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Young Liars
Young Liars, Vol. 1: Daydream Believer
Twenty-something Danny Noonan's life left something to be desired before he met his wild girlfriend, Sadie, and moves to New York City, but a money-making scheme turns deadly and reveals secrets from Sadie's past. Contains adult content.
144 pages, Paperback
First published December 30, 2008
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 51 reviews
March 21, 2023
I read the comic books Young Liars #1-18. Issues #1-12 covers this volume: Daydream Believer and Young Liars, Vol. 2: Maestro which have a near genius plot about the lies a group of people tell to themselves and one another as they get caught up in a conspiracy centred round the search for a missing heiress. However the later issues #13-18 (Young Liars, Vol. 3: Rock Life) are not as good, as the series began to lose its way. Still, overall an astoundingly good start to colour comics by David Lapham. This is a must-read for graphic novel readers that hate superhero books, as there isn’t a sniff of one in this complex, transgressive and interesting series. This volume 9 out of 12, Four Stars.
2017 and 2013 read
2017 and 2013 read
January 24, 2020
This was...insane? yeah insane works.
David Lapham easily became one of my favorite crime writers after reading Stray Bullets. I also enjoyed his Batman and Lodger recently that I read. So what about Young Liars?
Well this one is a little tough. Basically about a group of almost nonredeemable pieces of shit being assholes, hurting people, killing, and so on. The story focuses on Danny and Sadie. Sadie was shot in the head and turned a bit fucking crazy. She beats up everyone who messes with her and has zero cares in the world. You find out Danny's past and why Sadie is like who she is.
This is dark. You have multiple scenes of rape, murder, and gross situations. It mostly comes down to everyone being kind of a piece of shit. Oh top of that it flows fast and can feel jumpy which can be good or bad. You also will never be bored, but you also have to suspend a lot of disbelief on this one.
It's really a mix bag. I was intrigued but didn't really like any character. I am interested to see where it goes after the cliffhanger but not sure what to fully think of it yet. A 3 out of 5.
David Lapham easily became one of my favorite crime writers after reading Stray Bullets. I also enjoyed his Batman and Lodger recently that I read. So what about Young Liars?
Well this one is a little tough. Basically about a group of almost nonredeemable pieces of shit being assholes, hurting people, killing, and so on. The story focuses on Danny and Sadie. Sadie was shot in the head and turned a bit fucking crazy. She beats up everyone who messes with her and has zero cares in the world. You find out Danny's past and why Sadie is like who she is.
This is dark. You have multiple scenes of rape, murder, and gross situations. It mostly comes down to everyone being kind of a piece of shit. Oh top of that it flows fast and can feel jumpy which can be good or bad. You also will never be bored, but you also have to suspend a lot of disbelief on this one.
It's really a mix bag. I was intrigued but didn't really like any character. I am interested to see where it goes after the cliffhanger but not sure what to fully think of it yet. A 3 out of 5.
February 19, 2019
Manic pixie dream girl with a bullet in her head for extra dysfunction is manipulated by someone who is supposed to be her friend but is mostly a selfish, boring man. The only interesting or sympathetic character is the drag queen, and the real question the book raises is why she doesn’t have better friends, or at least queer friends. The plot makes limited sense, and that’s before the cruise with the Pinkertons. This book is a case study in everything wrong with comics.
February 19, 2026
This book is all over the place. At first, I thought it would be just another wanna-be Preacher Vertigo title, like The Exterminators or Outlaw Nation, with insane characters doing insane things. And while, the last two are definitely in the story, it quickly differentiates itself from the other titles chasing the Preacher bandwagon.
It's a weird, winding tale, that doesn't give itself up easily. There are some dramatic leaps between issues, and the main character's backstories are not told in a straightforward way, and parts of it are not given at all. It might be easy to become lost in the action and the idea that something else, something weird, is going on.
I haven't read book 2 yet, but I have it and am looking forward to it.
