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Why I Hate Saturn #1-3
Why I Hate Saturn
Cranky Columnist Anne Merkel is only happy when she's complaining...about her editors, about being single in New York City, about running out of Scotch. But when her long-lost sister shows up claiming to be Queen of the Leather Astro-Girls of Saturn, Anne's going to wish she'd never complained about anything...
203 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1990
6 people are currently reading
606 people want to read
About the author
Kyle Baker
273 books86 followersLibrarian note:
There is more than one author in the GoodReads database with this name
Kyle John Baker is an American cartoonist, comic book writer-artist, and animator known for his graphic novels and for a 2000s revival of the series Plastic Man.
Baker has won numerous Eisner Awards and Harvey Awards for his work in the comics field.
There is more than one author in the GoodReads database with this name
Kyle John Baker is an American cartoonist, comic book writer-artist, and animator known for his graphic novels and for a 2000s revival of the series Plastic Man.
Baker has won numerous Eisner Awards and Harvey Awards for his work in the comics field.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 105 reviews
March 1, 2018
fulfilling book riot's 2018 read harder challenge task #8: a comic written or illustrated by a person of color
and that color is tie dye.
extra points given to me, by me, for choosing a book that i have owned for more than a year. *
review to come.
* which is a teensy fib, because technically this book belongs to sean of the house, so it's only a common-law ownership, but there is no oversight committee on this self-imposed portion of the challenge, so - unspecified amount of points granted to ME!
and that color is tie dye.
extra points given to me, by me, for choosing a book that i have owned for more than a year. *
review to come.
* which is a teensy fib, because technically this book belongs to sean of the house, so it's only a common-law ownership, but there is no oversight committee on this self-imposed portion of the challenge, so - unspecified amount of points granted to ME!
July 25, 2014
I realize a graphic novel that's virtually nothing but dialogue isn't for everyone, but I really enjoyed this one.
Anne and her platonic friend Ricky hang out in clubs, making snide comments and complaining about everyone and everything. They say all that stuff I'd like to say, but don't manage to think of til 20 minutes too late. One day, Anne's sister shows up at her apartment, and suddenly everything she used to whine about doesn't seem that important anymore.
Considering this book was published in 1990, it's amazing how much of it still holds up. Take this conversation, for instance...
Ricky ---"Women's magazines feature articles on dieting, looking young, makeup, and relationships. Men's magazines are about business, money, famous authors and sports."
Anne ---"So women are judged by looks, while men are judged by achievements."
Ricky ---"Exactly! Look at Humphrey Bogart! We live in a society which permits an ugly man named Humphrey to become a sex symbol! How many ugly female stars are there?"
This book was written over two decades ago, and not that much has changed. Looks like we haven't come such a long way, baby.
Anne and her platonic friend Ricky hang out in clubs, making snide comments and complaining about everyone and everything. They say all that stuff I'd like to say, but don't manage to think of til 20 minutes too late. One day, Anne's sister shows up at her apartment, and suddenly everything she used to whine about doesn't seem that important anymore.
Considering this book was published in 1990, it's amazing how much of it still holds up. Take this conversation, for instance...
Ricky ---"Women's magazines feature articles on dieting, looking young, makeup, and relationships. Men's magazines are about business, money, famous authors and sports."
Anne ---"So women are judged by looks, while men are judged by achievements."
Ricky ---"Exactly! Look at Humphrey Bogart! We live in a society which permits an ugly man named Humphrey to become a sex symbol! How many ugly female stars are there?"
This book was written over two decades ago, and not that much has changed. Looks like we haven't come such a long way, baby.
