Box Office Poison

Fans of sophisticated b&w comics like Pekar's American Splendor or Sim's Cerebus books should grab this one immediately. At once densely textured and finely nuanced, BoP is an amazing work. Imagine a kind of blue-collar Friends with real people (not Hollywood stars and starlets) with real incomes (low) and real jobs (mostly unsatisfying) and real dreams (mostly unrealized). Now blend in the everyday insecurities and neuroses that we all cope with and mix well.The result is startling in its sense of being real and honest beyond even most contemporary literature. BoP covers the gamut of modern urban life - dullness and drudgery and loneliness warring with ambition and hope and longing. By the end of the book, I really felt for each of the characters, even the "bad" ones like Dorothy and Flavor. In fact, part of Alex's gift is that you learn to understand that we are all human and all imperfect. In some, those imperfections prevent people from becoming the best they could be. And BoP depicts this heartbreaking reality all too well.A fantastic and touching work that will warrant many readings.

Some popular movies have been based upon a relatively simple premise: take different people, all connected in some way, and then watch the ups and downs. Reality Bites, Singles, any John Hughes movies. There isn't too much going on in the plot department but it's a lot of fun to watch. This book is a lot of fun to read.On the back cover of Box Office Poison by Alex Robinson, there's a quote that says this book is "completely voyeuristic. This is what it would be like to see your friends behind closed doors." If you're a young, twenty-something trying to figure out what you want to do with your life and whether or not you'll ever find true love (or just get laid), this is the book for you.Did you ever hate one of your friend's girlfriends? Feel like killing neighbors in your apartment building who don't know how to be quiet? Ice skate with a Costa Rican Olympic figure skater? Then you'll totally relate to the stories in here. This is a hefty graphic novel, over 600 pages (and the only other graphic novel I've seen that had rivaled this length is Craig Thompson's wonderful Blankets), but the story is broken up into chapters. I think this may have been a serial comic that was collected into a novel... I'm not sure. The book does go by fast, though.Some parts are lighter than others, but there's a serious thread that holds everything together. An aging comic book artist who got gypped out of the rights to a wildly popular character and his journey for justice. The epilogue to this book is a lot more sedate than the rest of the stories and made reading this book completely and totally worth it.I know it costs a lot, but it is worth it. It'll make a great addition to your graphic novel library.If you would like to know more about Box Office Poison, check out the website:[...]

A long captivating read- huge with well developed characters all collected under one cover. Well worth your time if you like the graphic art format but don't want capes. (volume two is just a collection of short stories that are out of continuity with this volume so you get a complete run in this volume.

This was a fun graphic novel, you spend a lot of time hanging out with these people so I grew to like them, I was sad when it ended because I felt like I could have kept reading more!

A bunch of recent arts college graduates in NYC: their ups, their downs, tears and laughter. That sums up the weaknesses of this book, which sometimes swings into soap-opera land, but only sometimes.The great strength of the book is the Irving Flavor character, a grumpy old comic book artist who draw the NightStalker, then got shafted. There's some great nuances to his character, and a wonderful section about his attendance at a comic convention.I'd liked the experiments with story-telling styles, with disorganized panels, overlapping dialogue, and out-of sync visuals.

Loved it.... i found this book by listening to the ink panthers podcast.... bring back INKy !!!!

I am relatively new to the world of comics/graphic novels, but Box Office Poison is a lot of fun. This reads just like a great novel, with plot twists and turns, and terrific characters that you're not sure how much you like, but you know you want to read more. Well worth the money and as I write this I am definately looking forward to alex robinson's next effort.

It’s the bees knees.

Box Office Poison ist eine Graphic Novel von beträchtlichem Umfang, aber zu keinem Zeitpunkt langweilig. Dabei geht es eigentlich um... nichts. Es gibt nicht eine Handlung auf ein bestimmtes Ziel hin (gut, es gibt schon einen Abschluß der Geschichte, sie endet nicht einfach abrupt).Stattdessen wird das Leben von 6 verschiedenen Personen über einen längeren Zeitraum in New York City beschrieben, was sie zusammen und getrennt erleben und welche Verwicklungen sich dabei ergeben. Erinnert etwas an die Fernsehserie "Friends", nur weniger kitschig und realistischer gehalten.Die Zeichnungen sind sehr gut gelungen, die einzelnen Figuren sehr gut herausgearbeitet.Wer für diesen Winter noch ein Buch sucht, dass er mit einer heißen Schokolade neben dem Kamin lesen kann: hier ist es.Sehr zu empfehlen.

A must have, must read in every graphic novel collection! Loved it and read it many times over.