Lowlife Review

Hey everyone out there, Dan here aka The Comic

Concierge and welcome to a brand new series I'm

starting as I look through the career of Ed Brubaker.

I'm going to do an Ed Brubaker career retrospective.

What I hope to do for about the next 20 weeks,

so I hope you'll stick with me with this adventure,

is going through the career of Ed Brubaker and

talking about a number of the different comics

that he has done, starting with the earliest

I can get into the latest. I'll be going in Order

for the most part, there'll be some adjustments

to that here and there. I'll be talking about

multiple comics. This episode, for example, I'll

just be talking about one. But the hope is to

kind of look at how much his career has progressed

and talk about some great comics. When people

talk about and ask, like, who is your favorite

comic book writer? I go to and say Ed Brubaker,

but the truth is, there's a lot about his career

I have not read yet. A lot of really notable

series, especially a lot of his earlier work.

So I thought, let me change that. And now that

I have a comic YouTube channel, it does seem

to make sense to include you all in this journey

as well. I will say some of his early work is

a little bit hard to get a hold of, especially

if you don't have it right now. Lowlife, for

example, is right now out of print. Top Shelf

did do a printing, I guess, right now nearly

a decade ago. And it used to be available digitally,

but for whatever... reason it's not anymore maybe

it will come back maybe there's kind of changing

in the in the ownership of it who knows however

and there are other books like I'll get into

next week that or books I had to get from eBay

because I couldn't find them anywhere relatively

cheap though at the seams I think I got for like

six bucks on eBay and then an accidental death

which is actually a combination of three different

issues of Dark Horse Presents again it was like

twelve dollars so despite the fact that they're

relatively rare and I think to me An important

part of comic book history doesn't seem like

speculators killer all that much about him, which

I'm all for But I was able to pick them up. So

you may not be able to follow along with those

Hopefully they'll be available in some form or

fashion sooner or later or if you are interested

Like I said, I think I still see a lot of copies

available on eBay that you can kid up relatively

cheaply and cheaply and I will spoiler and say

those were two books that I really did like,

so I do think it's worth the money for sure.

I'll be talking to you, like I said, not about

everything he did, but I'll try to cover really

the majority of things, starting with his early

career, getting into his DC work, his Marvel

work, and then what he's kind of doing now with

Image in his Reckless series. If there are certain

books you feel like I definitely have to cover,

let me know in the comment section below. I think

I have most of the main stories, at least the

main stories I can get. But if there's something

maybe that you definitely think should be included

in that, I'm all ears. So let's actually get

into the book we'll be talking about this week,

which is Lowlife. And this is written and drawn

by Ed Brubaker. A lot of people don't realize

that Ed Brubaker, yes, when he first started

out, was in fact an artist too. This came out

in 1995 and it was published by both the... Caliper

comics and a on comics later in his publishing

career. I was kind of going between both publishers

And it's really that the first thing that broke

at bro Baker out. It's not the first comic he

ever wrote. I think that was maybe Gumby 3D,

for example, but I was unable to find any copies

of that. If you're able to find it, check it

out. It might actually be kind of cool to see

what was Andrew Baker's first comic or first

notable comic like. But this was really the thing

that you can tell was the story he wanted to

tell because it's semi -autobiographical about

his life and just the trial and tribulations

that he went through. And reading this and knowing

that, the word that comes to mind is honest when

it comes to this story. This is a story that

feels very honest, almost feels like a confession

in a way, going through all these bits of his

life, talking about what happened, and the main

character, Tommy, in this, is just clearly a

representation of him. It's not a good person

like it's a person that you'll end up really

not liking for a multitude of reasons. He does

bad things He's annoying he can be abusive at

times both physically and emotionally And it's

not like it's trying to redeem the character

in any way I think showing a complete picture

of him look at this. This is a combination of

a number of short stories There was about four

issues that made up the entire entire set and

each issue It itself sometimes had multiple stories

as well The first story is about him and this

kind of failed crime adventure where he and another

individual when at the time They were kind of

low -key drug dealers and things were drying

up a bit So in order to get money and really

they just wanted money for drugs that they could

take themselves They came up with this friend

came up with this idea of robbing this computer

sword that would be easy money Have the guy go

in the back pull a gun on him Take his money,

get the computer, and you're good to go. However,

what they're seeing is that a life of crime is

not a hard one to turn down if one time you're

successful and what happens next. And then you

see the volatility of his friend as well and

what he's willing to do. You just see him kind

of going off the deep end. And it's kind of an

example of how an old friend of Franklin's saying

of when you sleep with dogs, you rise with fleas.

And you saw Tommy really put him in situations

where he was with a lot of people that were not

the greatest people in the world. And to be fair,

either was he. And this was a story, this was

a combination of stories where story plot wasn't...

the main thing wasn't the most important piece

of this. This was all about character and really

kind of slices of life stories. Looking at this,

I saw a lot of people compare this to like Richard

Linklater movies, which to me makes a lot of

sense. You know, Slacker is something that I

kept thinking about reading this, you know, before

series. For those that don't know, the before

series is done by Richard Linklater and it's

the before midnight, before sunrise, before sunset.

