Snake Pit Book
Book Reviews | Mar 4th, 2007
Author: Ben Snakepit
Publisher: Gorsky Press
Genre: Mini-Comics/Punk
Pages: 303
Retail Price: 9.99
Buy on Amazon.com link
Essentially, a punk rock Jim’s Journals. Ben documented his life everyday for three years in three-panel strips. It has a lot of cute moments and it’s cutely illustrated, but like most of us, Ben’s life isn’t exactly a daily thrill-ride. In fact, his life is downright mundane, and his routine is quickly established: 1) wake up with a hangover, 2) go to work, 3) go to a punk show and get drunk. Occasionally, there’s band practice or sex and I think once he does laundry.
If during the course of the strips, he slowly evolves as a person, learning from failed relationships or a binge drink too many, or simply gleans something deep and philosophical a la Aaron Cometbus over the course of the day, the comics might have some point. But Ben is happy living on the fringe as a late-20s punker who never grew up, and the strips are interchangeable from day-to-day or even year-to-year.
Still, the strips have a way of drawing you in, maybe so you can live vicariously with all the music and alcohol and punk girls. But reading the book is just like living his life + full of fun, but empty with its lack of reflection.
Bottom Line: Peter Pan punk trapped in a mini-comic Groundhog’s Day.
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