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Rating: 
Summary: Ever wished you could meet the author of DTWOF?
Review: This book is the next best thing. It includes her earliest drawings (as in, from age 3), comments on what was happening in her life at the time that certain strips were drawn, what her mother thinks of certain storylines and who she was actually writing about in some of the more intimate one-shots. Since Bechdel has stopped publishing calendars, there's a section that includes each one from 1990 to 1997. Also, there are stills from the "factory tour" screen saver, the results of an artist jam, a story timeline, and strips that were published elsewhere (for certain causes, specials for various magazines, and so on). If you've got all of the other previous DTWOF books, this won't make your collection complete (there's a strip for teenagers about how to deal with a friend coming out that I just couldn't find in this book), but it will certainly help you get there. Warning: there is some overlap if you have all the books. This was a neat surprise to find at Amazon.com -- I had no idea that Bechdel was working on this compliation. Definately add it to your collection!
Rating:
Summary: You Must Have It
Review: Bechdel's prose here is as smart and funny as readers of the regular strip would expect. It starts as a memoir as she describes her beginnings and progression as a cartoonist, and includes lots of early drawings and strips. The bulk of the book is made up of stuff never seen in the DTWOF volumes: strips from her calendars, strips made for other magazines or special occasions, and autobiographical work. It's great stuff, always funny, and everyone with a sense of humor should buy it right away.
Rating:
Summary: Unusually insightful and fresh for such a long-running show
Review: Even as a white middle class hetero, I enjoy following on an ocassional basis the progress of Ms. Bechdel's cast of characters. It's rare to find a cartoonist who has so sucessfully kept a shtick going so long without becoming hopelessly stale (although perhaps it's a bit easier for a self-consciously running commentary on society and politics wherre the material is a little more dynamic than, say, the antics of Dennis the Menace or Little Jeffrey)....
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