And there are really stories that all take place

in a day and are just people having conversations.

I know a lot of people will think that that are

awful. I do really love those movies. But again,

with which literally link later, maybe something

more like Days and Confused, for example, where

you're just kind of hanging out people that are

even not always the greatest people in the world.

Maybe they are. But they're always interesting,

and they're always intriguing, and there's always

that element of honesty throughout. And then

looking at the cartooning here, again, this is

Ed Brubaker doing everything on the page, and

reading this, it's like seeing just how much

indie comics has changed throughout the years.

When you think indie comics today, image, and

things like that, you realize the fighting factor

between which image, what's indie and what's

big, too, is not as big as it used to be. They

all have kind of the same Access to things like

it doesn't cost nearly as much when it comes

to making comics in the sense of the tools You

can use due to things being digital and things

like that This was a complete in the book all

done in that fashion It makes you realize how

much things has changed like from the hand lettering

to the black and white look, you know This was

a true indie book kind of the style you don't

get anymore This is very much in the vein of

a 90s. Although not that like the fashion is

super 90s Although the hairstyles do appear that

way in a way, and I think when I think of 90s,

I think what it really gets to in the 90s is

that Gen X got a lack of direction. You see these

characters, and that is the continuous thread

throughout. There's just this confused lack of

direction. They just really don't know where

to go in life. They're just kind of getting by,

just kind of hanging out. That's why I think

it works, because narratively, yes, it is just

this story about hanging out, but I think it

speaks to the specific time and place. We have

a lot of that in the zeitgeist, for movies like

Clerks, for example, people just at a store talking.

It also makes me think, why was it so entrenched

into the 90s in that way? Why was that the kind

of slacker mentality, whatever you want to call

it, such a big piece of the culture at the time?

Was it simply because there's this lack of progressive

movement? I mean, when you think about the...

you had all the different protests and the free

love of the 70s whatever you want to compare

it to the Access of the 80s and maybe it was

a reaction to that, you know 80s were big and

bold Greed is good all that type of stuff where

the 90s really brought things down to the basics

in a way and again I'm speaking as someone who

was a kid for most of the 90s. So Perhaps this

is just the perception of what it was and it

was much more varied than that. That's certainly

the case But I do think this book specifically

is speaking to that generation in that way and

you know get other stories Really the the center

of this similar again comparing it to the before

series, which is about a relationship That's

the case here with Tommy and Sonny and their

This is strange relationship where their their

stories go throughout and if I had one one issue

with this book is that it does shift in timelines

A lot like it's hard to really get your bearings

of one comes first. What comes second and sunny's

in the picture. She goes away i don't know if

that's because you have a book that again was

switching publishers this wasn't something that

was maybe designed to like be a complete series

at that time you know trade paperbacks weren't

really something that people did to a great extent

i think they were just meant to be here's one

issue it's complete and when you put it all together

it's a bit messy to read when you're trying to

just figure out where everything is within the

timeline it doesn't sadly Impact your comprehension

of everything all that much, but you feel like

one story line is over then it picks up later

It's a minor issue. But generally again, it's

about Tommy and Sonny You see that relationship

pop in and out a great deal and the relationship

is what you would classify as an unhealthy relationship

There's even times where you know there again

and we talked about it getting abusive There's

a later one of the last stories is about Tommy

has this friend who basically for whatever reason

Is all women are attracted to him and he has

this saying about we're all people and he'll

like openly make out with someone Even if their

boyfriend's like right there. He just like yeah,

we're all people That's how we all are and you

just see the jealousy there But I think what's

really interesting to you is that I think he's

trying to comprehend like what exactly our relationships

are we in fact all people we don't really own

individuals are we making a big deal out of everything

and I think that's a thing with this is that

This isn't a book with answers, it's a book with

questions and a book with just trying to figure

things out similar to the characters are. And

that's, I think, was something I felt rather

comprehensive and rather compelling as well.

And when you look at the art here, too, again,

that's another part of this. And I was interested

to see, like, you know, Edward Baker clearly

doesn't really do art anymore. Was it because

he wasn't very good at it? I don't think that's

the case. I think similar to his writing style,

his art is very character focused. Most of the

attention is on the characters, their design.

They kind of have that oversized head in a way

so you can get a lot of expression on the page.

Good body language. I do think, though, it's

very clear when it comes to storytelling, he

was much more comfortable as a writer than he

was as an artist. A lot of the words are doing

the heavy lifting. There are times when he lets

the art tell the story, but more often than not,

the words are the ones that are kind of putting

everything in perspective. Rarely does he just

let the words, the art on the page kind of tell

you what you need. And he does, I think, have

the fundamentals of what makes a good artist.

