Last Exit Before Toll

by Neal Shaffer, Christopher Mitten

Charles Pierce has reached a dead end. He's got a good job and his family loves him, but he wanders through life as if he were barely there. On a business road trip, his car breaks down, stranding him in a small town in rural Virginia. While at first he greets his circumstances with irritation, Charles slowly begins to realize that this accident may be the luckiest thing that ever happened to him. His disappearance may just be his chance at a new life, and the down-to-earth waitress from the local diner might just be his second opportunity for love. That is, if the past doesn't catch up with him first.

Genres: Graphic Novels

96 pages, Paperback

First published December 3, 2003

Reviews

[Jon Nakapalau · Rating 5 out of 5]

On The Road meets The Stranger! A really haunting story about making a 'clean' break from everything. Reminded me of what J. Alfred Prufrock might very well do one day; after tea just leave everything behind and try to find that spark that would keep the embers of last days burning as brightly as they can - before they go out forever.

[Tony Laplume · Rating 3 out of 5]

I’m not sure Neal Shaffer at this stage of his career (being 2003 I’m sure he had more work follow, just nothing I’ve personally encountered) knew how to make his writing really pop. Similarly, Christopher Mitten, whose later work I did see, and love, in the pages of Wasteland, in his first project, is clearly not nearly as refined as he would later become, although his art is recognizable. Very much works in progress.

[Isabel · Rating 3 out of 5]

I feel like I Kind if wanted a bit more.

Like I feel like I missed something?
He just found this town and loved it so much so he stayed? Cool, but there wasn’t that much romance and he just left in the end to “face the past” but what happened 👀

[Jamie Van Dee · Rating 2 out of 5]

Meh.

[Joseph Young · Rating 2 out of 5]

The summary is pretty accurate to the book. Nothing really happens, except that the guy abandons his dead-end grind life, for a more relaxing different type of dead-end relaxed but physically hard-working life. In the end, he seems to go back to his old life. Perhaps this is the fantasy of many people stuck in a dead-end life without much meaning. His old life doesn't really catch up with him as much as remind him that it's still there.

Personally it's easy to relate to the wanting to abandon it all, but hard to relate to the part of actually doing it. I guess my life is just better than the protagonist in this story, but most people's lives will be.

[Amanda · Rating 3 out of 5]

The minutiae that made up the story almost had a surreal element to it. I loved the first half of it. Part 2's continuing of the story stayed strong, but the artwork got really weird. I couldn't tell if maybe it was an issue with the printing or a foreboding stylistic choice, but it was distractingly ugly. Overall though, I really liked it.

[Yannick · Rating 3 out of 5]

A great example of how you can write about "nothing happening", yet still enthrall your reader. LAST EXIT BEFORE TOLL stands as remarkable proof that drama stems more from internal conflict than from any car chase or fist fight. I highly recommend it to any writer trying to grasp how to build a story from moods instead of actions.

[Paul · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good, but not great, story about an unhappy man who manages to disappear without really trying to. Still feel like I don't really know the main character, which is disappointing in a story of this nature. It left me not truly caring what he would ultimately decide.