Indie Street Reads #27 • 03/18/10
THE 120 DAYS OF SIMON
TOP SHELF
At the Emerald City ComiCon, I was perhaps most excited to check out Top Shelf’s booth. They’re getting ready to kick-off their Swedish invasion and have lots of neat titles up their sleeves. Being able to meet the nice people there and put faces to names was a pleasure and it’s great to be working with them on Indie Street Reads.
We start off our review of the Swedish series with a book by rapper/cartoonist Simon Gardenfors. The idea here is that he would chronicle 120 days of travel across the country, sleeping and eating with various strangers/friends (a different one every night). The results are… intense. Personally, I can’t imagine having as many interesting encounters as Simon does over the course of three months. We’re talking one-night stands, giant brawls, drugs, booze and death threats (see above). It’s not a rock’n‘roll glamor book, though, either. These elements are all just contributors to the larger arch of the narrative. What is Simon’s role in the world? Is a long-term relationship with the girl he thinks he loves even possible? These are some of the questions that really shape the book the most and make for the most compelling reasons to keep turning the page. In the course of the whopping 400+ pages, you’ll certainly laugh, cringe and wonder why your life isn’t nearly as interesting. An attractive cover and unique two-panel, black-and-white page format all give the book the refined look that Top Shelf is known for providing.
APRIL 2010
What To Listen To While Reading This Book
THE SILVER MT. ZION MEMORIAL ORCHESTRA & TRA-LA-LA BAND WITH CHOIR – THIS IS OUR PUNK ROCK