I don't think he'd ever be an all -star artist,

anyone that would ever cross over to like a Marvel

or DC if he went that route. He doesn't have

that type of style or that ability to really

adjust. The other issue too is that... Sometimes

it felt like the characters designs didn't differentiate

themselves all that well at times I thought someone

was a character from a previous story, but it

was entirely someone different Maybe that was

just because everyone had a similar look to them

because especially when it came to facial hair

I don't know but and generally I thought the

art was solid. It was good It was effective when

needed to do but really what was the star here

was the story itself in the way that every broker

told it and Looking at his career, knowing what

I've read so far, what I see right away is how

well he uses first person perspective. And again,

I think breaking down those walls, and it makes

sense when this is a story that he's telling,

because it is actually real life to choose that

method. I think that would make you the most

comfortable if you're telling a story that is

relating to what you've done in the past, you

know, the actual adjusting things, trying to

tell it in third person, it would be a bit weird.

So tell it as it is, change the names, but with

that i think that's why we got that honesty in

a way and he's very effective in that it's just

a naturalistic aspect of the dialogue everything

feels real like he feels like he's talking to

He feels like he's talking to himself and that's

why even though there's a lot of words on the

page at times It's always compelling. That's

something right from the beginning He was really

strong at was his ability to build dialogue and

have characters that were unique and interesting

and flawed extremely extremely flawed and as

I mentioned the stories do vary throughout you

have one story when it's him like and working

at this video store and This weird relationship

he has with the owner there and like he's kind

of stealing money, but people are worse That

he is and you see him like being kind of conflicted

in a way and that's really The thing that you

see throughout is that this conflict throughout

like trying to figure figure himself out And

again, I think that is probably something he

was working through As he's writing this as much

as he was when the events happen That's again

just something that is me just putting something

there that may not be there, but it seems pretty

obvious to me So if you are a bootbreaker fan,

ultimately when I look at today enjoyed this

book that I not enjoyed this book I really did

like this book a great deal. It's a really impressive

debut or if you want to call it debut And it

to me when now when I'm reading debut comics

or any comics I'm gonna think about like this

book and how well and how much of ed brubaker

was there at the beginning It's not the best

thing he did. It's a little rough around the

edges at times. Like I mentioned, it's a bit

messy It's not as complete. I think he did struggle

with endings here and there and I think sometimes

people tend to, especially earlier in their career

when it comes to endings, be a bit ambiguous

or have endings that just kind of happen because

that's the way life is, which I get, but it's

not always the most narratively satisfying. It

doesn't happen all the time. One of my favorite

endings was actually really a story of them going

to the nightclub and how Tommy was just this

awful human being, just kind of got drunk and

was awful. And then he went with his friend and

how that ends. And it was a funny kind of coded

to that. And there was a good... amount of humor

here to dark and twisted humor, but funny humor.

And if you have the ability to check this out,

if you do have, if you see it on your shelf or

at your local comic book store, at our bookstore,

you can get it for cheap online. It was hard

to find online. I think the actual eBay price

for the graphic novel was like $80, which I wouldn't

spend that much. Like I said, there'd probably

be another printing at some time when you have

someone like Ed Brubaker. It would make a lot

of sense. I could see this becoming some sort

of TV show or something like that. I doubt it

at this time since it's been, you know, almost

30 years since this debuted, which made me feel

old saying that out loud, but it was great. If

you like those movies like I talked about, Richard

Linklater's movies, The Clerks in a way, it's

not as, I would say, as sardonic as Clerks or

as brash with its humor, but just, it very much

speaks to that time the same way that Clark spoke

to that time, but anyways, I'm getting a bit

repetitive now when it comes to my breakdown

of this, but it does have me excited now because

now it was great to go back and see how much

of every Baker was there for the beginning. It

makes me wonder, like, where does he go next?

You know, when I think every Baker, I tend to

think crime and this wasn't. a crime story. This

was a human drama story. This was a relationship

story, which now makes me realize when it comes

to Kill or Be Killed, which is a crime story,

but has really successful kind of relationship

drama within it as well. It all makes more sense

now because I'm like, oh, that's kind of where

he started. Like, that's really what was his

strength to start off with. And then he evolved

into the crime bit. I saw people kind of link

this as a crime book. I would not call it a crime

book whatsoever. Yes, you have that opening story

that deals with a crime gone wrong. But that's

really the only one really like everything else

outside of that is just general human drama Relationship

drama dealing with roommates dealing with a job.

You hate was all that type of stuff So going

in with those expectations you've been going

in thinking you're getting you know criminal

the early years That's not the case. All right.

Well, that's it for me for this week. I'll start

babbling next week I'm actually going to be talking

about first up the accidental death, which was

Taking place in three issues of Dark Horse Presents

and he did not write and draw that he just wrote

that one with a different artist and then the

second book I'll be talking about in next week

is at the seams as I mentioned earlier That is

a one shot that he did here He wrote and draw

it and it was very similar to lowlife which which

is a combination of short stories So we'll talk

about those next week and then eventually we'll

be getting into some of the more notable books

But I figure you know, let's get into the earliest

up first and see how things kind of Started off

set that foundation and then we'll get into you

know, the Batman's and the Captain America's

eventually Thanks for taking the time to check

out this channel. Let me know what you think

of every breaker as I mentioned What are some

books I should check out? Have you read this?

Are you interested in it? Let me know I know

there are a ton of comic book channels out there

So I appreciate any comment anything like that

I think you were taking the time to do that and

really means a lot Just remember that comics

are for everyone. The key is finding the right

one until next time keep reading