R.G. Taylor

A bit of a mixed bag. The first story, The Tarantula, is really excellent - Guy Davis's style is kind of unusual compared to other comics I've read (it reminds me more of the cartoons you'd see in The New Yorker or something), but it fits the story really well. Matt Wagner's switching between the perspective of Dian, The Sandman, and Dodds (who really feel like two different characters despite being the same person) works really well.

The later stories are a bit of a mixed bag. The Face has a great concept for a villain, but sticks him in a plot about Chinatown gang wars that's not very interesting and often feels like it's walking the line between a period piece and another yellow peril story. The Brute just turns up the dials on all the worst parts of The Face, and that's all I'll say about it. An interesting start based on the strength of the first story alone, but there's a lot of room for improvement.… (more)

I thought the idea behind this book would have been really interesting. But, in retrospect, I guess it's something that's more fun to actually "talk" about and discuss rather than read about. What I found a little strange was that, although the first couple of stories had an emotional link to a person long-gone, after a while all the stories started to feel "heavy". Instead of a "celebration" of comics, the stories seemed a little "down" regardless of what was being shared.

Personally, I found the last story (by Ron Kasman) to be the most fun due to the fact that along with sharing his experiences growing up, there were also little pieces of anecdotal factoids thrown in that made the story interesting to read.… (more)