Sunday, May 8, 2016

X'ed Out



X'ed Out is the first book in Charles Burns's oversized trilogy, followed by The Hive and Sugar Skull.  They cost about $15 each, but if you're short on money, you can wait until October, when the whole trilogy is released in a smaller format as Last Look, priced at $30.  Or if you're really short on money, you can get the books from the San Diego Public Library, as I did.  I might buy the whole collection when it comes out in the smaller format.  I did that with Charles Burns's Black Hole.  I read it illegally - I used to do that - and I felt guilty about reading such a work of art without paying for it that I eventually bought it about a year later, used.  It's been sitting on my shelf ever since, and I don't read comics illegally anymore.  I haven't for years, but you know.

The genius behind X'ed Out is how it juxtaposes a bizarre, drug-influenced dream with a bizarre, art-inspired adventure where he gets dumped by his girlfriend and takes up with Sarah, a fucked-up art chick.  I guess he's in the dream world, and he's just remembering the adventure where he meets up with Sarah for the first time.  The main character is Doug.  He has an overgrown mohawk in the dream and longish hair in the flashback.  He's taking pills and eating eggs.  It's in color.  Ah, fuck.  Read it.  Recommended, and all that shit.

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