Sometimes you really can tell a book by its cover. I saw this in Chicago Comics months ago and put off reading it until now. I guess it was my subconscious trying to save those 3 minutes of my life. Hell, you can all read the blurb at the bottom of the cover. Imagine it getting worse from there, and you have this comic. I kept waiting for the punchline, but it looks like this is for real. Want to read the dumbest dialogue ever? OK, probably not ever, but it hurt my eyes to read it. Obviously corrected lettering, misspellings… The art was the best part of this and it was just OK. Sorry, but this didn’t do a thing for me. It mentions in here a project that Tatiana has with David Lasky, so I’m guessing that she’s capable of better, but yeesh. E-mail Tatiana or Craig if you’re feeling masochistic…
Well, my scanner died right after I scanned the cover, so sorry about the lack of samples. Who out there was a Cure fan back in the day? If so, you’re going to get an awful lot out of this book. If not, well, you’re probably still going to get a lot out of this book, at least if you were ever a teenager you will. I’m not sure if I was ever that young, but there seems to be photographic evidence of some kind, so maybe it is true. The quote at the start of this shows the mood you need to be in to read it: “Open this book as the sixteen year old that fell in love at first sight and took themselves all too seriously”. This is the story of a young boy and a young girl who both, without having ever met each other before, skip school to get the new Cure album when it comes out and end up spending the day together. I have no idea how Damon pulled off dialogue this realistic, as I assume he isn’t 16 any more and this seems as natural as can be. Not that it’s impossible, but it seems like when some people try to write as teenagers would talk that it comes off, well, a bit silly. No problem with that here. Tatiana also does an incredible job showing the complete range of emotions that most teenagers go through in a couple of hours. Good stuff all around, it’s only $3.95 too so it’s well worth checking out.
Posted by Kevin 
