My Own Little Empire

My Own Little Empire is a comical, nostalgic look back at 1990, that I found very relatable, if a little cliched. The narrative follows a bunch of high school friends in Maryland as they rule their small town "empire," which means having crappy retail jobs, going to concerts, drinking, experimenting with drugs, and hanging out in an abandoned hospital that is said to be haunted.

The cast of characters

The bunch of characters in this book kind of ran together for me except for three: the main character Joe, who has a job and pines for Jacqueline, the only female who seems nice enough but dates Roop, who is a big dope who comes across as sort of a bully. This triangle gets explored some in the course of the book, but like the art the story is also pretty minimal. There are some funny bits as well, particularly those about Marty, the guy who walks around the mall in circles. However, except for the swearing and use of substances, I felt that most of this book was pretty sitcom-ish.

And because the story is about kids in 1990, there is a bunch of aimless driving around, drinking, and talking smack. The "verbal sparring" (mostly insulting) that happens between the characters was pretty realistic to me. I felt about this book that it was as if someone followed me and documented my high school years, only depicted them in snapshot fashion with little detail or development. I liked this book fine, but mostly in a hey-I-remember-that sort of way.

Zima! Do they even make that swill any more? Apparently not.

The art style here reminded me of the cartoon Ed, Edd, and Eddy, but even more minimal. Sometimes, I had difficulty figuring out who was who or what was happening, but for the most part I found the artwork pleasant and engaging. Writer/artist Scott Mills has done all kinds of comics over the years, including Zebediah the Hillbilly Zombie Redneck Bites the Dust, Big Clay Pot, and the Ignatz Award winning Trenches. He also makes all kinds of mini-comics, most notably the Xeric Award winning Cells. Mills speaks more about his comics works in this interview.

Reviews I have read about this book have been mixed. Tom Spurgeon wrote that it depicted "a recognizable and realistic youth experience" but also that it was "like eating pizza with a bunch of people you don't know and having them trade high school stories replete with personal shorthand and slang. You feel slightly sorry for the sheer tedium of their experiences, but mostly you just wish they'd change the subject." Whitey was more positive, but also admitted to being a big fan of Mills' work, writing, "His ear for dialogue is just about flawless and his art has gotten even more minimal (I mean that in the best possible way)." Matt Martin opined, "Mills’ artwork ranges from barely discernible to absolutely gorgeous, with the median quality falling somewhere on the more positive side of the scale, but his flair for realistic dialogue amongst high school seniors never fails to impress."

His ear for dialogue is just about flawless and his art has gotten even more minimal (I mean that in the best possible way). - See more at: http://www.opticalsloth.com/?tag=my-own-little-empire#sthash.mmGwr2Bz.dpuf

His ear for dialogue is just about flawless and his art has gotten even more minimal (I mean that in the best possible way). - See more at: http://www.opticalsloth.com/?tag=my-own-little-empire#sthash.mmGwr2Bz.dpuf

My Own Little Empire was published by Adhouse Books, naturally, and they provide a preview here.