A review by uosdwisrdewoh
Autobiographix by Eddie Campbell, Sean Konot, Gabriel Bá, Jason Lutes, Paul Hornschemeier, Paul Chadwick, William Stout, Frank Miller, Sergio Aragonés, Linda Medley, Arnold Pander, Diana Schutz, Bill Morrison, Will Eisner, Dan Jackson, Fábio Moon, Farel Dalrymple, Metaphrog, Matt Wagner, Stan Sakai, Richard Doutt

4.0

Most anthologies are invariably hit or miss in quality, but in this collection of brief autobiographical comic strips Diana Schutz has gathered masters of the comic-book form across the generations to make a wonderful package with very few weak spots. From Will Eisner’s classic charming rhythms to a wiry travelogue by the then-up-and-coming twins Gabriel Bá and Fábio Moon, the styles in this book run the gamut. Eddie Campbell’s scratchy figures live only a few pages away from Jason Lutes’s precise Wes-Anderson-in-comics-form layouts. Nevertheless, it’s all stitched together with care. Three pieces about very different trips in France are grouped together in the center with Stan Sakai’s piece ending with a man on the floor of a café immediately before Metaphrog’s strip opens with a man writhing on the floor of yet another French café. Perhaps it was assigned that way, or perhaps it was a coincidence, but either way it feels like serendipity, and it’s a grace note that helps to pull these disparate stories together. The only weakness in this book, really, lies in the fact that the creators skew heavily male. Of the nearly twenty writers and artists, only two are women (one of which is Schutz herself, penning a piece). This book, originally published in 2003, was recently reissued, and thankfully so, as it’s a wonderful little volume that shouldn’t be forgotten, but one can only hope that a similar work being commissioned today would have a slate of creators that included more than a sprinkling of women.