Cometbus #56

A Bestiary of Booksellers by Aaron Cometbus

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


Cometbus #56: A Bestiary of Booksellers.

An A to Z trip through the world of the New York bookseller scene, as reported by Aaron Cometbus in this 2015 edition of the long running punk zine.

What can I say about this? I have been a fan of Aaron and the Cometbus ‘zine since I was a teenager, though I’ve fallen off reading his work, while he has been working nonstop for over 35 years now. When I read Cometbus, I am reading from someone who has always inspired me as a writer. He has always epitomized the spirit of punk in his writing, in the undertaking of a ‘zine that is seen and loved by a large number of people but never truly gone mainstream. He can be positive, but not in a “blow sunshine up your ass” kind of way…and yet he can also be scathing when he needs to be, pointing out hypocrisy or making observations that I find myself emphatically agreeing with—like on the “Namaste for me, fuck you to you” attitude of the Whole Foods crowd…I’m paraphrasing here because I can’t find the quote.

Admittedly, I will always be a bigger fan of his earlier travel stories, but no one can do that forever. It is just good to see where his travels have finally led him: to a place where he can be ensconced and report on the world he inhabits with other New York City booksellers. Aaron goes through an almost anthropological study of the bookselling world, a world that is so varied and unexpected that it is downright fascinating. Along the way is a mini-thread of his quest to locate a woman that he has become smitten with, whom he dubs “The Raccoon” (his writing has always been full of colorful pseudonyms and aliases.)

Ok, picky criticisms, the kind that you reserve only for the things you truly love: yes, I miss the Aaron Cometbus handwritten “font,” one of the trademarks of this ‘zine. I totally get what a painstaking labor that must have been, and I certainly cannot fault him for moving into the last century by finally switching over to a 19th Century Schoolbook font. I’m sure it was time. (Again: this is not a serious criticism, and I am mostly kidding anyway.) He speaks of scams, rip-offs, old men, hoarders, collectors, community, library sales, and all manner of resale. The underlying truth of the bookseller is that no one does it for the money….at least no one gets rich selling used books. And at one point when Aaron nearly fantasizes about the benefits of simply having a job where you hate your boss, waste time, screw around and punch out, rather than trying to fend for yourself by being in business for yourself…well, it just turns everything you hate about your job on its head, doesn’t it?

A Bestiary of Booksellers reaffirmed everything I’ve always loved about Cometbus. I have a modest collection of Cometbus at home that has been diminished by loaning out the issues I liked the best. I regret that maybe slightly, as I also regret not keeping up with this ‘zine.

But anyway, life is not about regret. Life is about simple pleasures. Like drinking coffee and reading Cometbus.




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