December 19, 2010
A disappointment- this is often rated highly in graphic novel reviews and I can see that it is a significant book in the genre, but it really isn't much good. The fast-talking smart-ass witticisms in the writing are laboured and unrealistic, the characters are exaggerated and unreal and did not involve me. It felt like a bad sitcom that needed a laughter track to make it entertaining. The joke about Saturn is never really justified or even fully incorporated into the story,and the bizarre switcharound from New York singles scene to down and out in LA to Thelma and Louise on the run seemed incoherent and desperate. Baker has a lot of talent and his other work, esp Nat Turner can be excellent, but I have no idea why this work is so well known.
October 30, 2023
Really fantastic comic strip! The art is sketchy and pen line reminds me at times of Jules Feiffer. The story is told with panels but no word balloons, the dialogue is written underneath the panel instead. It makes it feel like an old school comic strip, but after awhile becomes pretty natural to read.
It's very 90s - so much of it is criticizing a cultural environment I really only know from TV shows. We follow Anne Merkel a young single woman living in NYC who spends some of her times writing a column for a magazine only people she doesn't like would read. When avoiding writing a novel she's already been paid a $10k advance on, she's out drinking and trying to meet boys. Later her sister shows up with a gunshot wound. Her sister says she's from Saturn - and it's a bit unclear to me if that's literal or maybe a play on women are from Venus? The book turns from NYC into a cross-country adventure as Anne tries to find her sister who leaves to the East Coast (also a very 90s thing to not have cellphones!).
It's very 90s - so much of it is criticizing a cultural environment I really only know from TV shows. We follow Anne Merkel a young single woman living in NYC who spends some of her times writing a column for a magazine only people she doesn't like would read. When avoiding writing a novel she's already been paid a $10k advance on, she's out drinking and trying to meet boys. Later her sister shows up with a gunshot wound. Her sister says she's from Saturn - and it's a bit unclear to me if that's literal or maybe a play on women are from Venus? The book turns from NYC into a cross-country adventure as Anne tries to find her sister who leaves to the East Coast (also a very 90s thing to not have cellphones!).
April 11, 2020
This book is a very interesting work. If you like your comedy cold-hearted, cynical, and pessimistic--in a late 1980s sort-of-way, this is the book for you. It is a very smart book, but also very harsh. If you want a satire of being a New York hipster/yuppie/smart-ass at this time--this graphic novel fulfills that. This is not a very action-packed book, this a conversational/"Seinfeldian" type of book. This is not a book I could read in any kind of mood, but in am mean mood this book would warm my heart, so-to-speak.
This graphic novel was the first critical success of comic book artist Kyle Baker. Though he is known more for his biography of Nat Turner and his work on the Marvel Comics graphic novel Truth: Red, White & Black, this 1990 indie-comic is a very savvy push-back at the idea of industry and being part of the "scene."
This graphic novel was the first critical success of comic book artist Kyle Baker. Though he is known more for his biography of Nat Turner and his work on the Marvel Comics graphic novel Truth: Red, White & Black, this 1990 indie-comic is a very savvy push-back at the idea of industry and being part of the "scene."
November 20, 2016
Qué poco me ha interesado la crisis existencial de la protagonista, obsesionada con encontrar la pareja ideal y tener éxito como escritora mientras machaca a su extravagante hermana. Casi tan poco como la manera en la que Kyle Baker resuelve la historia a través de 50 páginas absurdas.
July 21, 2017
Nothing but talk, talk and talk.
Then, more closeups of people talking.
Then, more closeups of people talking.
June 18, 2020
#ThrowbackThursday - Back in the '90s, I used to write comic book reviews for the website of a now-defunct comic book retailer called Rockem Sockem Comics. From the March 1997 edition with a theme of "The Truly Obscure":
(Side note before the review: None of the other obscure titles in that column -- The Von Fange Brothers, Variations on the Theme, Nine Panel Grid, and Wu Wei -- are even listed on Goodreads, which shouldn't be a surprise I guess, so we'll be jumping to April 1997 for the next #tbt.)
FROM THE BACKLIST
WHY I HATE SATURN (DC Comics/Piranha Press)
It's not self-published, but DC offers a pretty obscure black and white graphic novel every month on its backlist called WHY I HATE SATURN.
