Liar's Kiss

Another selection from TCAF.  I'm quite proud of myself to actually be reading recent purchases.  And just as I'm making a really decent dent in my reading stack people keep throwing me loaners and recommendations.  What's a guy to do!  Luckily I take public transit to and from work and so I rack up an hour or so of reading time a day at the least.  It's not hard to tell what kind of book this is going to be by looking at the cover and title.  Eric Skillman, the author, is also an artist and responsible for a lot of the Criterion Collection's covers.  And, surprisingly, one of my biggest complaints about the book is that I'm not really that big on the art work.  And coming from me, that's something, since I usually don't really comment too much about the art (I'm a story guy - not to say I don't appreciate the art in comics).  I think what made it even worse was that whenever the book veered into flashbacks it took on a variation of the style that I REALLY liked and wished the whole book had been done like.
It's your typical noir and it's got all the usual suspects you'd expect to see.  I liked it.  It was entertaining.  It kept you guessing, although, to be fair, it's the kind of "twist ending" wherein there was absolutely no way you could figure it out because the author has given you no real clues or leads to go on.  So, that's what keeps this from getting top marks from me.  Otherwise I can give it a soft recommend - it's a pretty quick and breezy read.
Liar's Kiss

Galavant

I picked this up at TCAF on a whim.  It's hard to classify what this is exactly.  It's not a graphic novel.  It's not really a zine, although it is that, it's more like a a visual laundry list of three months of Kayla's life as she lives in the UK.
I really wanted to like this.  Part of why I read what I read is to be inspired, and to look for things to potentially turn into films or television projects.  This book frustrated me to some extent.  To be fair on the opening page Kayle describes this as a document of "little moments" from her time spent in the United Kingdom, and it's just that - and that is the problem.  During this time Kayla is going through a crisis in terms of figuring out herself and romance back home, along with meeting this new guy.  She tells us about conversations she has - but in ways like "we had a deep conversation".  Why not transcribe it?  Why not give us a glimpse into it.  It's like getting the Coles notes for something that sounds like it could have been really interesting - and that's what the majority of the book is - just her listing off the things she did and saw, and, well, it's kind of boring.  I imagine that her family and friends will find it very entertaining but for an outsider it just comes off as something that was meant to be for a small group of people.  I'm sure that people outside the group can and will enjoy it, but in terms of people connecting to the material... well there's not all that much to connect to.  At it's core Kayla is going through a crisis about what direction to take her life - but the book is barely about that, not enough to give it any real substance and that's the real shame of it.
The worst part is, is that Kayle strikes me as a very clever, thoughtful person, but that she's holding back here.  Coming off of reading Chester Brown, whose autobiographical work has no problem being extremely honest, this just feels pale in comparison.  And I get it, it's really hard to put your life up for the public to see - but if you can't do it then don't do autobiographical stuff - or hide it inside another character.  I would be willing to read another book by Kayla if she was willing to be more open and let us into her world and thoughts, but I have a hard time recommending this.  Sorry Kayla - it was lovely meeting you at TCAF! To quote a famous author, "Writing is easy, you just open up a vein."  Open up your veins to us, Kayla, open 'em up!

Paying For It

I was recently at TCAF (Toronto Comic Arts Festival) and when I bumped into a friend they mentioned Chester Brown to me, and what this book was about - his autobiographical tale of being with prostitutes (or escorts, if that word is offensive to you).  I find sex, the nature of sex, how people deal with it emotionally and mentally, to be pretty fascinating stuff so it didn't take much for me to pick this up.  At the very surface of this book it's essentially an argument for decriminalizing prostitution (not legalizing it though - which is an interesting argument in which the book goes into great passionate detail).  There is a rather large appendices where the argument becomes much more one sided (albeit entertaining!), but the comic is that in which I can't imagine someone (anyone) reading this and it not 'causing them to think differently about something than before.  It's the kind of book that makes you question your own thoughts and beliefs on such a subject.  This book isn't trying to answer questiions, but to ask them.  You may not like what he's saying - you might hate it - but you can't deny that it's interesting - and for some people - the thoughts hold true.  The main character's journey begins when they decide that romantic love is bullshit and that all they really need to do is pay for sex when they want it and the rest of the time they can just be enjoying their friend ships.  Brown makes a solid argument when he says that more people are are made miserable by romantic relationships than they are happy.  As a happily married man I do agree that couples such as my wife and myself are in the minority.  Relationships are hard things to do - but also like is pointed out in the book - isn't how that how you know something is worth doing?  By it being hard?
I picked this book up at TCAF but I'm pretty sure it's available now.  I know that I for one will be attempting to pick up more of this man's stuff in the very near future.  If you're even remotely interesting seek it out and support Canadian literature!
Paying for It