It's a weird, winding tale, that doesn't give itself up easily. There are some dramatic leaps between issues, and the main character's backstories are not told in a straightforward way, and parts of it are not given at all. It might be easy to become lost in the action and the idea that something else, something weird, is going on.
I haven't read book 2 yet, but I have it and am looking forward to it.
June 6, 2021
I’m a bit conflicted on this one. I’m a huge huge fan of David Lapham, I’d consider him as one of my top 3 favorite comic creators easy. Stray Bullets and Murder Me Dead are two of my favorite comics.
Young Liars has elements of what I love from Lapham. He has the character design chops of a Jaime Hernandez, giving each character a really unique appearance. You never get characters confused with each other. Young Liars lets Lapham go crazy with character design, it’s his most bonkers thing I’ve ever read. Young Liars also features Lapham’s top notch visual storytelling. There’s a ton of sequences and layouts here that have the simplicity I find appealing in his work and a few cool tricks now that Lapham has color on his art work. There are flashback sequences that occur at the same time as the present narrative distinguished by color changes and I thought that was a really awesome touch. Sure, it’s been done before but Lapham gives the trick his own spin making it exciting to read. Speaking of the color, I wasn’t sure initially how I’d like his art in full color, but I’ve got to say I’m sold on it. I prefer the black and white, but I think the color definitely does his art justice and it’s nice to see it in a different way. Another thing that I thought I wouldn’t like is the lettering. Lapham is one of my favorite hand letterers in comics so I figured a lot would be lost without it. While the lettering here isn’t super exceptional, it’s very functional and does it’s job. There’s a few points throughout where I really love the way sound effects are used so that’s a plus as well.
Moving onto the things I am iffy about, the glaring issue for me with this book is how edgy it is. I get what he’s going for, but it didn’t age too well in my opinion and most of the really edgy or raunchy jokes don’t land for me. David Lapham’s doing his best Garth Ennis here and for the most part it doesn’t work too well for me. If you scrape away the edge from the story I think there’s something there, but a lot of it was pretty yikes to me. It definitely feels like a Vertigo book if that makes any sense.
Overall, it’s not Lapham’s best but I still think it’s a decent book. This was done during the big Stray Bullets hiatus, so Lapham is at the top of his game here in terms of his art and visual storytelling. However, his writing here isn’t the best but each issue has a moment or two that stops me from dropping the book.
5.5/10
Young Liars has elements of what I love from Lapham. He has the character design chops of a Jaime Hernandez, giving each character a really unique appearance. You never get characters confused with each other. Young Liars lets Lapham go crazy with character design, it’s his most bonkers thing I’ve ever read. Young Liars also features Lapham’s top notch visual storytelling. There’s a ton of sequences and layouts here that have the simplicity I find appealing in his work and a few cool tricks now that Lapham has color on his art work. There are flashback sequences that occur at the same time as the present narrative distinguished by color changes and I thought that was a really awesome touch. Sure, it’s been done before but Lapham gives the trick his own spin making it exciting to read. Speaking of the color, I wasn’t sure initially how I’d like his art in full color, but I’ve got to say I’m sold on it. I prefer the black and white, but I think the color definitely does his art justice and it’s nice to see it in a different way. Another thing that I thought I wouldn’t like is the lettering. Lapham is one of my favorite hand letterers in comics so I figured a lot would be lost without it. While the lettering here isn’t super exceptional, it’s very functional and does it’s job. There’s a few points throughout where I really love the way sound effects are used so that’s a plus as well.
Moving onto the things I am iffy about, the glaring issue for me with this book is how edgy it is. I get what he’s going for, but it didn’t age too well in my opinion and most of the really edgy or raunchy jokes don’t land for me. David Lapham’s doing his best Garth Ennis here and for the most part it doesn’t work too well for me. If you scrape away the edge from the story I think there’s something there, but a lot of it was pretty yikes to me. It definitely feels like a Vertigo book if that makes any sense.
Overall, it’s not Lapham’s best but I still think it’s a decent book. This was done during the big Stray Bullets hiatus, so Lapham is at the top of his game here in terms of his art and visual storytelling. However, his writing here isn’t the best but each issue has a moment or two that stops me from dropping the book.