Anne Merkel is your stereotypical New York City writer/alcoholic. She's cynical, smug, hip, and insecure all at the same time. She has a wry, acerbic wit that's best displayed when she's sitting around talking about love and relationships with her guy pal, Ricky. The only thing she hates worse than her lousy love life is her crazy sister, Laura, who claims to be from Saturn.
I hate Laura too. Y'see, whenever Laura shows up, the book goes downhill. She turns what could be a nice, meandering comic piece (think FRIENDS) into an absurd mystery adventure story.
The book does manage to survive her presence however. The back cover and two filler pages at the end are worth the price of admission. And, thankfully, there's many, many pages of Anne and Ricky whining and snickering about life, love and Laura.
Writer/artist Kyle Baker has a bold, confident cartooning style that other artists should aspire to achieve. Disavowing traditional word balloons, Baker positions his witty dialogue in text blocks below the pictures, where it flows quickly and easily . His most recent work appeared in INSTANT PIANO from Dark Horse Comics. His small contributions to that anthology were amongst the funniest. Only Evan Dorkin (MILK & CHEESE, PIRATE CORP$, HECTIC PLANET), who also contributed to INSTANT PIANO, is as consistently hilarious in that cynical, smug, hip and insecure way.
Grade: B
(Side note before the review: None of the other obscure titles in that column -- The Von Fange Brothers, Variations on the Theme, Nine Panel Grid, and Wu Wei -- are even listed on Goodreads, which shouldn't be a surprise I guess, so we'll be jumping to April 1997 for the next #tbt.)
FROM THE BACKLIST
WHY I HATE SATURN (DC Comics/Piranha Press)
It's not self-published, but DC offers a pretty obscure black and white graphic novel every month on its backlist called WHY I HATE SATURN.
Anne Merkel is your stereotypical New York City writer/alcoholic. She's cynical, smug, hip, and insecure all at the same time. She has a wry, acerbic wit that's best displayed when she's sitting around talking about love and relationships with her guy pal, Ricky. The only thing she hates worse than her lousy love life is her crazy sister, Laura, who claims to be from Saturn.
I hate Laura too. Y'see, whenever Laura shows up, the book goes downhill. She turns what could be a nice, meandering comic piece (think FRIENDS) into an absurd mystery adventure story.
The book does manage to survive her presence however. The back cover and two filler pages at the end are worth the price of admission. And, thankfully, there's many, many pages of Anne and Ricky whining and snickering about life, love and Laura.
Writer/artist Kyle Baker has a bold, confident cartooning style that other artists should aspire to achieve. Disavowing traditional word balloons, Baker positions his witty dialogue in text blocks below the pictures, where it flows quickly and easily . His most recent work appeared in INSTANT PIANO from Dark Horse Comics. His small contributions to that anthology were amongst the funniest. Only Evan Dorkin (MILK & CHEESE, PIRATE CORP$, HECTIC PLANET), who also contributed to INSTANT PIANO, is as consistently hilarious in that cynical, smug, hip and insecure way.
Grade: B
July 20, 2014
Sigo sin saber por qué hay que odiar a Saturno, pero cada vez estoy más convencido de que hay que amar a los personajes de Kyle Baker. Espero que no sea tarde para una adaptación cinematográfica (fiel, por favor) con Julia Louis-Dreyfus como Anne.
January 3, 2014
Smart. Witty. Savvy. Dorothy Parker like comic. Engaging story. Beautiful line work. Sophisticated relationships in the New York style. Satirical of the scenes. Loved it.
April 27, 2023
This comic is great! The issues I had with Cowboy Wally are fixed in here. Baker better mixes visual and verbal comedy into something thoroughly enjoyable, while staying close to the ground and making some good jokes at the expense of American living.
