A Complete Lowlife

by Ed Brubaker

Witty and poignant, this collection of semi-autobiographical tales focuses on love, despair, lost friendships, and the murky morality of stealing from work. Known for being one of the funniest series ever published in comics form, Lowlife dissects the Slacker / Generation X lifestyle from the inside out, bringing a great amount of humanity to the process along the way.

Genres: Comics, Graphic Novels, Memoir, Graphic Novels Comics, Comix, American, Crime

112 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1995

About the author

Ed Brubaker (born November 17, 1966) is an Eisner Award-winning American cartoonist and writer. He was born at the National Naval Medical Center, Bethesda, Maryland.

Brubaker is best known for his work as a comic book writer on such titles as Batman, Daredevil, Captain America, Iron Fist, Catwoman, Gotham Central and Uncanny X-Men. In more recent years, he has focused solely on creator-owned titles for Image Comics, such as Fatale, Criminal, Velvet and Kill or Be Killed.

In 2016, Brubaker ventured into television, joining the writing staff of the HBO series Westworld.

Reviews

[Dave Schaafsma · Rating 2 out of 5]

Early Brubaker, as in early nineties, and a slacker gen-x tale of several "complete lowlifes" stealing and doing lots of drugs and wasting away. I just finished Honour Among Punks by Davis, about eighties punk London, and now this, which has a Beat influence, as Brubaker's favorite writers then (though not now) were Kerouac and Burroughs, (and me, I'm a sixties guy), but it is interesting to read these books as representations of an age and time. In an afterword he apologizes for hurting people he knew through both fictional and non-fictional aspects of these stories. They are painful to read, sort of cringingly embarrassing, regrettable. The art is surprisingly okay, but nothing compared to what he is getting from his present day collaborators like Sean Phillips.

Brubaker is so much better now writing crime and NOT writing semi-autobiographical novels, though the honesty of these stories owes something to Harvey Pekar and others, surely. I didn't love it but I am sure it might have some appeal to people that went through similar things in the nineties.

[Billie Tyrell · Rating 1 out of 5]

I've been reading loads of really good alternative comics lately, so I was bound to hit a complete stinker eventually. I had no idea it would be quite this bad. The worst thing about Lowlife is it's so predictable, I knew how every sentence was going to end before I'd read them. Also the art is really cluttered and ugly, the characters have sub zero appeal, in fact they are all completely hateable. They are meant to be "Generation X" but all the good aspects are removed. None of them are creative, or eccentric, or political, and only seem to talk about getting drugs and having sex. It's like a depiction youth but with all the inspirational stuff taken out. So you're basically just watching a bunch of deadheads.

There's a few "Beatniks" though; all kitted out in striped tops, berets and little goatee beards. Can any American tell me if that's what Beatniks looked like in the 1990s? Maybe I'm missing something, as I'm in the UK, but surely nobody was dressed like a cartoon beatnik by that point. The reason Brubaker did this is because he think's it's funny. Like everything in here it's total nonsense pretending to be something clever... or even worse pretending to be poignant and philosophical and then coming to the conclusion of "I dunno, er, maybe, fuck."

You can read it on readcomiconline.li for free, maybe it's brilliant and I've just gone mental from reading too many comics in such a short space of time. I don't know why but I absolutely detested this more than anything I've ever read. It all just seemed so base level and empty headed, so totally thick and meaningless.

Basically, I really really hated it. The first story is kind of okay.

EDIT: this is meant to be autobiographical... bloody hell... that makes it so much worse. If Brubaker is the main character of this comic then he must be a complete arse in real life.

[Jonathan Maas · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great, albeit different take on the Ed Brubaker tale. Don't expect an Ed Brubaker tale, but rather an introspective and honest tale about a person who makes bad decisions but emerges ok.

[Omri · Rating 4 out of 5]

When you decide to read a graphic novel, and it is an autobiography, you know that it's going to be damn good. The only question is how good on the damn good scale will it be. 'A Complete Lowlife' is already 2 steps ahead than most reads, but if I'd have to compare it to other autobiographies in the field I'd say that it is lacking just a tiny bit, and that tiny bit is consistency. I mean, I was looking for a far more as a closure than what was offered, and although it's really not that a fair thing to say - it was lacking. Aside of that, the cut-off short story form was wonderful, the read was smooth, interesting, fascinating even. And it was intimate, as it should be. So just the ending, the last few pages, the closure, is what took it just a tiny notch off. And still - Damn Good.

[Václav · Rating 3 out of 5]

(3,2 of 5 for nice illustration how far Ed Brubaker came as comics author)
Lowlife is Ed's autobiographical fantasy early work which reminds me Dead World or The Originals, another small town/suburbs middle-to-lower class coming of age comics. At the backside of the book, you can read notes from other authors like it's comics Linklater or so. Well, no. Lowlife is nice. If you like Brubaker, this is definitely a study material to read. But it's far from amazing. First half is still pretty decent, but then Ed gets wordy, extending narrative into the word bubbles beyond bearable amount. Lowlife is far from perfect, even some of the stories are interesting and fun. But mostly it's a great illustration of how long way in "creating comics" Ed did.

