Steady Rollin': Preacher's Kid, Black Punk, and Pedaling Papa

I got this book a few years back from a Kickstarter campaign for Birdcage Bottom Books. Steady Rollin' is a collection of previously published comics, and the only thing holding them together is that they are all autobiographical, roughly chronological, and feature the author and illustrator, Fred Noland. He is currently, in his own words, "an avid cyclist and proud papa." 

Over the course of this book he delves into lots of subjects and time periods, including looking at his upbringing as a literal son of a preacher man, his foray into the punk music scene, living in and around southern California, working at a car wash, various cycling trips, and a tense escapade where he tracked down someone who had stolen his bike. Along the way, I got a lot of insight into his politics, personality, and parenting. 

Each comic episode is a concentrated look at his life, sometimes funny, sometimes thoughtful, and always engaging. He tends to look at things, warts and all, and I appreciated the many truth bombs he dropped. At first I was disappointed that there was not a unified narrative, but I think this book has something better. Although the stories only really roughly fit together and were purposed for other venues, taken altogether they create a mosaic of man I find not only interesting and entertaining but also someone I'd actually like to meet and hang out with. I am not sure if we would get along necessarily, but I like the cut of his jib. And I really like his comics.

As I wrote earlier, Noland is a working artist, and he has produced work for many prominent magazines and venues. He has made a short graphic biography of Major Taylor, one of the USA's first global superstar athletes, and has been working on a longer one as well. He speaks more about his work and this book in this interview and also in this article.

I was not able to find many reviews of this book online, but Publishers Weekly called it a "companionable grab bag of humorous autobiographical shorts."

Steady Rollin' was originally published by Birdcage Bottom Books, but now you can get copies from Microcosm  Publishing (they offer a preview and more at the link).

Too Tough To Die: An Aging Punx Anthology

I have read a few anthologies published by Birdcage Bottom Books (like this one), and they have always been interesting and/or provocative, introducing me to some new artists along the way. Too Tough To Die is a weighty tome featuring 47 different entries. Many focus on autobiographical tales of people's punk rock fandom. There are references to lots of bands and multiple reasons why these people were drawn to punk rock. For some, there was family situations that made the scene relatable; others just liked the crass humor; some found it an appropriate response to hypocrisy, and others found kinship in the motley assortment of punks. Many of the stories speak to punk more as an ethos than a fashion or musical movement and also speak to how it was not just some youthful phase but a blueprint for being a critical and informed adult.

Art by Hyena Hell

These stories are not all about sharing mix tapes, though there is plenty of that. They are not overly nostalgic, depicting scenes of violence, some substance abuse, and a number of other poor life choices. Many also address some of the more sinister aspects of the scene, such as the presence of white supremacists and skinheads. Many of the stories puncture any pomposity of the narrators, as contemporary young people have their own particular mindsets and wonder why these lame old folk keep trying to impress them, even if they might be into the same bands.

Art by Ayti Krali

In terms of representation, I really liked seeing the multiple ways that people found their ways into punk consciousness. There are tales from men, women, people of color, city dwellers, suburbanites, and kids from the country. There is also plenty of discussion about how punk intermingled/juxtaposed with other movements, such as hair metal, grunge, and alternative music.

Art by Gideon Kendall

There are too many stories for me to explain fully, but I loved the range of formats and styles. Some are short, almost like gag strips. Many are pretty raw, featuring rough lines and splotchy black and white images, mimicking the format of zines. One of my favorites, concluding the book, is series of images and biological accounts by Haleigh Buck in the style of show posters. Maybe it's because I am squarely in the age demographic of many of these artists/stories, but I found much I could empathize with and relate to. This anthology is phenomenal.

This collection was edited by Haleigh Buck and J.T. Yost. Yost has done all sorts of comics over the years, including a memorable tale about the Westboro Baptist Church in American Cult, and also founded and runs Birdcage Bottom Books. Buck is a frequent contributor to anthologies and has created a number of comics and mini-comics.

The reviews I could find of this book have been positive. Publishers Weekly summed up, "This is one awesome and introspective ode to rebellion." It currently has a 4.7 (out of 5) star rating on Goodreads.

Too Tough To Die was published by Birdcage Bottom Books, and they offer a preview and more here. This book features profanity, some sexual situations, and drug use, so reader discretion is suggested.

Is This How You See Me?

