Writer: C.B. Cebulski
Artists: Paul Azaceta, Juan Castro, Jonathan Luna, Martin Montiel, Khoi Pham, Alina Urusov and Ethan Young
Publisher: Image Comics
Remember back to the days when you used to read something for the pure enjoyment of it instead of nitpicking it to pieces? Me neither. I’m guessing I was in grade school when I read James and the Giant Peach.
Point being, this book makes you remember those days. It’s that fun of a read.
Not everyone will agree with me, mind you. The main reason my sentiments for this book might not shared by all is because this is a book for guys. More specifically, it is for guys who had several crushes/flings/party dates during the years of their sexual prime.
For those of you who haven’t clicked the back button, you must be in that demographic.
Each story (there are six total) has a different artist, which helps break up the chapters even further. Some are even a mood enhancer to what “Ceeb,” as he refers to himself in the book, is telling with his dialogue.
My two personal favorite stories were “Hard Up” and “Hook Up.” I won’t spoil them for you because you need to read it yourself. All I can say about those two pieces is if something like that didn’t happen to you during the latter part of high school or first part of college, tell your parents you want your money back. You missed out. There were moments that were funny, sobering and the occasional “Damn!” mixed in for fun.
Wonderlost deals with so many emotions I experienced during those days. Most guys remember what that first feeling of being ruled by your nether-region was like. You were driven, pushed…nay, consumed by the notion that girls were the meaning of life. Now, while that quest was fun, the opposite end of the spectrum was just as powerful. Having your heart broken was the worst feeling at that age. Also, depending on your view of cheating on your girlfriend (not your wife, that’s bad fellas), the first cheat was either one of the most empowering or most shameful moments of your life. I’ll move on.
The hardest story to read for me was the two-part tale of lost love in Ceeb’s friend “Tori.” Whether you are happily married, or enjoying the single life, we all have one person we could have had and let slip through our fingers. It’s not hard. You should be able to think of her in roughly five seconds. Lost love is a rite of passage we men undergo that help make us into responsible husbands, fathers (if that’s your sort of thing) and most importantly, good people. My college buddy Sean always told me, “How much can you know about yourself if you’ve never been drunk?” I think the same goes for letting real love go.
I know I haven’t talked about the comic much, but in reality that’s what I’ve been talking about the entire time. In rare occasions, you read something that gives you a charge not easily re-created. Cebulski does that with the aid of some very talented artists. You could give this book to 10 people and each could come away with a different emotion after a trip down memory lane.
If you are up to the six bucks it takes to bring this book home (the only downer for the book), you won’t be sorry. When you’re done, hit me up on the message boards and tell me what this book made you think of.
What did you think of this book?
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