One thing I will note, is that I had to enjoy this book despite itself. I bought the "Deluxe Screenplay Edition", which is drastically changed in how the story is presented. Instead of the dialogue being places freely below the images, a trademark of Baker's, the text has been put into sloppy balloons whose tails SOMETIMES points to the character saying them. Not only that, it's clear that no editorial help was used with the retyping, as many typos are littered throughout the book. These are distracting ones too, where "Getting off an airplane" turns into "Selling off an airplane". This book is good, but I will need to reread a different version to be able to truly appreciate it. I suggest you don't put yourself through that, and just buy an older copy.
One thing I will note, is that I had to enjoy this book despite itself. I bought the "Deluxe Screenplay Edition", which is drastically changed in how the story is presented. Instead of the dialogue being places freely below the images, a trademark of Baker's, the text has been put into sloppy balloons whose tails SOMETIMES points to the character saying them. Not only that, it's clear that no editorial help was used with the retyping, as many typos are littered throughout the book. These are distracting ones too, where "Getting off an airplane" turns into "Selling off an airplane". This book is good, but I will need to reread a different version to be able to truly appreciate it. I suggest you don't put yourself through that, and just buy an older copy.
February 12, 2019
The main thing I like about New Yorkers is that they understand that their lives are a relentless circus of horrors, ending in death. As New Yorkers, we realize this, we resign ourselves to our fate, and we make sure that everyone else is as miserable as we are.
This is a very odd comic book. It's dialogue-heavy and not trying to dazzle anyone and yet it is still very impressive. The plot is simultaneously mundane and insane. the characters made me laugh. The art on the cover is very blah, but the art inside is very engaging. I think I've never read anything quite like it, mostly because it just doesn't seem to be trying to be anything. It just exists, and that's enough.
Also, I'm pretty sure I read a few single issues back in 1990 and then completely forgot about them. That disorientation just added to the fun.
August 23, 2019
OK listen up. While the lot of you chimps were scratching each other's heads, we gorillas were feasting on the comic genius of Kyle Baker. You simply don't know how brilliant this was. Yes some of you caught a clue when the Boondocks swung around, but this is the OG delectable. (Sigh). It was the thing that reminds me of the beginning of the New World Afrikan Renaissance. Ahh George C. Wolfe we hardly knew ye...
Kyle. You need to march into Jordan Peele's office and sweep the papers off his desk. You want to go out like Little Richard?
Kyle. You need to march into Jordan Peele's office and sweep the papers off his desk. You want to go out like Little Richard?
May 20, 2025
A true classic. If only we had more graphic novels like this. Hail Kyle Baker!
August 30, 2017
Maravilloso. Entiendes el amor / odio a Saturno y ya de paso a NY.
Dialogos brillantes y dibujo expresivo de entintado vivo.
Dialogos brillantes y dibujo expresivo de entintado vivo.
March 24, 2024
Anne is a columnist for Daddy-O, a lifestyle magazine for which Anne can hardly hide her own contempt for. Her own insecurities about her career ripple into other aspects of her life including her dating and social life and she copes by excessive drinking and pushing for external validation. Anne hangs out with her pal Ricky, an artist for the magazine who similarly is dissatisfied with his life. The pair trade verbal barbs with each other in bars across New York's Lower East Side in a series of episodic strips, until Anne's sister Laura arrives to upend her carefully tailored unstructured lifestyle. Laura claims to be from Saturn as part of some undisclosed mental condition, and the turmoil of having Laura around adds another entry to Anne's long list of complaints about life.
Why I Hate Saturn relishes in observational humor and the cynical musings about life, and it never really extends itself too much beyond that. Baker's dialogue is effortlessly captivating, even if Anne and Ricky can make for a pretty annoying pair of protagonists. The story is entirely laid out like a comic strip with captions adorning the bottom of each panel instead of using traditional speech bubbles, a design choice that can take a little adjusting to. But Baker makes the most of it, adding an easy sense of transition between panels. There's a strong Seinfeld-esque sensibility to the story as we follow Anne on her typical schedule around the goings on of NYC all whilst she makes dry and witty observations about the things around her. It's interesting then to note that this book predates most modern sitcoms including Seinfeld, and yet manages to capture the exact sentiment that would drive the sitcom genre for decades to follow.