[Robert · Rating 2 out of 5]

I can only assume all of the praise is retrospective from people who want to be fans, it doesn't read like other Brubaker stuff, the art is pedestrian, and it doesn't offer any glimpses or insight into his future work.

[Ryan Werner · Rating 2 out of 5]

A very young comic, as Brubaker cops to in the intro. Between that and the title itself, there's a decent amount of full disclosure going on in terms of walking into and expecting the comic equivalent of a misanthropic teenager's diary.

The stories themselves are a male flipside of the Ghost World angst. The Brubaker traits are here--guns, crime, etc--but he hadn't yet figured out a way to project grittiness onto a bigger picture. These vignettes are far from the creative success of Sleeper or Criminal, but for readers of a certain age, it might be a nice little read for after you get done throwing your flannel shirt on the floor and calling your dad a nazi.

[Jason Pym · Rating 4 out of 5]

A semi-autobiographical early comic by Ed Brubaker about 80s/90s slacker teens/20 somethings in small town California.

This is a good read as it is honest enough to feel true to life, though to be honest the real interest is seeing this as the stepping stone for a comic writer who went from this self-published stuff to perfectly crafted noir like Fatale, The Fade Out, Criminal etc, illustrated by Sean Philips. The Brubaker/Philips comics are so good in every respect it's fascinating to read the training ground: While Brubaker's own art in Lowlife is a bit rough around the edges, you can see he's already got dialogue and pacing down, he's already making it look effortless.

[Highland G · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed this much more than I expected. Sure its a self examination but its also a great relationship study on real people with real different outlooks and changes in those outlooks over time. This is a great foundation to what Ed does so well, stories about people and relationships that just so happen to involve criminal activities.
I wish I could have it in an OHC as the lettering is a little small in this but otherwise its a great slide of life anthology of short stories.

[Maureen · Rating 5 out of 5]

To be honest, I'm a little surprised how much I liked this, but I can't deny it. I really wish Brubaker had written a few more comics or books like this.

[Nelson · Rating 5 out of 5]

For me, this is one of those books that just "get it." Nothing has hit me right in the feels in such a personal way since Cowboy Bebop. As such, it is kinda hard to review. I've never read something with such relatable characters and situations. Not just Tommy, but the whole cast felt like a slightly skewed reflection of my youth. While the writing is simple, Brubaker always has a way to make it feel real and personable. He captures something special in this little book: a time and place that no longer exist. A time and place that only exists in memories. Relationships that once were, amazing experiences that at the time were taken for granted, painful experiences that became essential to one's growth. We've all felt like that at one point or another. This book captures that nostalgia, that bittersweetness, that joy, that pain. It never wallows in regret - it embraces it. It is an extremely honest book, and for that I applaud it. It's easy to miss the nuance that makes this book so great buried under shoddy drawings and amateur writing. Not all will see it, but those who do will understand right away where Brubaker came from and what he's trying to say. If you're a fan of Brubaker's, this is a must read. If you end up hating the plot, or the main character Tommy, then you're missing the point.

[Michael · Rating 2 out of 5]

Ed is, of course, a phenomenal writer. LOWLIFE was a comic series he published when he was young and starting out, finding his voice. It's worth reading if you're a Brubaker completist and not devoid of some charm, but it's nothing to write home about either. It splits the difference between semi-autobiographical, slacker, and kids-making-poor-choices (without going into noir or crime genres), but without really adding much to any of those subgenres or establishing a unique voice in the convergence of them. The art is surprisingly solid for a guy who rarely seems to draw anything (at least for public consumption) these days - some wonky youthful perspectives or anatomy, but effective in capturing the emotions and mood of the moment.

[Luis Joel · Rating 5 out of 5]

Es muy profundo.
Recopilación de diferentes cómics autobiográficos con una pizca de ficción dibujados en diferentes momentos desde los 90.
Estar dibujado y escrito por él, lo convierte en algo íntimo y personal, que hiere y rasga como la vida real.
Lo que más destaca, claro, es el guión. Pero sorprende lo buen narrador y dibujante que es. Sus primeros cómics apenas y logran un estándar decente para leerlos.
Pero en los últimos su trazo está al nivel de Daniel Clowes o Charles Burns.
No tan espectacular o bien dibujado como Criminal, pero tan real que toca los pequeños episodios bajos de tu propia vida.

[Bill Coffin · Rating 2 out of 5]

A Complete Lowlife is not quite the "dissection of the Slacker/Generation X lifestyle from the inside out" it styles itself as, and is more a chronicle of a fairly directionless speed freak who wakes up one day to find that life is not only passing him by but will pass him by. The thing is, the narrative makes it pretty obvious that our narrator is the source of his own problems, so there's not a lot to relate to as a reader, unless you, too, are or were a directionless speed freak. There's some poignant pages near the end as we see our narrator's relationship falling apart, but it's not enough to justify the ~100 pages of rambling and overstuffed storytelling that gets us there.

