Listen at Home with Octopus Pie

Octopus Pie (New Collection) #2

by Meredith Gran

The second huge collection of Octopus Pie features over a year's worth of comics that have never been in print! 180 pages of comics, artwork and chapter commentary!

Genres: Comics, Graphic Novels, Webcomic, Fiction, Graphic Novels Comics

184 pages, Unknown Binding

First published May 20, 2011

About the author

Meredith Gran lives and work in Brooklyn as a freelance comic artist & occasional animator. She's been drawing the webcomic Octopus Pie since 2007. She teaches a weekly webcomics course at the School of Visual Arts. She also wrote and drew the Eisner-nominated Adventure Time comic book spin-off, Marceline & the Scream Queens.

Reviews

[Jen · Rating 5 out of 5]

I've been reading Octopus Pie online since it first started, so I had read these stories before, but reading them all together, back-to-back and with Gran's commentary between chapters made the experience even richer. Octopus Pie is a serial web comic that is primarily about Eve (short for Everest) Ning and her friends and family as she lives through early adulthood adventures and pitfalls in Brooklyn. The series overall has some of my favorite elements, namely being comedic and self-deprecating while also being truthful and heartfelt. I relish spending time with Eve and Hanna and Will and Marek and Marigold and Park and Julie and Mor and all the others, but it's impossible for me to tell you what the book is about. It's about these characters and their lives, their jobs and relationships and parties and ridiculousness. And it's great.

[Arnela · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book covers chapters 14 - 24 of the story. It feels like thicker paper, not the semi-gloss or matte of modern comics or the green pages that were in the first collection. It's black and white although the comic I have the black looks more really dark purple to me but hey, shit happens.

The stories are good, the art is good, and I especially love the little talk [sort of] before each chapter about where the inspirations came from, that was a really nice addition to each chapter and I wish we got more of that in the books.

[Jordan · Rating 3 out of 5]

After thoroughly enjoying Octopus Pie: There Are No Stars in Brooklyn, this one left me wanting.

In There are No Stars..., I felt a strong connection to the character of Eve Ning, and her struggles with work, friends, and relationships.

In this volume, those vibes are still there, and more deeply rooted by Ning's struggle to accommodate a partner who is not always on her side. I've been there, and I was touched by seeing it fleshed out panel by panel, albeit in a fictionalized account.

At the same time, however, every chapter in this collection left me wanting more. Not necessarily in a good way, either. Everything felt a little rushed, so much so that the author even apologizes to readers for the rushed nature in one of the chapter headings.

I still enjoyed this book, and will continue to endorse Octopus Pie online and in print, when I can find the books. But slow down, lady. We want more!

[Matt Sabonis · Rating 4 out of 5]

More great, poignant stuff. I liked the focus shifting from Eve-and-Hanna to becoming a more ensemble cast.

[Andrea · Rating 5 out of 5]

Grabbed a copy at TCAF and Meredith put in a lil' Marek doodle for me. Hooray!

[Brendan Creecy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Love! Great art, great stories. Meredith Gran is a true talent.