5.5/10
December 16, 2009
From the cover:
"A firecracker of a book... Lightning in a bottle." -- Ain't It Cool News
"Reads like a great rock song sounds." -- Variety.com
"Meh. Garth Ennis does crazy better." -- Seizure Romero
Ok, I'm lying about the last one. Nobody asked me. I mean, I ignore this kind of crap when I go to the movies. I haven't met the critic whose taste reflects mine, so I pretty much ignore what they have to say. Not that the cover blurbs had anything to do with my reading this-- I saw it at the library & decided to try something different-- but really? Ain't It Cool News must be hittin' the Diet Pepsi® pretty hard to perceive this as "lightning in a bottle."
I'm not really current on comics these days and I have no real idea who David Lapham is, but his Stray Bullets series apparently garnered some critical acclaim so I guess certain reviewers have to rub one out whenever he produces anything new. This is a story about self-absorbed disaffected twenty-somethings in the big city. Wow. I don't have a problem with the plot per se, but could we please make it interesting? An impulse-control challenged chick who thinks she's indestructible (she has a bullet lodged in her BRAIN!!! This makes her CRAZY!!! How did it GET there??? It's a MYSTERY!!1!), the loser obsessed with her, a junky transvestite, a coke-whore model and a trust fund wanker... toss in a 'shroom-eating tycoon, a hit squad, and, of course, a homicidal midget. The only character who is remotely sympathetic is the tranny because he/she isn't a complete asshole, just guilty of associating with them. And how do you fuck up a cast of characters like that?
Like I said-- if over-the-top nutcase plot lines are what you're looking for, Garth Ennis thinks up crazier shit than this six times before breakfast. That's not always a good thing, but there it is.
"A firecracker of a book... Lightning in a bottle." -- Ain't It Cool News
"Reads like a great rock song sounds." -- Variety.com
"Meh. Garth Ennis does crazy better." -- Seizure Romero
Ok, I'm lying about the last one. Nobody asked me. I mean, I ignore this kind of crap when I go to the movies. I haven't met the critic whose taste reflects mine, so I pretty much ignore what they have to say. Not that the cover blurbs had anything to do with my reading this-- I saw it at the library & decided to try something different-- but really? Ain't It Cool News must be hittin' the Diet Pepsi® pretty hard to perceive this as "lightning in a bottle."
I'm not really current on comics these days and I have no real idea who David Lapham is, but his Stray Bullets series apparently garnered some critical acclaim so I guess certain reviewers have to rub one out whenever he produces anything new. This is a story about self-absorbed disaffected twenty-somethings in the big city. Wow. I don't have a problem with the plot per se, but could we please make it interesting? An impulse-control challenged chick who thinks she's indestructible (she has a bullet lodged in her BRAIN!!! This makes her CRAZY!!! How did it GET there??? It's a MYSTERY!!1!), the loser obsessed with her, a junky transvestite, a coke-whore model and a trust fund wanker... toss in a 'shroom-eating tycoon, a hit squad, and, of course, a homicidal midget. The only character who is remotely sympathetic is the tranny because he/she isn't a complete asshole, just guilty of associating with them. And how do you fuck up a cast of characters like that?
Like I said-- if over-the-top nutcase plot lines are what you're looking for, Garth Ennis thinks up crazier shit than this six times before breakfast. That's not always a good thing, but there it is.
October 12, 2011
Ugh, worst! I mean, I guess it's not the worst if you want to read a comic that uses rape and incest as light plot points -- but for real, I seriously couldn't even deal with a throwaway scene early on in the book where a minor character rapes a girl and then says that she's just mad at him because he's not taking her to see Spoon. Fucking really?! Not into it. Seriously, though, I'm not normally one to gripe about this kind of stuff & I've been known to enjoy my fair share of artistic works that involve poorly developed women characters being treated like shit, but this was too much even for me.
