I would normally consider this a large book but after Kramer’s Ergot 7, it’s hard for any book to be big again. This is the first major collection of Ron Rege Jr.’s work. It comes from pages from McSweeney’s, Kramer’s Ergot, D&Q’s anthology, The Comics Journal… Some of the comics date as far back as 1994 before his extraordinary style was fully fleshed out. In his current work, I am most impressed by the variety of ways he sets up his panels. Each page composition feels like a thought out geometry and I like looking at the page as a whole as much as reading each individual box. His characters are very stylized but their stories are very real. In the Girls Against Pain a woman explains why she chickened out of performing a suicide bomb in Israel. I find his characters so cute that it feels a little bit strange to see them having sex, which happens a lot in his collaborative Boys series. He illustrates the sex life of a friend of his- it’s very funny actually! Did you know you can buy original art from his comics for a very reasonable price?! Or even request a custom work. I am debating over buying one of these or waiting for this. You can learn more about Ron and the many other books he’s published from his site here. Buy this great collection here.

© Julia Rothman 2007