Things Are Meaning Less

by Al Burian

Opening with a telling quote from punk band Black Flag ("Drink black coffee/drink black coffee/drink black coffee/and stare at the wall"),  Things Are Meaning Less  is a tough, funny, heartbreaking look at young, disillusioned American life. You might know Al from his zines  Burn Collector  and  Natural Disasters  or from the band Milemarker or his so-true-it-kicks-your-face-off column in  Punk Planet . This, however, is Al's collection of comics published in the late '90s by designer and fellow zinester Ian Lyman. From Portland to Providence, Al patrols his world with a dark, stoic humor. He's a Saul Bellow-ian everyman, up against the wall, suffering the blows, looking for love and loving the metal. Like Al's latest issue of  Burn Collector , the comic-heavy #14, the drawing here is simple but it's the kind of simple that doesn't come with beginner's luck. The stuff here is the result of years of fighting and trouble-making, of mistakes made and a life scratched out among the sticks and stones. As says Al, "These are things drawn on napkins in airports, xeroxed illicitly during work." So goes the work and world of Al Burian.

Genres: Comics, Graphic Novels, Comix, Nonfiction

156 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2002

Reviews

[Michael Farrell · Rating 4 out of 5]

not heartbreaking yet good

[Imogen · Rating 5 out of 5]

Dude! Yeah! Punks, teen angst, walking around in the middle of the night, comics, drinking black coffee and staring at a wall. This made me think of you, Nine. Basically, I recommend picking up any book written by a columnist at Maximum Rocknroll. Right?

[Cody · Rating 3 out of 5]

An aimless young man's musings, sometimes charming and insightful. Cynical before his time, but you see the seeds of a thoughtful older person too. A true nihilist might not ever make a comic to document his nihilism, I suppose. In the same family as Cometbus, coming from the 90s zine world, but with drawings. Mental health-wise, there's depression & anxiety, with some suicide themes. A friend who celebrates "not feeling any emotion for 6 months" after going on anti-depressants.

[Jess · Rating 2 out of 5]

i don’t have room in my life for this kind of cynicism anymore

[S̶e̶a̶n̶ · Rating 4 out of 5]

Al Burian is known by many for both his personal zine Burn Collector and his band Milemarker. What some people might not know is that Al is also a talented cartoonist. Between 1997 and 1998, he drew a series of comix and Ian Lynam published them in several books under the Migraine Comics label. Recently, Microcosm Publishing released this perfectbound paperback compilation of all of the comix Al did during this time period. I have a couple of the original books, so I had seen most of these, but it was still nice to sit down and read this cover-to-cover. Al wrote these while living in Portland, OR, Providence, RI, and Chapel Hill, NC. Each little story more or less reflects how Al was feeling while he was living in each of these places. Reading these after already being familiar with Al’s writing is a treat, as it adds a whole new (visual) dimension to Al’s obsessive self-examination and his ruminations on the people he interacts with and the places he finds himself in. Fans of Burn Collector should enjoy this book, as will most folks with a penchant for autobiographical comix.

[Peacegal · Rating 2 out of 5]

Youthful angst and aimless feelings are the theme of this comic. It's not much of a story, or anything at all, just a bunch of vignettes as meandering as their young star.

Of interest to me is that this story takes place in the Carrboro/Chapel Hill area of North Carolina, a part of the country I've explored moving to because of its liberal/bohemian vibe, warmer climate, and smaller population. The early-20s guy in this book constantly despairs about how lame and boring the place is. Try being in your mid-30s, actively hating the place you live, but being too poor to move to a town like Carrboro. Burian doesn't know how easy he has it.

[Rachael · Rating 4 out of 5]

bring it to the beach. or you could read it in my backyard on a lawnchair in the dead heat of the summer, like i did.

al: love you.
miss you.

visit your brother soon, cause i love meeting up with you.

oh! and keep writing!

[Michael Seidel · Rating 2 out of 5]

To quote Burian's own afterword "I'm shocked and mortified at how naive and emotionally on-the-sleeve it all [the book's content] is." Not very good at all from where I stand. I'm probably just too old to appreciate it. A 20 year old me may have loved it.

[Ledena · Rating 3 out of 5]

I wanted more words, and less pictures in this one.

[Mike DaRonco · Rating 4 out of 5]

And he does comics too!

[Don · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very entertaining I thought. Burian's Burn Collector translates to his sparse illustrative style quite well

[Karly · Rating 5 out of 5]

AL Burian's grunge-era comic. Very similar to his stories, but with pictures. Quick, very cool read.

[Mako · Rating 5 out of 5]

Incredibly concise yet endlessly applicable. Great illustrations and contains 40% Portland.

[Emily · Rating 4 out of 5]

A fun read especially on a roadtrip, like I read it, over Thanksgiving. This book made me laugh out loud repeatedly.

[J · Rating 5 out of 5]

Al Burian, you are not helping my young adulthood spawned existential crises! AND I LOVE YOU!

[Michael · Rating 3 out of 5]

I enjoyed a lot of it but it seemed like a teen version of American Splendor which, I think by definition, will be less insightful. I wasn't terribly engaged.

[Cathy · Rating 5 out of 5]

same

[j.knab · Rating 5 out of 5]

Pure. Fucking. Genius.

[Wendy · Rating 3 out of 5]

comix/teen angst! i feel a little old reading this ... but good for a quick read.