Estes, Max – Hello, Again

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Hello, Again

Three cheers to Top Shelf for doing these yearly-ish sales of a bunch of their stock. Hello, Again is something that I’ve seen at various stores for years, but the $10 price tag for something so tiny always scared me off. All that being said, this is a perfectly wonderful little tale about repeating the mistakes of the past, the power of secrets and the uncertain nature of trying to put things right. This starts off with Willy, our “hero”, having sex with a woman we soon discover is the fiancee of his unsuspecting best friend. He seems slightly tormented by this but is unwilling to stop until a man from his past comes along to talk some sense into the guy. Turns out this is just his conscience speaking in the form of a man he may or may not have killed in a childhood prank years ago, although the reality of the guy is left up in the air by a floating coffee cup. No, I’m not going to explain that any more clearly; read it for yourself if you’re curious. Brian Ralph wrote a nice blurb on the back, appropriate because this artwork reminds me more than a little of Brian. Max makes his own style though, with a lead character who seems physically incapable of any lasting happiness and eyes that are somehow densely expressive while appearing simplistic. It eventually eases towards a happy ending, but nothing is as simple as all that. I was thoroughly impressed by this, hefty price tag or not. You could always get it cheaper at Amazon or just wait for another one of these sales if you’re as cheap as I am… $10