January 12, 2022
This may not deserve 4 stars as it's all over the place with plot and wild unlikable characterizations but apparently I liked it enough to read it a second time as well as buy the second volume on a sale shelf.
Stray Bullet's his original series is brilliant but Young Liars is fun and different in its own way.
See how I feel after finishing that second book.
Stray Bullet's his original series is brilliant but Young Liars is fun and different in its own way.
See how I feel after finishing that second book.
May 8, 2014
Pretty much the worst thing ever.
August 23, 2021
Great comic that nobody got and to this day even I'm not fully sure what it was about. Sadly cancelled after eighteen issues but enough to make up three trade paperbacks, Young Liars is the last word in transgressive fiction. Reading Young Liars is a shock not because of the shocking acts but in the way the narrative loops, lies to you and keeps throwing new possibilities and characters at you. Young Liars is a hyperactive and random seeming world, events are hinted at but not fully expanded on, the characters are all argumentative and two faced, carefully guarding their pasts and looking out for their own interests. The two protagonists of sorts are Danny and Sadie, Danny is a controlling, manipulative and selfish twenty something and like all young men passionate about music wanted to be somebody but settled on sex and thrills. And Sadie, Sadie is described as a living cartoon character, she is uninhibited, possibly invincible and obsessed with fighting, sex and dancing, incredibly beautiful but completely unhinged she claims to be fighting evil Spiders from Mars.
This is a point which gets complicated the book weaves together the idea of grounded threats like extremely powerful corporations alongside ritualized incest and aliens, chasing the group are the Pinkertons named after the famous private detectives but instead are seemingly superhuman but with questionable choices in disguise. The first book is really a taster into the real story of Young Liars and some could find the content overwhelming and upsetting which would make sense it is a challenging book with scenes that could upset but it is precisely because it is challenging that makes it so good. Mainstream comics are too obsessed as pornographic power fantasies that when something this different comes along it deserves to be taken in, rarely does someones hatred of their own characters and love of a specific period of life get represented. Also Lapham was awesome enough to recommend some great songs at the start of each chapter. (A lot of The Fall)
This is a point which gets complicated the book weaves together the idea of grounded threats like extremely powerful corporations alongside ritualized incest and aliens, chasing the group are the Pinkertons named after the famous private detectives but instead are seemingly superhuman but with questionable choices in disguise. The first book is really a taster into the real story of Young Liars and some could find the content overwhelming and upsetting which would make sense it is a challenging book with scenes that could upset but it is precisely because it is challenging that makes it so good. Mainstream comics are too obsessed as pornographic power fantasies that when something this different comes along it deserves to be taken in, rarely does someones hatred of their own characters and love of a specific period of life get represented. Also Lapham was awesome enough to recommend some great songs at the start of each chapter. (A lot of The Fall)
October 9, 2023
Sadie, the runaway daughter of a rapist billionaire, has a bullet in her brain that makes her manically happy and hyperviolent at all times. Danny is the dull nice guy who loves her and takes care of her, and the only person she listens to.
In Young Liars, Lapham takes the dysfunctional Beth-Orson relationship from his magnum opus Stray Bullets and teases it out in new directions. And it is black of heart at every turn. I appreciate Lapham's willingness to go dark in service to a story, but I don't think I'd want to know the guy.
In addition to being borderline edgelord-y, there are issues with the plot structure. This story does cry out for flashbacks, but the flashbacks are all out of order and it's needlessly discombobulating.
I'm four-starring because Lapham gets so much right, but I completely understand the one-star reviews.
Plot notes:
In Young Liars, Lapham takes the dysfunctional Beth-Orson relationship from his magnum opus Stray Bullets and teases it out in new directions. And it is black of heart at every turn. I appreciate Lapham's willingness to go dark in service to a story, but I don't think I'd want to know the guy.
In addition to being borderline edgelord-y, there are issues with the plot structure. This story does cry out for flashbacks, but the flashbacks are all out of order and it's needlessly discombobulating.
I'm four-starring because Lapham gets so much right, but I completely understand the one-star reviews.
