Hellbound Lifestyle

by Alabaster Pizzo (Illustrator), Kaeleigh Forsyth

Kaeleigh Forsyth wryly observed and recorded the weird moments of her life in private notes on her phone, and now her friend Alabaster Pizzo has illustrated these secret thoughts in hilarious detail.

Genres: Comics, Graphic Novels, Womens, Comix

76 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2016

About the author

Alabaster Pizzo is a cartoonist who lives in Queens.

Reviews

[Derek Royal · Rating 3 out of 5]

I can always count on great books from Retrofit/Big Plant, and Hellbound Lifestyle is no exception. I had not been familiar with the creators behind this book, but I'm now I'm wanting to discover more of their works. I know that Alabaster Pizzo has other things out there. We discussed this on a recent episode of the podcast: http://comicsalternative.com/episode-....

[Barney · Rating 5 out of 5]

funny, offbeat and angst-ridden. as if the observations re: hellish self-doubt that is the millennial existence weren't good enough, the illustrations made me want to rip out every page and stick it in a frame to hang on my wall. that's a good thing, people!

[Sushma · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5

[Kaitlin · Rating 4 out of 5]

The funniest and most sincere comic I have read in a long time. Pizzo's colours are beautiful, and Forsyth probes at the loneliness and absurdity of urban life with panache and pathos. Well-sequenced, too.

[Comics Alternative · Rating 4 out of 5]

http://comicsalternative.com/episode-...

[J.T. · Rating 5 out of 5]

Takes full advantage of the comics medium to produce maximum mirth. Great writing with perfectly simple drawings. This is the type of comic that is better read than explained, so read it!

[Alexander Peterhans · Rating 4 out of 5]

[StrictlySequential · Rating 3 out of 5]

Deadpan millennial irony. Impossible to feel sorry for her but that's obviously the point (see first sentence). Nearly the entire book is staged from what it says on her phone's screen- I got sick of looking at it so often because it sometimes appears four times in one page.

The art is sloppy fun.

The terrible coloring works somehow.

[Steph · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love, hate, and am comforted by the fact that I have never had an original life experience

I'm about to buy another copy so I can cut out and frame my favorite pages for people I love. Shoutout to my man Garrett who loves comics and graphic novels -- he is constantly getting packages from indie publishers and nails his recommendations to me every single time. This book freaking rocks!!!!!

[David Shepard · Rating 4 out of 5]

Brain-powered review: All things being equal in the end, I enjoyed this one.

Seattle review: "Respect yourself!"

[Greg · Rating 5 out of 5]

The author and illustrator pair nicely together for a quirky little diary of a book.

[Susan · Rating 1 out of 5]

I reviewed this for Lady Business; I usually like depressed #relatable comics, but some combination of the art and the gimmick (notes written on the authors phone) didn't hook me.

[Simon Chadwick · Rating 4 out of 5]

Hellbound Lifestyle is a comic spawned from living in the 21st century, with particular emphasis on the direct relationship the writer shares with her phone. What was once recorded in a diary is now noted down in an app, written up in a Word document or photographed via the phone’s camera, cataloguing a life barely being lived.

For all it’s vivid four-colour glory, this is a bleak existence told with wry, dry humour and with mountains of cynicism. Kaeleigh Forsyth records her moments of oddity and desperation, sometimes not even finishing the observation, and Alabaster Pizzo then illustrates them in a strangely pleasing simplistic style. By and large, the strip is about Kaeleigh struggling to discover who she is, what she’s doing and where she’s going, and making a pretty bad job of it all, but like many a tale where the protagonist is so utterly hopeless we still connect with them through the reflections we see of ourselves.

A particularly enjoyable segment involves a brief to write some PR for some sunglasses. The brief is typically filled with nonsensical statements and detached expectations, and the resulting lines Kaeleigh comes up with perfectly sum up the absurdity of it all. It cleverly uses the medium of the phone as a shared portal into Kaeleigh’s life, something we’re all so very familiar with nowadays, so the strip, from the outset feels a very different proposition, although one I took a few pages to fall into the rhythm of. Also, I don’t think all the strips necessarily work, although as a collection those snippets make for a greater whole.

What it is is sufficiently different to make it worthy of your investigation. It’s a new voice in cartooning that has something fresh and amusing to say, even if that something is ‘I haven’t a clue where I’m going with this’.

[Robert · Rating 4 out of 5]

Retrofit Comics put out an overall wonderful half-dozen + 1 titles in the first half of 2016 and Hellbound Lifestyle is one of the best of them. Relating its young female protagonist's year as recorded in private notes on her smartphone, it's simultaneously wryly funny and darkly melancholy, with immediately appealing, elegantly simple drawings.

[William Cardini · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is hilarious!

[Jenny · Rating 5 out of 5]

if u r cool or damaged or have ever used a phone u'll love this

[Jordan · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book spoke to my very soul and I loved it.

[Maura H · Rating 5 out of 5]

alabaster + karleigh for the Nobel Prize

[Onur Yz · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 diye bir puanlama olmalı burada. Ne 4 ne de 3 vereceğim bir comics. Genç hanımefendilerin çok beğenerek okudukları belli. Renk skalasını sevdim.