Baker's illustrations are not flashy by any means, but supremely effective at storytelling. Panels are almost laid out exactly like a tracking camera following a routine conversation as we flit from one person to the next. The use of captions under panels make it easy to follow the conversation without the use of speech bubbles, but Baker also does a fantastic job creating individual voices for all the characters here. It's not the prettiest looking comic for sure, though it should be very apparent that Baker's efforts were largely towards capturing body language and expressiveness more than anything else. Why I Hate Saturn really is a masterclass in this type of everyday observational comedy, and though a lot of it is rooted in the late '80s cultural milieu, there is a sufficiently prescient quality to it to make it feel like a timeless classic.
Why I Hate Saturn relishes in observational humor and the cynical musings about life, and it never really extends itself too much beyond that. Baker's dialogue is effortlessly captivating, even if Anne and Ricky can make for a pretty annoying pair of protagonists. The story is entirely laid out like a comic strip with captions adorning the bottom of each panel instead of using traditional speech bubbles, a design choice that can take a little adjusting to. But Baker makes the most of it, adding an easy sense of transition between panels. There's a strong Seinfeld-esque sensibility to the story as we follow Anne on her typical schedule around the goings on of NYC all whilst she makes dry and witty observations about the things around her. It's interesting then to note that this book predates most modern sitcoms including Seinfeld, and yet manages to capture the exact sentiment that would drive the sitcom genre for decades to follow.
Baker's illustrations are not flashy by any means, but supremely effective at storytelling. Panels are almost laid out exactly like a tracking camera following a routine conversation as we flit from one person to the next. The use of captions under panels make it easy to follow the conversation without the use of speech bubbles, but Baker also does a fantastic job creating individual voices for all the characters here. It's not the prettiest looking comic for sure, though it should be very apparent that Baker's efforts were largely towards capturing body language and expressiveness more than anything else. Why I Hate Saturn really is a masterclass in this type of everyday observational comedy, and though a lot of it is rooted in the late '80s cultural milieu, there is a sufficiently prescient quality to it to make it feel like a timeless classic.
April 25, 2015
Light spoiler...
I bought a copy online after reading some very positive reviews. It's okay, but not the sort of thing I go for.
I don't like the artwork: it's essentially a large comic strip format giving you between 3 and 6 frames per page, and the drawing style is 'scratchy' black and white (with a tint here and there) - so not like it appears on the cover. If I'd picked it up in a shop to have a look, I'd have put it right back on the shelf.
The story is not much either. The heroine's sister turns up and declares herself to be the Queen of the Leather Astro-Girls of Saturn, but beyond announcing the fact, nothing much more is made of this. The story starts off a bit dull, then picks up and gets quite exciting for a while, until close to the end when the author/artist seems to run out of ideas and winds things up as quickly as possible in a way I found unsatisfying.
There is some good, humorous writing here, but not much. Based on the reviews, I was expecting it to be a lot better.
I bought a copy online after reading some very positive reviews. It's okay, but not the sort of thing I go for.
I don't like the artwork: it's essentially a large comic strip format giving you between 3 and 6 frames per page, and the drawing style is 'scratchy' black and white (with a tint here and there) - so not like it appears on the cover. If I'd picked it up in a shop to have a look, I'd have put it right back on the shelf.
The story is not much either. The heroine's sister turns up and declares herself to be the Queen of the Leather Astro-Girls of Saturn, but beyond announcing the fact, nothing much more is made of this. The story starts off a bit dull, then picks up and gets quite exciting for a while, until close to the end when the author/artist seems to run out of ideas and winds things up as quickly as possible in a way I found unsatisfying.
