Steady Rollin'

by Fred Noland

Starting as a hardscrabble misfit and minister's son in the Bible Belt, followed by a stint as a suburban So-Cal Black punk, and onward to bicycle-obsessed, graphic novelist and dad in Oakland, Steady Rollin' is a portrait of the author in time-lapse. His memoir is composed of vignettes, uncovering his origins as an artist, exploring relationships past and present, ruminating on trauma and loss, and ultimately finding his place in the flow of life. Noland employs styles that capture the essence of the moment and dialogue that reflects the multi-layered complexities and challenges of communication. Steady Rollin' is an autobiographical anthology stitched together by years of work across styles that range from the sharp and detailed renderings for his New Yorker pieces to dreamier representations from his childhood. His reflections are at turns absurd, bitingly funny, and poignant. With its investigation the into the cycle of life from the Before Times to The New Normal, Steady Rollin' documents a world and a life in transition.

Genres: Graphic Novels, Comics, Nonfiction, Graphic Novels Comics

224 pages, Paperback

Published April 11, 2023

Reviews

[Rod Brown · Rating 2 out of 5]

Autobiographical anecdotes, vignettes, and random musings abound in this collection of 4- to 8-page short stories pulled together from various anthologies, The New Yorker, and Fred Noland's sketchbooks.

It's heaped together in a bit of a haphazard jumble, bouncing around in time and space, These many moments from Noland's life don't really start to congeal into a portrait of the man until late in the book, like working a jigsaw puzzle where many pieces are missing at the end. His best stories revolve around his bicycling hobby, and I wish the book had been trimmed down to focus on that facet of his life.

First aside: The hand lettering in this book is awful, causing me to struggle too many times to discern words and figure out sentences. And the few times the lettering is typeset, the absolute smallest font size has been chosen. I had to drag out my magnifying glasses to read chunks of this.

Second aside: This book perpetrates one of my pet peeves -- tables of contents with page numbers in a book that has no page numbers on any of the pages. And there is plenty of room in the bottom margin to have included them! To make it even worse, the table of contents is broken up into four parts scattered throughout the book. Why??!!??

FOR REFERENCE:

Contents: Crayola 64 -- Memories from Third Ward -- Black and White -- It's the Thought That Counts -- Taco Tuesday -- Through the Looking Glass -- P.I.M. - Pandemic-Induced Malaise -- Chicken Same -- The Mic -- Scatterbrain -- Fais do-do -- East Texas 1987 -- Bonton '92 -- Circus Peanut -- Matt D. -- Ranch Style -- I Wanna Live -- Now That Guy Was Really Something -- When the Levi Breaks -- Lucky -- October 27th, 2013 -- Gone 1/16/14 -- Vallejo -- Little Bird -- Infowars -- 01/21/17 -- Crochet -- Crosstrain -- Fish Don't Have Feelings -- Mulholland Pub -- Old Dog -- Smokehouse -- Saturday, December 30th -- Cut, But Not Bleeding -- The Wheel -- You Can Call Me Clyde -- Citycation Blues -- Offering -- Gonna Fly Now -- Happiness -- Ahn's -- Austin -- Austin (Day Two) -- Greenspoint Houston (Wednesday) -- Keeping Up -- In the Flow: A Cycling Story -- Grand Theft Auto -- Best Chef Ever -- Dating in a Bubble -- 2020 Year in Review -- Mitzvah -- The Big Jab -- Target -- Saturday's Ride -- Dream -- Steady Rollin' Man -- Truth Bomb -- Stop Asian Hate -- Represent -- The Scooter Menace -- Positively 14th Street

[Moriah · Rating 4 out of 5]

Raided the graphic novel section of the library because…. I stumbled upon it and haven’t ever read a graphic novel. This one was part autobiography part anthology of the authors published comics.

[Kirsten · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed these memoir vignettes - great snapshots of his life and perspective. I enjoy his drawing style and found a lot of his stories charming, funny and compelling. Also helps that he’s a similar generation as me and lives in the Bay Area, so lots of shared cultural reference points…

[Cody · Rating 4 out of 5]

I've read a lot of memoir comics with moments of humor and poignancy. Fred Noland is one of the best of the people currently doing this kind of thing. His funny stuff actually has punchlines. His thought pieces actually reflect some deep thought and honest experiences. It's good.

I didn't realize that this book is a collection of many assorted short strips, mostly from his sketchbook (previously unpublished) but also from various anthologies like "Not my so-called diary" and venues like the New Yorker. Though the variety of topics is welcome, I also wanted more from most of the topics. What happened next in his family with the drunken preacher father? How'd he get into punk and what does he think about being a middle-aged punk with kids? How is it being a single dad as a cartoonist? Hopefully Noland will continue to work on these topics and experiment with long form autobio narratives. I'll be first in line to read it if he does.

Mental health content included his reaction to an estranged friend's suicide. This, like his other work, rings both sincere and true.

[Dave · Rating 2 out of 5]

Fred Nolan certainly has had an interesting life; moved around quite a bit, had a child later in life, experienced some trauma and what not. His talent is evident through his drawings, but the story, while mostly linear, was told through a series of vignettes, oftentimes with different artwork and font from recollection to recollection. This made it a little awkward to traverse the transitions between his rites of passage. In that regard, it came off as a little bland. I did appreciate his candor in illustrating his life's story on paper, however.

[Tom Scott · Rating 4 out of 5]

This isn't really what I'd call a graphic design memoir but I don't think it's meant to be. It's a collection of various pieces that deal with his biography, but it's not cohesive (again, I don't think it's meant to be). That some events repeat and many themes are reintroduced with no regard if they've been gone over before is part of that bargain. Sometimes he seems a bit cranky but mostly the comics impart gentle humor. It's pleasant though not especially revealing.

[David Macpherson · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a fun collection of tales of being black, being a punk, being a bike enthusiast. It is done in a variety of styles from finished magazine pieces to escapees of the sketchbook. I enjoyed the sketchy art the best. My one complaint is that a few of the sketchbook pieces had the tiniest writing. I mean, come on, your audience will be middle aged guys like us and we can't read crap that tiny. Kvetching aside, this is a good one if you stumble upon it.

[Amelia · Rating 3 out of 5]

Such a fun graphic memoir! Told through a variety of art styles and timelines, this makes for a fun slice-of-life with equal parts history lesson and humor. Definitely a great addition to our bookshelves here at the library!

[MariNaomi · Rating 5 out of 5]

So charming and funny! I love Fred's work so much.

[Tarwin · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great read. Personal stories from long time oaklander and avid cyclist.