Plot notes:
August 24, 2023
У Сейди Докинз в мозгу сидит пуля, которая отрубила ей чувство страха и сделала в целом неадекватной супер-ниндзя, разбрасывающей плохишей налево и направо. Слушается Сейди только своего приятеля Дэнни, у них давняя история отношений, которую она не помнит. Их друзья не менее придурочные, а все вместе они ввязались в совершенно безумную историю.
Если в Silverfish Дэвид Лафам сделал шаг назад и написал классический, простой по структуре триллер, то в Young Liars, мы, наоборот, имеем совершенно слетевшего с катушек Лафама, который творит всё, что в голову взбредёт, вплоть до маньячных карликов-насильников, отрезающих одному из главных героев член, и космических пауков с Марса, плетущих свои заговорщические сети, чтобы захватить Землю.
Точно так же Дэвид плевать хотел на стройную сюжетную структуру — события здесь похожи на дурной сон, где всё причудливо видоизменяется, хаотично наслаивается и в итоге, конечно, ни к чему особо не приходит. Как у наркомана, который под кайфом понял все секреты вселенной, но со стороны его рассказ выглядит больным бредом. Увлекательным, с узнаваемыми переходами и образами (позаимствованными у популярных фильмов и книг), но в целом абсолютно бессмысленным.
Потому что автор на своей волне. Он развлекается, и никому ничего не хочет объяснять. Рок-н-ролл! Прикладываю небольшую галерею.
Если в Silverfish Дэвид Лафам сделал шаг назад и написал классический, простой по структуре триллер, то в Young Liars, мы, наоборот, имеем совершенно слетевшего с катушек Лафама, который творит всё, что в голову взбредёт, вплоть до маньячных карликов-насильников, отрезающих одному из главных героев член, и космических пауков с Марса, плетущих свои заговорщические сети, чтобы захватить Землю.
Точно так же Дэвид плевать хотел на стройную сюжетную структуру — события здесь похожи на дурной сон, где всё причудливо видоизменяется, хаотично наслаивается и в итоге, конечно, ни к чему особо не приходит. Как у наркомана, который под кайфом понял все секреты вселенной, но со стороны его рассказ выглядит больным бредом. Увлекательным, с узнаваемыми переходами и образами (позаимствованными у популярных фильмов и книг), но в целом абсолютно бессмысленным.
Потому что автор на своей волне. Он развлекается, и никому ничего не хочет объяснять. Рок-н-ролл! Прикладываю небольшую галерею.
April 5, 2018
This book is a blast - it's violent, nasty, mean-spirited fun, with a cast of unlikable bastards screwing up, destroying stuff, and generally causing chaos. Danny's a loser who wanted to be a band. He lusted after Sadie, a spoiled rich girl who basically manipulated him. After one particularly bad argument, he shot her in the head and destroyed the inhibition centers in her brain, so she's now completely nuts. Basically, anything goes. It's a fast-moving story, with great art, and despite all the characters' many flaws, Lapham somehow manages to make you empathize with them. That's Lapham's greatest strength, I feel: his ability to make absolute losers and scum seem human. Recommended.
++++++++++++++++
Man, I love David Lapham's comics. But honestly, by the third volume, I wanted some resolution and answers - riddles within lies within reality-rewrites were starting to become frustrating rather than intriguing. But add it all up, particularly the first book and some compressed version of the latter two books, and Young Liars is simply terrific. Lapham's amazing in his ability to craft losers who you can relate to, but still manage to screw everything up morally and personally constantly.
On one hand, it's a shame this book didn't last longer. On the other, letting it go on much longer might've been too many lies piled on top of one another.
++++++++++++++++
Man, I love David Lapham's comics. But honestly, by the third volume, I wanted some resolution and answers - riddles within lies within reality-rewrites were starting to become frustrating rather than intriguing. But add it all up, particularly the first book and some compressed version of the latter two books, and Young Liars is simply terrific. Lapham's amazing in his ability to craft losers who you can relate to, but still manage to screw everything up morally and personally constantly.