[Mike Cancel · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very interesting early comic from Ed Brubaker, which he wrote and illustrated. A much different tone from his later work, more character study, dealing with youthful criminal activity, relationships and his neuroses. It's hard to separate the main character of Tommy from Brubaker himself, in that it reads very much like a memoir. I enjoyed it and didn't think the art was bad, at all. But probably not for the casual Brubaker fan, more for the completists. He wrote an intro for the book where he apologizes for his bad behavior (in the book) and for the character portrayals that caused some broken friendships, after publication.

[Kelly Teen Librarian · Rating 5 out of 5]

It's wildly simple, but super vulnerable and real. And truth be told, even in its simplicity, there's human complexity to it. I've had this graphic novel in my personal library since I worked at The Strand in 2001 and have read it many times, ready to pay it forward to someone new.

I think what's most impressionable is the author's impression of "angry youth bc they spend so much time on computers" - from 2001 when this was published to today 2025 - not much had changed. Kids are still really angry and even the punks mellow out eventually.

[Ryan · Rating 2 out of 5]

There are a few good stories in here. If I could compare the stories to any other independent artist/writer it would be Adrian Tomine. Unfortunately you have to wade through some sad, juvenile stories at the first half of this collection to get to the really well-written stuff. Also, Top Shelf has reprinted these stories in a very small format. I doubt that the originals were actually this small as a couple of stories have unreadable text that is just too tiny.

[Chloe Glynn · Rating 4 out of 5]

Four stars because I resonate with his love for Sunny, because it's nice to see meandering, coherent little stories that air themselves out in their unfolding.

[Aaron · Rating 4 out of 5]

It’s a mess and at times silly book but it shows you were Ed started and how far he’s come as a writer.

[Brandon · Rating 3 out of 5]

honest. Disturbing. Entertaining.

[Matt · Rating 4 out of 5]

Before we were known as slackers, Brubaker captured our zeitgeist, milieu, whatever (how slackerish!) better than anyone. Lowlife is like Douglas Coupland's Life After God but these characters never made it to college and are into heavier drug use. It's a collection of stories that don't necessarily tell one tale successively, but characters do have repeat appearances and by the end Tommy, the main character, has learned some deeply sad lessons about life. The story My Friend Felix will break your freaking heart. Brubaker is now very well known for his writing for big name superhero titles like Captain America. Friends of mine who read superhero comics tell me he writes that genre very well. I don't know. All I know is that Lowlife is pretty much mandatory reading for anyone who likes contemporary, independent autobio comics. One last note about who might like this: at the time he wrote these stories, Brubaker was into the Beats, and you can see some of that influence in his stories.

[Fugo Feedback · Rating 3 out of 5]

Llamativa semi-auto-biografía de un autor que raramente defrauda. Claro que como lo primero que hace es aclarar que muchas partes son ficticias, ahora me queda la duda de si fue chorro, estuvo en cana, se daba con cuanta droga se le cruzara, convivió con una mina que lo cuerneaba todos los días, tuvo un amor imposible durante casi toda su juventud, si tenía un amigo con chivita que tocaba la guitarra, etc. Como historia ficcional no es mala, pero como biografía deja demasiadas dudas. Con respecto al dibujo: no está mal, pero menos mal que cuando se volvió profesional comenzó a laburar con dibujantes. Supongo que si sigo leyendo cosas de Brubaker (y averiguando cosas sobre él) y me releo este tomo más adelante, lo rerreseñaré con mis nuevos hallazgos.

[D.M. · Rating 4 out of 5]

I picked this up almost at random from my newly-restored library shelf, largely as an antidote to the outdated 'wittiness' of Bob Fingerman's Beg The Question (in itself meant to give me a respite from Tom Jones). It couldn't have worked better if I'd planned it.
Brubaker is almost embarrassingly honest in portraying his comic alter-ego, and at times the tales are overwhelmingly bleak. However, there is a thread of hope and beauty running throughout the narrative, unshakeable from start to (strangely future-fiction inspired ending) finish.
I feel that, in Lowlife, I'd just read something remarkable -- something that I'd missed before.

[Matt · Rating 4 out of 5]

Brubaker is a terrific comics writer whose ability to capture characters is priceless. His best stuff is in the crime genre, but this painfully personal work is a great read for fans of any genre.

It is very hard to read. It came to me at the end of a painful year in my love life, which was exactly when I needed it. It's like that.

[Brian · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really liked this graphic novel, by a writer who is now famous for super hero stories. He is a great story-teller and does a great job writing about the most mundane eccentricities of life in this book.

[Subroto · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not as good as Harvey Peaker but i don't think that's what Ed was aiming for. He made his own group of slightly as per his own admission fictionalized stories from when he grew up.

like the honesty ...like the avoidance of sketching oneself as holier than thou.

[Dan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Early Brubaker-- story and art. It's odd but strangely fitting to see people I know personally drawn like Archie characters. But that's probably just me.

[John · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent graphic novel, great early Brubaker writing.

[Christopher · Rating 4 out of 5]

An interesting and well-written and -drawn memoir-ish graphic novel about growing up as a troubled teenager.

[Steven · Rating 4 out of 5]

Painful and poignant memoir capturing the outsider experience of the Gen X slacker hanging on to life day by day.