Comics I Bought: October 30, 2008

Hey, I just realized I never posted what comics I bought this week. Halloween had me so distracted. Anyway, here you go.
I'm back from the comic shop this week and I got one new comic plus a hard cover collection:

Usagi Yojimbo - 115

Tomb of Dracula Omnibus Volume 1

And now for a review of something I've read recently.

"The Alcoholic" by Jonathan Ames and Dean Haspiel (who I went to college with)

The title of this book "The Alcoholic" pretty much sums up what the book is about. Though a more descriptive title might be "The Alcoholic Author". Being a paid writer frees up an alcoholic's time to really indulge in some self destruction. A person who has to hold a nine to five job can't get into nearly as much trouble. Well, maybe they can but they'll end up losing their job and being out on the street.

"The Alcoholic" may be autobiographical or it may be not. The main character and the author share a first name and a last initial. The book jacket refers to the main character bearing "only a coincidental resemblance" to the author. It also refers to the main character as the author's "alter ego". It really doesn't matter to me if it's autobiographical or not but why are you playing me like that? It's annoying.

The book started out slow for me. I wasn't enjoying it because it started out like every story about an alcoholic. Blacked out, miserable, and at the bottom of the heap. How did he get this way? Let me tell you he got that way like every other alcoholic. He started drinking. And why did he start drinking? Like every other alcoholic because it felt good. Not a lot of insight.

Then somewhere around a third of the way in I started to like it. We get to meet the one person he has a real relationship with, his great aunt, and the girl who breaks his heart. He also has some interesting things happen to him during his clean years and his functioning alcoholic times. It's always about the drinking but sometimes more than that happens.

Dean's art is first rate. I think he really hit a high note in his graphic novel with Harvey Pekar "The Quitter" and he holds that note throughout this book too. His story telling is excellent and I especially like his sense of shapes and how they interact. Dean's art is the reason I bought this book and it didn't let me down.

Overall I have to say I liked "The Alcoholic". It started out a bit clumsy and awkward but picked itself up off the floor. The interesting rest of the book made it for me.