From rec.arts.sf-reviews Sun Aug 25 20:08:33 1991 Path: herkules.sssab.se!isy!liuida!sunic!kth.se!eru!bloom-beacon!mintaka!yale!yale.edu!ox.com!caen!uwm.edu!bionet!ig!pws.ma30.bull.com!wex From: wex@pws.ma30.bull.com Newsgroups: rec.arts.sf-reviews Subject: Review: WHY I HATE SATURN by Kyle Baker Message-ID: Date: 22 Aug 91 22:55:10 GMT Sender: mcb@presto.ig.com Reply-To: wex@pws.ma30.bull.com Followup-To: rec.arts.sf-lovers Lines: 58 Approved: mcb@presto.ig.com (Acting SF-REVIEWS moderator) WHY I HATE SATURN by Kyle Baker Review Copyright (c) 1991 Alan Wexelblat %A Kyle Baker %T Why I Hate Saturn %I Piranha Press %G No ISBN or ISSN %O large-format softcover graphic novel %O US$14.95 (pay it anyway!) %D 1990 OK, ok, I admit it. This is not SF. It's not even "speculative fiction" unless you think Saturn really is from the planet of her namesake. And, yes, it's a "graphic novel." That is, a story told largely with pictures, in which the text is important and is mostly dialogue. But it's *so* good you have to buy it. Now. Like, stop reading netnews and go to your local comic book store and buy this thing. And if they don't have it, make them order it. It's labeled "for mature readers" which probably means you have to look a little harder for it, then you have to flash some ID to the kid behind the cash register. But do it anyway. Those of you living on the left coast, particularly in L.A., are excused at this point. You're probably not going to think this is a good or funny book, but it is. It's right-coast, NewYorkBostonPhilly in-your-face funny. It's hip, it's cool, it's very post-modern. Like if David Letterman were any good, or if Spy magazine was consistently as good as it can be, they would be almost as good as WHY I HATE SATURN. SATURN is mostly the story of Anne, a talented, unmotivated freelance writer. She's living a life of noisy desperation trying to understand how she fits in to a society she hates. She's viciously, side-splittingly funnily down on fake Mexican restaurants, deliberately damaged hair, and all the other icons of our late-twentieth-century culture. Then one day, her sister Laura appears and things start to go really wrong. Like, Anne has finally given in to her alcoholism, and Laura has been shot and Laura thinks she's Queen of the Leather Astro Girls of Saturn and there are some really weird guys chasing her (or maybe they're just using her to get Anne). If this sounds serious, it is. Baker only manages to keep his funny savvy cool going by using Anne and Laura as foibles for each other and mirrors for the best and the worst in us. His insight is superb, his prose is appropriately sparse (an absolute necessity in the graphic novel form), and his plot is tight. It's a shame that Piranha Press doesn't have a bigger distribution (despite being an arm of DC); I think a lot of people who would love this book will have a hard time finding it. Make the effort, it's worthwhile. Let me leave you with one of my favorite bits: Laura has restocked Anne's refrigerator with food from a "health food" store. Anne observes: "Tempeh burgers. Why do vegetarians spend so much time trying to make vegetables taste like meat? Do monks buy a lot of inflatable sex dolls?" Find this book. Buy this book. You'll be glad you did.