Real Stuff

by Dennis P. Eichhorn

SUPERANNO A collection of short autobiographical vignettes, illustrated by some of the world's finest cartoonists, recounting the author's life from childhood to middle age. Original.

Genres: Comics, Graphic Novels

195 pages, Paperback

First published January 10, 2004

About the author

Writer, best known for his adult-oriented autobiographical comic book series Real Stuff. His stories, often involving, sex, drugs, and alcohol, have been compared to those of Jack Kerouac, Ken Kesey, and Charles Bukowski.

Reviews

[Kirk · Rating 4 out of 5]

What's not to like about radioactive vaginas and drunken brawls?

I really liked this. It's not like most of the material I read, but it was nice to sit down with a book that made me feel like I was sharing a beer with the author. I wasn't looking for anything too in-depth when I picked it up, just a fun read. I'm getting older and I don't have as many wild stories to share with friends as I used to, and most of my friends don't have many stories to share these days either. We're pinned down by jobs. This book was, for a short while, my escape. I lived vicariously through Eichhorn every night before drifting off to sleep. If anything I've written about the book sounds appealing to you, or you can empathize with the plight of a middle-aged man, check this book out. At best it'll make you feel young again and make you feel like you've made a friend. At the very least, you'll find something worth sharing with a friend.

[Kevin · Rating 2 out of 5]

Of interest mostly as an artist's showcase. Eichhorn's tales are better suited for shooting the shit with some drinking buddies; on the page, perhaps particularly in anthology form, they soon all seem the same. There is rarely any great insight, certainly not when a facile moral will do. Even as a self-portrait this collection proves fairly unrevealing; you could easily mistake Eichhorn for any Midwestern lunkhead who likes to drink, likes to fight, and likes to screw. On that note my favorite piece here is Sam Henderson's "Real Stuff' parody, which condenses the idiot hedonism of the rest of the book into a single hilarious page.

[Gelo · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was the very first-book/quasi-book that I have ever read in high school. I still remember the laughs and smirks I did whenever I read Eichorn's silly adventures or misadventures through life, love, radioactive sex, and other stuff, real stuff. I needed to reread this to relish the memories of happiness. Quite a funny ride, really. Cheers! :)