Underground Station
by Bruce Sweeney
illustrations by Bruce Bolinger
One piece of breaking news is that Chrysalis, a British publisher, is moving ahead with a history of underground comics. The author, Dez Skinn, is a previous editor of a magazine devoted to the British sci-fi phenomenon, Doctor Who. While not necessarily a logical starting point from which to announce oneself as an underground comics expert, we shall see, won’t we? It ships to the U.S. and will be in a paperback format. I’ve got one preordered from Barnes & Noble for $19.96.
Those Brits are always top-notch at telling the world why some aspects of our culture are so cool. It’s true… The British and to some extent the Dutch have always eaten up our jazz and blues. They’re also eager for our underground comix, and are the only two countries that can truly say that they’ve produced underground comics of an enviable quality.
While I was in Amsterdam last September, it was not illegal to hit as many coffee shops as I chose, to investigate what the smoke product was like. I invested in oodles of pot, and even a touch of hash. The best material was a product called White Widow, but that changes every year. This publication, mind you, would never advocate breaking any laws in any country. [Bruce, don’t send me a bill for this “research,” legal or not, ok? -Ed.]
To be discerning reader, however, Alex Robinson does it well. He has a number of interesting characters that seem to be twenty-somethings fumbling their way into adult life; paying rent, enduring transitional shit-jobs, flopping and failing in their relationships, and in general, at sea.
If you’re over 25, reading this book will take you back to the places that you were so eager to leave behind. Everyone thinks they want to get back to that age period, but as many of you know, it’s not the bed of roses it seems when you’ve got no money, a dumb job, and little in the way of prospects beyond more work and more masturbation. It doesn’t help to be able to run fast if you’re going nowhere, which this book aptly captures.
Next up is Top Shelf’s World War 3, and it’s refreshing to find a publication devoted to pinning the tail on the current Administration. They do so with humor, jarringly serious pieces, and interesting graphics in general. It’s $5 and well worth it at 66 pages of black and white 8 1/2″ x 11″ material. You have to bring an attitude or mindset to this stuff, though. After about 25 pages of this anti-material, you could get depressed, because none of it is softened by anything hopeful or positive. If you’re concentrating on this Administration, of course, there may be little enough indeed that strikes you as cheery. Again, though, you have to be in the mood for it.