On one hand, it's a shame this book didn't last longer. On the other, letting it go on much longer might've been too many lies piled on top of one another.
March 31, 2021
I want to watch this TV show. It's shocking that this book hasn't been optioned yet. Is it trashy? Yes, in the best way. Is it convoluted and soapy and full of more shock value than Nip/Tuck? Again yes. Is it basically a slightly more heterosexual knockoff of "Strangers in Paradise?" Also yes, but I LOVED STRANGERS IN PARADISE so this feels like it scratches the itch.
Taking manic pixie dream girl to its most logical extreme, mixing in punk and indie culture, mild superheroics and a twisty-turny nonlinear timeline should be a mess. And maybe it is. But dammit, it's a FUN mess.
Taking manic pixie dream girl to its most logical extreme, mixing in punk and indie culture, mild superheroics and a twisty-turny nonlinear timeline should be a mess. And maybe it is. But dammit, it's a FUN mess.
May 8, 2018
I've liked another book by David Lapham but this one didn't do it for me. The requisite amount of sex and violence, but the plot was so unpredictable that it became boring. I think I quit reading it at about 80% done.
November 15, 2022
This is one of the single worst things I've ever read. I can't believe this was published by Vertigo. Stray Bullets is one of the very canonical things still on my TBR, and this is making me not want to ever even try to read it.
December 16, 2023
I don't care overall for Lapham's work but I'll say something here. This is his only other title (that's not from Avatar Press, they're known for having alot of gore in their titles) that is surprisingly quite violent and graphically so
June 4, 2017
Errr. I like the rock-n-roll hyperspeed element of the plot. But the characters... Not even Sadie is compelling enough to stick around for. :(
September 5, 2018
So glad I picked up this random comic!
If you come across it buy it immediately and go home to read it. For fans of Preacher, Garth Ennis, Punk rock and doing what you want to do!
If you come across it buy it immediately and go home to read it. For fans of Preacher, Garth Ennis, Punk rock and doing what you want to do!
May 21, 2020
Whirlwind adventure by Stray Bullets creator David Lapham following a group of friends being pursued by a detective agency hired by one of their fathers.
May 15, 2022
yeah...this is weird
February 27, 2023
This might actually suck? But it's pretty nuts and quick so I'm hooked.
June 22, 2017
POPSUGAR: INTERESTING WOMAN
January 22, 2009
This series RULES. It is bizarre and psychotic and utterly jam-packed with action and craziness. Our main players are Danny, who is the narrator and is kind of wimpishly in love with, in awe of, guilty over, and slightly creepy about the other main character, Sadie. Sadie rocks the house. She has at some point lost pretty much all social skills and become a girl who is living purely for her own entertainment at every moment. She used to be somewhat normal, but due to an unfortunate accident (that Danny blames himself for), she has just gone into overdrive. She has a blast dancing, fighting, rocking out; she barely sleeps any more because she has so much energy. A mysterious group of people sent by her father seem to be trying to track her down - and you get the feeling they are definitely NOT good people. Danny shoots somebody trying to protect her, and the two of them and their whole gang of friends end up fleeing to Europe to escape the bad guys and the consequences. And madness ensues there, too. Including the dismemberment of someone's gential areas. It's graphic; there's a lot of drugs and sex and violence; it is totally rock-and-roll. The fascinating thing about the book is that the deeper you get into it, the more you see where the series gets its name - all of the main characters are indeed young liars. It's a fascinating series with great art, and I recommend it to anyone up for a relentlessly balls-to-the-wall good time.
April 7, 2012
I went into this book with no expectations, and it had some strong points: solid art, nice use of flashbacks, unreliable main characters (I think.) But overall, it was unsatisfying in too many ways. I love stories that use a lot of flashbacks and flashforwards, but this one was just too hard to follow. But the thing that really left me unsatisfied is the ending. This book has the feel of a mini-series (even though I know it's an ongoing.) Everything points toward a big reveal, where we find out what happened in so many of the significant lacuna of the story, but that doesn't manifest--in fact, we don't find out ANY of the significant missing pieces--exactly the opposite, the story just ends at some random point. So, while I enjoyed this piece, I'm too fatigued to go through another 12 issues. If it were all collected together, I might keep going, but as it is, I give up.
