Fantagraphics, $14.95
Short Review: Engaging characters, enjoyable stories.
This is a reprint of stories from Unsupervised Existance, the comic which spawned Bob Cudd, but there's only a parenthetical mention of him. In fact, it seems that the parts of the original books which were reprinted in International Bob are completely missing from here, which makes for occasionally confusing motives.
Howsoever, this book centres for the most part around Suzy and Danny, a self-absorbed unemployed liberal arts graduate and her live-in boyfriend, a poetry-writing cab driver. They try to get through life, as well as the occasional mid-life crisis, staying together. She's unsure of commitment, he's insecure, and so tensions grow. There's a great backing cast, one of which gets an issue focussed on her. As LaBan says in the foreword, it's not an easy book to describe, drifting from humor to realism seamlessly. The best comparison is an autobiographical work by Robert Crumb, only this is entirely made-up material, and with a better editor. It's engaging and entertaining, and even when some of the liberal sensibilities get pushed relentlessly (the issue focussing on a backup character has a proliferation of Wymin's groups), it never seems less than a natural thing to do. Also outstanding are the characterisations, which make you feel for each of the characters. Indeed, it's the fact that the two main characters are at base such nice people that makes reading this book so pleasurable.
Andrew These reviews are copyright the authors