Real Life: The Complete Year One Collection

by Greg Dean

Based strictly in the bounds of reality, Real Life is based on the experiences of the cartoonist and his friends. Whether they're gallivanting around 14th century France, building sentient computers, or taking a road trip to Michigan, be assured that everything in these pages actually happened. Well, except for the Michigan thing. See how it all began, with added commentary by the cartoonist, as well as extra material not seen online.

Genres: Comics

384 pages, Paperback

First published August 20, 1997

Reviews

[Francine · Rating 2 out of 5]

A pretty basic webcomic. The art is not very good. Neither is the writing. It's not bad per se, it feels like "baby's first creative writing project", but I also don't feel like there is much improvement between the first and the last comic, so I don't feel like picking up where this book left off and reading the webcomic.

I thought the story arcs were pretty uninspired. I've read a lot of stories like them. Maybe RealLife was one of the first webcomics to take off, but it has not aged well when it comes to originality. None of the characters really stood out to me, either.

What I do like, is that some of the comics are presented in colour.
I also liked the author's commentary; not that it's the best or most enlightening I've ever read, but I'm still glad they included it.

[Elizabeth · Rating 5 out of 5]

Someone gave me this book (even though some of the margins were misaligned). Gee, I wish I remember who...
Good times, and the commentary is nice too. Nostalgia can sit comfortably on the shelf.