{P.S. added later.} After giving up, I thought I would check Wikipedia to see if the series has a big payoff where things are explained and everything becomes clear. Wikipedia has convinced me of exactly the opposite, that it just gets weirder and weirder, with no resolutions. So, giving up sounds good to me.
{P.S. added later.} After giving up, I thought I would check Wikipedia to see if the series has a big payoff where things are explained and everything becomes clear. Wikipedia has convinced me of exactly the opposite, that it just gets weirder and weirder, with no resolutions. So, giving up sounds good to me.
October 21, 2008
I've only read one volume of "Stray Bullets" so I'm not predisposed to liking/loving David Lapham or anything. I decided to give this a shot, and man, this series is just dreadful. The two lead characters are just incredible little shits -- a party girl turned to overdrive thanks to a bullet in her head and the obsessive/codepedent/stalker-ish (boy)friend who keeps trying to rape her. I mean JESUS, Dave, you don't have to have likeable characters to have an interesting story, but I downright hated these characters so much that I have absolutely no interest in following any more of their exploits. It's a shame, really, cuz the art is fantastic and the first issue set things up nicely, but 8 issues of this bad boy and I just have no interest in reading any more of it.
October 25, 2009
She obeys her boyfriend's every command, adopts all his viewpoints, is sex-crazed and loyal, has no fear of death, often becomes a balletic ultra-violent 'Kill Bill' type fighter. "I eat bullets" she says. In other words, she's the embodiment of most straight male fantasies of women (probably Lapham's too) -- and wait till you see how she became this way. But Lapham isn't about to let this daydream get the best of him, and so gives this antihero boyfriend (who I suspect is Lapham's own facsimile) an unspeakably degrading emasculation toward the end. What's the point? Hell if I know: I think Lapham just likes to have fun with his creepy pulp-noir imagination, and if we can have fun watching it, more power to him!
March 6, 2010
The first issue is great, introducing a bunch of unique characters, a good monologue narration, and surprisingly good original song lyrics sprinkled throughout. But by the end of the book, everything starts falling apart. Almost all the characters devolve into being wholly unlikeable. The narrator, Danny, is pretty much a total jerk. And Sadie, the love interest, is less vivacious and more crazy. The villainous Pinkertons they run up against are way too oddball, with cheesy accents.
David Lapham manages to exist in his own weird genre all the time, and while his art is mostly great, this story just doesn't seem to be going anywhere enjoyable.
David Lapham manages to exist in his own weird genre all the time, and while his art is mostly great, this story just doesn't seem to be going anywhere enjoyable.
January 12, 2009
A wicked ride if ever there was one written by one of my favorites David Lipham!! If you enjoy plot twists being thrown at you when you least expect it this story is for you! Whenever I go to describe this to people I have flash back to the first time I ever saw a David Lynch film... That is how this story feels. Lipham ahears to no literary rules as far as story progression... Main characters can be killed at any time. Entire issues can turn out to be surreal dream sequences.
I have nothing but love for this crazies of stories...
Every issue if more F'ed up then the last!
I have nothing but love for this crazies of stories...
Every issue if more F'ed up then the last!
January 17, 2009
it's kind of indescribable this book, mostly because it keeps changing its shape at every opportunity. its narrative is as damaged, twisted & manic as its characters. (The LOGO for the book is a GUITAR whose FRETBOARD ENDS IN A FUCKING GUN!) It reads like a teenage romance novel co-scripted by Quentin Tarantino & Dennis Cooper after they've locked themselves up in a hotel room with a bag full of amphetamines, cherry 7-up & Never Mind The Bollocks... playing over and over again on repeat. it's probably not long for this world. I only wish I had discovered it sooner.
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