True Story, Swear to God: 100 Stories

Rating:
Summary: Pleasant enough collection of stories...
Review: Well this is unlikely to revolutionise the graphic novel genre, it is a pleasant little collection of stories with lovely art and a great deal of gentle humour.

I thought the tales about he and his wife were particularly warming, while I also enjoyed the stories about his childhood and father and the measures he takes to mourn his father's passing. While they are all quite distinct stories, they really do narrate and flesh out a character, which is perhaps the ultimate aim of such a work. As I have said, the art is quite lovely, simple yet detailed and very sweet.

However, I had a few small problems with the work. Firstly, I found Beland to be an exceptionally Americanised voice, while his repetitive odes to McDonalds began to annoy me. Additionally, I found some of his strips slightly sexist, such as the one about 'chicks' ruining baseball or the short story 'The Fem Tale'. While this was certainly not a conscious choice by Beland, it registered in my mind and made me appreciate the work a little less. Furthermore, there were quite a few stripes waxing lyrical about his success, his Einser nomination etc etc.

So while I really enjoyed the work for the most part, these repetitive aspects did grate on me and detract from the piece on the whole.