There is some good, humorous writing here, but not much. Based on the reviews, I was expecting it to be a lot better.
June 30, 2012
Very enjoyable, very unconventional graphic novel. Anne's nutty sister thinks she's from Saturn (why? who knows? ends up not really mattering at all) and is being pursued by a former boyfriend mad to kill her. Anne's a writer who can't produce material. They end up in a sort of noir/sort of screwball comedy adventure that features mostly witty dialogue and clever jokes, but also has a rocket launcher and massive violence at the climax. It doesn't quite work fully, but Baker gets credit for innovation and ambition, for sure, and it's generally pretty funny stuff. And of course it's beautifully drawn; Baker has an amazingly expressive style; deceptively simple, slightly exagggerated, but one of the best clear delineators of character in the business. You always know exactly who you're looking at; the characters have physical distinctions, unique body, language, a whole range of characteristics usually absent from comics, especially ones from mainstream publishers.
January 13, 2009
An odd little relationship/action indie-comic that doesn't actually have anything to do with space (that I can tell). The heroine is a bit like the misbegotten spawn of "Sex & the City"'s Carrie Bradshaw and MTV's Daria. While I enjoyed her rather misanthropic voice, and some of the genuinely wild antics she gets up to with her sister, the book is a bit too dominated by relationship humor that is either dated (I'm not sure to WHEN) or just plain unfunny. This was a fun enough read, and it went fast, but it's not really up my alley.
May 7, 2012
This is a highly-respected, influential graphic novel originally published in 1990. I was completely underwhelmed by its pre-hipster hipster-y dialogue and uneven, wildly seesawing storyline. All of the main characters were insufferable, often changing personalities in mid-stream with only perfunctory set-up as to why. It may have been a game-changer in comics at the time it came out, but there are much better offerings today that one could spend his or her free time reading.
May 15, 2018
This has aged well.
I can't remember when I first read it, or how many times I’ve reread it since then, but it’s been at least ten years since the last time, and I just picked it up again, and, wow! Still laugh-out-loud funny, still bitingly on point, still absurd and depressing and insightful and oh so enjoyable.
I can't remember when I first read it, or how many times I’ve reread it since then, but it’s been at least ten years since the last time, and I just picked it up again, and, wow! Still laugh-out-loud funny, still bitingly on point, still absurd and depressing and insightful and oh so enjoyable.
January 31, 2012
This was fun to read. I suggest it to fans of Terry Moore and SiP. It reminded me of it, for some reason, even though I think it was actually created before SiP was.
April 23, 2013
OK, now this, this was funny!
The art perfectly matches the story and the story is so "out there" that you just can't help thinking... "no way!" then a little voice in your head just goes "way"
The art perfectly matches the story and the story is so "out there" that you just can't help thinking... "no way!" then a little voice in your head just goes "way"
December 23, 2017
This feels like a companion piece to Daniel Clowes' Ghost World, only with small town, suburban teens swapped out with twentysomething New York hipsters. But Clowes has better artwork.
July 12, 2023
More clever than funny, more impressive than enjoyable. It feels like the pet project of an auteur who self-published and answered to no one but their distinct artistic vision, which from what I gather was exactly the case with Kyle Baker. So the reader’s mileage will vary depending on how closely their tastes match the author’s aesthetic, and I guess it mostly missed my mark. The art is clearly masterful in a kind of caricature-style that looks like every line was dashed off and somehow fell in exactly the right place. (Which is, ironically, how the main character is portrayed as writing her column.) The dialogue is very quippy, and the author notes in a brief afterword that he made it —and the TV pilot based on it— a few years before Seinfeld made NYC neuroses cool. (Actually, that comparison in the afterward feels like sour grapes and forces comparison to something that had infinitely more time/budget to be polished. He would have done better to compare his work with Woody Allen — similar neurotic narcissists, but more artsy and unique than necessarily mass-appealing.) But the story lists and meanders, then takes a big swing in the third act that feels unearned, and it never buttons up the “why” in the title. It’s a promise unfulfilled for me, both the “why” of the title and the “why” of this book’s devoted recommenders. Any insight anyone can offer is very welcome.
