Radiant Comics

I’m back from the comic shop this week and I got six new comics:

And now for a review of something I’ve read recently.

”Too Cool to be Forgotten” by Alex Robinson

I’m a fan of Alex Robinson’s work but haven’t seen anything new from him in a while. It came as a surprise to me to see this book came out back in 2008. It was mentioned on some comic book blog I was recently reading so I looked it up and bought it. I’m not sure why I never noticed it before because it something I should have kept an eye out for.

”Too Cool to be Forgotten” is the story of a forty year old man who is trying to quit smoking. He’s tried everything and nothing has worked for him so now it’s time to try hypnosis. As the doctor puts him under he is suddenly transported back to being his fifteen year old self. He doesn’t know he’s fifteen right away. It takes him some time to figure out but he’s in high school so he has a clue. He’s pretty sure it’s all a dream or something to do with the hypnosis but he has no idea what he’s supposed to do. The remainder of the book is about that. What the heck is he supposed to do?

The lead character who goes back in time has seen enough time travel in TV shows and such to ask all the pertinent questions but it really doesn’t help him. Should he try to change things or not change things? High school was a long time ago and he’s forgotten most of it anyway. He’s nostalgic and confused all at once. How does one be a forty year old in a fifteen year old’s body even if you don’t think it’s real? Even when you think it’s a dream\hypnosis you still think there is a point to it all. Robinson does a nice job with this whole concept and situation.

I liked this book a lot. Robinson is great at telling slice-of-life stories about regular people. Even if those regular people are caught in irregular circumstances. His drawing is cartoony and a little less slick and sophisticated than I think it could be but he tells a good story and gets the job done. It’s nice stuff.