I've said it before and I'll say it again: Jaime Hernandez is one of my favorite comics makers ever, and I don't know how he keeps topping himself, but he's done it again. Is This How You See Me? is a book about a reunion. The Locas, characters Hernandez has been writing about since the early 1980s all convene 30 years later for a special concert of their old favorites and some of the new Turks who were inspired by them. It also features old friends and acquaintances coming back together, some happily and others not so much. What is phenomenal to me is just how vibrant and complex a quilt Hernandez weaves in a relatively short space in this book.

All of the major players here have aged, most have mellowed, and it is interesting to see how their lives have shifted over time. Of course, this book focuses much of the time on Maggie and Hopey, the on-again, off-again friends and lovers who were the primary focus of the classic Locas tales. Their adventures have always featured lots of personal drama and upheaval, and it is fascinating to see how that still plays out 30 years later.

This book features a lot of juxtaposition. It hops back in forth in time to show characters then and now. It shows what the folks at the reunion are up to while also showing what their significant others are doing while left at home. And although a few things remain relatively the same, it shows the ocean changes the exist between then and now. Perhaps most strikingly for me was the difference between the sorts of trouble Maggie and Hopey can get into to. Their past run-ins with punks and drug dealers seemed almost quaint and fun next to the two episodes of hate they run into in the present, which were full of menace and danger.

One of the strong points is just how iconic and potent the illustrations are. Hernandez has honed his craft over the decades to be able to capture an emotion or deliver a visual zinger in economical fashion. There were multiple times I found myself poring back over pages to admire his characters and how he brings them to life via his artwork.

Another of the strongest parts of this book for me was its dialogue. There are a number of big crowd scenes where people are watching shows, catching up, or hanging out late night in diners, and their conversations are mundane, silly, pointed, and sometimes poignant. I know that comics work best when there is a playful, intentional interplay between the images and the words, and Hernandez shows he is a maestro of drawing, writing, and also marrying the two.

I feel that I have a difficult time doing this book justice, because it does so much. It delivers quality slice-of-life type tales while also showing what happens across a lifespan. It is funny, sometimes sad, and very rewarding. There are lots of pay-offs for longtime Love & Rockets readers but also quite enough context to entertain and engage those new to this universe. I cannot recommend this book enough.

The reviews I have read of this book have been glowing. Edwin Turner wrote, "It's fascinating too to see how naturally Hernandez has realized the aging of his characters, as if they were not drawings on a page, but rather real people." In a starred review, Publishers Weekly concluded, "While longtime fans will discover extra levels of joy and regret in this installment, even those who pick this up as their introduction to the series will be moved by its tale of growing older without necessarily growing up." Hernandez speaks about his work on this book in this interview.

Is This How You See Me? was published by Fantagraphics, and they provide a preview and much more here. It features profanity, some violence, and sexual content, so it is recommended for readers mature enough to handle those things.

Tonta

Long-time readers of this blog should know that Jaime Hernandez is a living legend and one of my favorite comics creators. He has won multiple Harvey and Eisner Awards for the long-running Love and Rockets series he co-created with his brothers, and I loved seeing his work in various anthologies over the years. Last year he also ventured into the arena of children's comics with The Dragon Slayer.

This book, Tonta, gathers together material published a few years ago in Love and Rockets: New Stories. For the most part, these stories focus on the titular Tonta (her nickname, Spanish for stupid or dummy), a teenager who tries to fit in the best she can. Her family is sort of a mess, with a network of older half-sisters and a half-brother who occasionally nose into her business. Also, her mother seems to be a black widow sort, leaving a trail of exes who have been suspiciously murdered. That last bit entails a prolonged legal drama that is woven throughout the book.

As you can see, Tonta also does typical sorts of teenager things, like sneaking booze, hanging out with people she shouldn't, hiding out in the woods with her clique, and cozying up to members of her favorite band. She is not always successful with her intentions, or come off the coolest, but she is a dynamic and expressive character. That is what I perhaps appreciated most about this book. You do not necessarily need to know a lot of background to catch on to the multitude of things that go on. Each character is defined and memorable. Each episode is powerful and economically communicated, and it is very easy to get swept up in the narrative flow. This book is yet another testament to Jaime Hernandez's incredible artistic and storytelling chops.

The reviews I have read about this book have been very positive. Publishers Weekly concluded, "This rambunctious ride may be more minor in the Hernandez catalog, but it’s still a master class in cartooning." Hillary Brown commented in a similar vein, "It seems like the abiding conception of Jaime Hernandez’s Tonta is that it’s a minor work of his, a sort of tossed-off compilation of stories focusing on a character who’s more an Io than a Jupiter, a character actor rather than a leading lady. But the fact is that reading it, for me, produced the same rush of blood to the brain and almost dizzying happiness as his “major” Maggie and Hopey stories."