Mild spoilers: In the first chapter the neurotic journalist’s sister shows up and seems very pleasant despite a fresh gunshot wound, then announces she’s “The Leather Astro-Queen of Saturn.” A compelling start! They have ups and downs, a falling out and reconciliation, then after their weird third act adventure all the characters end up in a better places than they started. The delusion about Saturn is barely mentioned through the story, has no direct impact on anything, and never comes up at the end. So what’s to hate?
Mild spoilers: In the first chapter the neurotic journalist’s sister shows up and seems very pleasant despite a fresh gunshot wound, then announces she’s “The Leather Astro-Queen of Saturn.” A compelling start! They have ups and downs, a falling out and reconciliation, then after their weird third act adventure all the characters end up in a better places than they started. The delusion about Saturn is barely mentioned through the story, has no direct impact on anything, and never comes up at the end. So what’s to hate?
April 11, 2024
Going through books today I came across one of my favorite graphic novels that I haven't thought of in literally years. Galling, because I LOVED this book and had no idea it was more than 30 years old now...Pretty sure I stumbled upon it in San Francisco at Green Apple Books in the Inner Richmond back in the Dot.com days. So even then it was getting up there. Guess that means I'm officially old.
It's all about a snarky, heavy-drinking, Chucks-wearing young columnist for a crappy independent weekly newspaper (remember those? No? Get off my lawn, kid...). She hates everybody, but especially the blonde bims drinking at the hipster restaurants in New York where she lives in a crappy, barely legal studio apartment in what I'm guessing is the East Village...back when the East Village was actually edgy and still dangerous. Her only friend and confidante is Ricky who tries and fails to get her to lighten up. Things go sideways when her mental case of a sister contacts her and insists she needs her help. In San Francisco. Wacky Hi-Jinks ensue.
Love the art. Grey-tone. Expressive. Totally identified with the misanthropic main character, Anne, the kind of hot mess of a young woman who can barely pay her rent but also dodges her agent and publisher because she's already spent the advance for a book she *still* hasn't written. Anne with a cigarette hanging from her mouth, glowering at the trendies around her. It's set in a pre-internet, pre-cell-phone NYC, and I guess the milieu resonates because I was in my late 20s in NYC at that very time. It's familiar. And with its youthful angst and fantasy-style twist, I posit that it's still worthy, if some Gen-Z types want to check it out.
It's all about a snarky, heavy-drinking, Chucks-wearing young columnist for a crappy independent weekly newspaper (remember those? No? Get off my lawn, kid...). She hates everybody, but especially the blonde bims drinking at the hipster restaurants in New York where she lives in a crappy, barely legal studio apartment in what I'm guessing is the East Village...back when the East Village was actually edgy and still dangerous. Her only friend and confidante is Ricky who tries and fails to get her to lighten up. Things go sideways when her mental case of a sister contacts her and insists she needs her help. In San Francisco. Wacky Hi-Jinks ensue.
Love the art. Grey-tone. Expressive. Totally identified with the misanthropic main character, Anne, the kind of hot mess of a young woman who can barely pay her rent but also dodges her agent and publisher because she's already spent the advance for a book she *still* hasn't written. Anne with a cigarette hanging from her mouth, glowering at the trendies around her. It's set in a pre-internet, pre-cell-phone NYC, and I guess the milieu resonates because I was in my late 20s in NYC at that very time. It's familiar. And with its youthful angst and fantasy-style twist, I posit that it's still worthy, if some Gen-Z types want to check it out.
