The Back of the Line
74 pages, by Decode, June 2007
The Back of the Line collects four of Jeff Parker's stories, all centering around The Narrator, and James Wreck, and is nicely supplemented by the artwork of William Powhida throughout.
While Parker employs his usual strong writing (his stories have been anthologized fairly regularly the past couple of years), the book is truly a complete creation: well written stories, art that compliments the style of the writing, even the "typeset" itself, made to look like a handwritten journal almost (including the lined paper). The artwork moves from near charicature styled profiles of various individuals to hand written 'to do' lists, complete with scratched out lines and smudged writing.
It's a pretty strong battle throughout Parker's stories as to who has a more pathetic existence - The Narrator, or James. In the opener, "James's Fear of Birds," The Narrator is watching his girlfriend's bird, Epi. He does this "while she cheated on me with some dude in another town." How does James battle that? By beating said bird to death with a hammer.
Parker employs a solid mix of humor and pathos within these tales. "The Back of the Line," the story, sees The Narrator's ex-girlfriend (of very little time) posting a sign in the front window - Boyfriend Wanted: Apply Within - and both The Narrator, looking for a second shot, and James, going after his best friend's ex, are in line, amongst a throng of others.
Throughout the four stories, this duo drinks, has little success with women, apply for the position of boyfriend, slightly skirt trouble with the law, and work as gate arm repairmen on a campus. Parker has a fantastic abiiity to make such things seem very worthy of your time, and Powhida's art, which actually graces between a third and half of the pages, really is a perfect fit.
4 stars
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