Full Disclosure - I have known Brad Dwyer since coming back to creating comics in 2008. We met at
a parking lot underground zine fest, where I had bogarted half of my pal Eric
Mengel’s table to give out free copies of my Get That Chicken mini-comic. Brad
came over and was nice enough to trade his way more polished and professional
looking Epic Tales of the Mundane mini for a copy of mine. Since then we have
been good friends within the awesome Arizona comic community. Now on with the
review.
Following
Brad Dwyer
on Twitter and Facebook this year, I watched as he tweeted and posted about the
upcoming release of his 74-page digest sized
Get Into Comix book. I
have been a big fan of
Dwyer’s work
since meeting him several years ago and always look forward to reading new
books by him. However I was a little more excited about this book than others.
I mean he kept talking about how huge it was going to be a sharing sneak peeks
of pages and panels he was working on. I could not wait until I had the
finished product in my grubby little hands.
Get Into Comix is about Brad
Dwyer’s journey from a kid to comic creator and all the bumps in between.
The story follows Dwyer through the
low points of his life (adolescents to early 20’s) and the self destructive
behavior’s that began to eat away at his life until he finds comics, more
precisely mini-comics. While the story wallows in the frustrations of growing
up, it does not feel hopeless. Although knowing Dwyer now, it is hard to imagine some of these things actually
happening to him, but they did. He swears that it’s all true.
Brad Dwyer’s
comics are reminiscent of the golden age of the underground. His art style is
rough but refined and he seems to be able to draw anything and everything, He writes autobiographical comics that are
easy to read and very accessible. His storytelling flows smoothly from one
panel to another. It’s as if Dwyer
was made to make autobiographical comics and his life story seems to agree.
Earlier I mentioned how excited I was about this book prior to it's release and I can now say after having read it, I was not let down. Dwyer's work is like a special treat to me.
If you are a fan of autobiographical comics, then
Get Into
Comix is for you. Also pop on over to his
Epic Tales of the Mundane
site and read a huge sampling of
Brad
Dwyer’s other works, you will not regret it.
-Denny Riccelli
creates comics under the pen name ‘dennmann’ he currently publishes the
webcomic Cousin Harold and some mini-comics now and then, including Jenny
Spookawski Ghost Girl. He lives in Peoria, Arizona with his wife and 2 kids.