November 18, 2024
had completely forgotten about this book until i just now recommended it to a friend. Like the cheap Lemon Pepper in my kitchen, it had (has?) been a favourite and staple of mine since The Glorious 90's. It was a go-to whenever i was working in a comic shop and recommending a book to some poor gal who'd gone all Tharn trying to find a good graphic novel to jump into the game with. Much lighter than the Sandman, much quicker than Watchmen, less involved than Strangers In Paradise, and The Five Fists of Science was still worlds away.
It's funny. it looks superhero, but its not. it looks scifi, but its not. its got mystery, love, wry sadness, cursing, and the tiniest most comfortable bits of kink. i think it even has cigarettes, because, the 90's.
if you see it out in the wild, at some used bookstore or minesweeping a yard sale from someone with a good job that sometimes dearly misses their Pixies shirt, but can be caught in a Hello June shirt, grab it. Or grab one for that friend who sometimes makes "that what she said" jokes, but still voted blue.
It's funny. it looks superhero, but its not. it looks scifi, but its not. its got mystery, love, wry sadness, cursing, and the tiniest most comfortable bits of kink. i think it even has cigarettes, because, the 90's.
if you see it out in the wild, at some used bookstore or minesweeping a yard sale from someone with a good job that sometimes dearly misses their Pixies shirt, but can be caught in a Hello June shirt, grab it. Or grab one for that friend who sometimes makes "that what she said" jokes, but still voted blue.
August 6, 2018
What a great read! Fun, entertaining and with some witticisms worth thinking about. Written in the nineties, it is very interesting how a man could write this book about a woman and make her non dependent of man to do whatever she pleases, even if that means destroying her own life.
Anne drinks too much, complains too much, but she will complain even more when her sister, Laura, shows up to control and change her life upside down. Her sister is from Saturn. Or thinks she is. But this is a down to earth story.
I wish Kyle Baker had written more about Anne, her life, her sister, her friends and her life.
Anne drinks too much, complains too much, but she will complain even more when her sister, Laura, shows up to control and change her life upside down. Her sister is from Saturn. Or thinks she is. But this is a down to earth story.
I wish Kyle Baker had written more about Anne, her life, her sister, her friends and her life.
January 2, 2021
Insightful and fun, the comic explores relationships between the characters, particularly the relationships between sisters, friends and lovers, and men and women in general. Though it deals with some pretty insightful situations, it never takes itself too seriously, using wry (and often self-depreciating) humor throughout.
The ending parodies "surprise twist" endings spectacularly, with the protagonist noting the surreal nature of the events with a high level of irony and disbelief.
Some of the conversations are a bit stale at first, before the book finds its pace, and there's a bit of deus ex machina that tends to pull things out of nowhere, but overall a very good, funny read.
The ending parodies "surprise twist" endings spectacularly, with the protagonist noting the surreal nature of the events with a high level of irony and disbelief.
Some of the conversations are a bit stale at first, before the book finds its pace, and there's a bit of deus ex machina that tends to pull things out of nowhere, but overall a very good, funny read.
April 6, 2025
Daklem, kad sam parti neki dan s stripom, već sam zaboravi po kon kjucu san ga stavi na policu za procitat. Ti sam napravit malu pauzu od Ralpha Azhama, prije nego zaronim ponovo u taj carobni fantasy svit i uze prvi ki je naleti.
Pocalo je sporo, stil je pari starinski ka Maurovićev vestern, slika gori slova doli, ali imalo je ritma, i kako se tih slika i slova kupilo postajalo je sve zanimljivije. Usput se skupilo i par zgodnih citata za njurganja u dane izbora i opa, 4 zvjezdice bez pardona.
Pocalo je sporo, stil je pari starinski ka Maurovićev vestern, slika gori slova doli, ali imalo je ritma, i kako se tih slika i slova kupilo postajalo je sve zanimljivije. Usput se skupilo i par zgodnih citata za njurganja u dane izbora i opa, 4 zvjezdice bez pardona.
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