Tonta was published by Fantagraphics, and they offer a preview and more here. This book features some profanity and nudity, so it is suggested for readers mature enough to handle those things.

Be Your Own Backing Band

Be Your Own Backing Band is the latest collection of comics from Liz Prince, an Ignatz Award winning cartoonist. I have read, admired, and reviewed a couple of her other books, Alone Forever, which focuses on her love life, and Tomboy, which focuses on her formative years. Both books are full of excellent observational humor and they are also very relatable. I love the nerdy persona that Prince portrays in these books.

This latest collection focuses on Prince's musical tastes, and they were originally published in Razorcake Magazine. She tends to like punk bands, and I have to admit I was not very familiar with many of the ones she talks about, but I could totally relate to tales of geeking out over a particular band, elaborate trips to go to shows, and the autobiographical connections she makes throughout.

And as you can see from the excerpts here, each chapter/episode lasts about a page, and they do not necessarily follow in any particular order other than chronological. So this book is a relatively breezy read that you can take in parts or in larger chunks. It works well either way.

I am enamored with Prince's observational and self-deprecating sense of humor, and I really enjoyed reading this book. If you or someone you know is into music, or just has a punk rock sort of mentality, this would be a fun book to read.

I was not able to find a lot of reviews of this book, but the ones I read have been positive. Johanna Draper Carlson wrote that she found much to relate to and sympathize with, even if she was unfamiliar with most of the bands mentioned in the book. There are a bunch of reviews of it over at Goodreads, where it has a 3.72 overall rating.

Be Your Own Backing Band was published by Silver Sprocket, and they offer a preview and more about it here. It does contain a fair share of profanity, so it is recommended for readers mature enough to handle that.

All Summer Long

All Summer Long is a story about adolescence and relationships. Bina is thirteen years old, and during the summer after seventh grade, her life starts changing in all sorts of ways. To start with, her best friend and next door neighbor Austin is going away for a month to summer camp. Not only does his absence leave a void in her typical social life, he also has been  acting weirdly of late.

After a set of circumstances, Bina ends up hanging out with Austin's older sister Charlie. Charlie is typically loud and obnoxious, but she and Bina like the same kind of music, so they bond over that. Over time though, Bina learns that Charlie might be using her to get out and also see her sort-of-boyfriend Jae.

Ah, sibling love!

What I admired most about this book was how it handled its characters and their interactions. As you can see, the situations they are dealing with are pretty ordinary and relatable. I was impressed by how well developed and interesting all the characters were, not falling into stock stereotypes but surprising me with how they respond to particular situations. Also, there is lots of clever dialogue and interesting conversation. Oftentimes, when a comic depends on text heavily, it can be a slog, but this one is a joy to read, moving along at a crisp and effervescent pace. I very much liked getting to know these characters, and better yet, this volume is the first of three, so I'll get more chances to see how they mature and evolve.

This book's creator Hope Larson is an Eisner Award winner for her adaptation of A Wrinkle in Time. She also has written and drawn the young adult story Chiggers. She has written a number of comics, notably the graphic novels Knife's Edge and Compass South, as well as comic book series, one about a teen detective Goldie Vance and the other a run on DC Comics' Batgirl. She speaks about her work on All Summer Long in this interview.

All the reviews I have read about this book have been very positive. In a starred review, Kirkus Reviews summed it up as "a coming-of-age story as tender and sweet as a summer evening breeze." Elizabeth Bush called it a "compact but deftly developed graphic novel." Publishers Weekly praised the character work as well as "dialogue that’s fresh and funny."

All Summer Long was published by Farrar Straus Giroux, and they offer a preview and more here.

A review copy was provided by the publisher.

Today is the Last Day of the Rest of Your Life

So, Like I wrote earlier, I signed up for Comixology Unlimited. I have been diving into a few books lately, seeing what is offered and if the service is worth my while. Today is the Last Day of the Rest of Your Life was a title offered by one of my favorite publishers, and although I had not heard of the book (despite it being a multiple award winner-Where have I been?), it sounded intriguing and I thought I would give it a shot. It turns out that this chance reading ended up ending up being pretty lengthy, almost 500 pages of comics(!).

As it turns out, I was entirely enthralled by this book and I took it down in a few sittings. It was utterly compelling, raw, suspenseful, and revelatory. The narrative focused on a young Austrian woman who was into punk rock and decided to go on a trek with some friends in the summer of 1984. These women take off in search of a good time, and in turn they have many adventures, party, face the menace of sexual violence, and try to scrounge up money or food. They take part in many illegal activities and run afoul of displaced artists, pimps, wanna-be pimps, and organized crime.

The story is sort of nostalgic, but not sickeningly sweet or overly romanticized. I thought that the characters were very well defined, and the drama of all these situations was quite powerful and moving. I am very glad I took the time to explore this service and find this gem of a book.

This book's creator and main character is Ulli Lust, winner of an Ignatz and an Eisner Award nominee. I love her rough-edged artwork and masterful storytelling as well as the limited color palate that lend the proceedings a grungy authenticity. She speaks extensively about her life and career in this interview.

All of the reviews I have read about this book have been very positive. Robert Kirby opined that this book is so successful because Lust had so much time to reflect on these events, and he wrote, "She captures perfectly and without judgment the complex social, cultural, and personal maelstrom she willingly entered into that summer, offering readers a wonderfully vicarious thrill in the process." Publishers Weekly gave it a starred review and wrote, "Her recollections willfully expose the dark side of an anarchic lifestyle, yet are void of any didactic embellishment, and instead form a genuine and nonjudgmental look at aimless youth and rebellion." Eddie Campbell likened it to "a person who came to stay and I didn’t realize how much I was enjoying their company until after they’d left."

Today is the Last Day of the Rest of Your Life was published in the US by Fantagraphics Books, and they have a preview and more available here. If it is not clear by now, this is not a book for children.

Sacred Heart

I read this book because it came highly recommended by my friend and colleague Jarod Roselló. I am very glad I did, but first I should also tell you to check out Jarod's work, too, because it is totally fun and interesting. And tell him I sent you!

Sacred Heart began as a webcomic, but all 19 of those chapters have been reworked or redrawn for publication in this book version. Those 19 chapters open the story, and the book offers many more pages that lead to a bizarre, jarring, and surprising conclusion that leaves many questions unanswered. Luckily, this is the first of a proposed four book series that will hopefully shed more light on what went on here. I do not mean this in a bad way, but I have now read this book at least three times, because it is so beguiling and compelling.

But I am getting ahead of myself. The main narrative here seems to be your typical punk-rock-teens-on-their-own story. Teenagers hang out, listen music, go to shows, drink, party, have sex, and experience lots of personal drama. But then there are murders. And what is weird, these murders happen but there is no seeming backlash. No one is afraid, and no one seems to be investigating them. They just kind of happen. So there is a series of unsolved murders but there are also a series of other enigmatic happenings.

There is a pair of teen soothsayers who are reading people's futures. There is our main character, an adolescent girl named Ben, and her strained relationship with her more popular sister Empathy. Then there is Ben's friend/boyfriend Mahoney, who seems to exercise every sexual fetish possible, one of which includes licking the soles of a stranger's boots (GROSS). What does become clear in this series of confusions is that these characters are as well defined as they are memorable. And their relationships are very organic and interesting.

This book does a great job of capturing the feeling of being a teenager. Even the quiet, solitary moments when one is trying to entertain oneself and escape the monotony of everyday were very relatable for me.

Heh. Butts.

The first time I read this book I felt it was just going to be a teen relationship book, and it is that in excellent fashion. But it turns into something else by the end, and I am not saying anything else about it. Go read the book for yourself and see what I am talking about. In addition to the story, there is so much I love about the art style. The book features its own logic and iconography, two things that subtly contributed to its overall effect (no spoilers - I told you I am not saying anymore!).

Something that is apparent when reading this book: debut graphic novelist Liz Suburbia is accomplished and no neophyte creator. I love her stylistic choices, from how she dramatizes the force and power of musical performances (check out that excerpt above) to her way of capturing emotional moments and exchanges. Like I said earlier, I got way more wrapped up in this book than I imagined. She talks about her work on it here and more about it and her career here.

All of the reviews I have read of this book have been full of praise. Hillary Brown called it "a genuinely wonderful book both in its clever approach as well as the more guttural and immediate experience of enjoying it sans analysis." Marie Anello lauded it because "Suburbia’s style, her humor, her grim and extremely selective approach to world building leaves the reader feeling tense, enthralled, and haunted even after the second, third, or fourth re-read." Zach Hollwedel wrote, "Suburbia's attention to detail (including references to obscure movies and pop culture cult hits) creates an impressively fully realized world that catapults and [sic] adult reader back to those four years in which everything changes"

Sacred Heart was published by Fantagraphics Books, and they have a preview and more here. Original versions of the first nineteen chapters that begin the book are available here. There are some profanity, nudity, sexual situations, and violence in this book, so I recommend it to readers old enough to handle those things.