White, Josh – Hot Shower #8

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Hot Shower #8

How exactly did I pick up a comic from a local Columbus artist in Chicago?  Not that the man doesn’t deserve to have his comics all over the place, it’s just that if he’s already on #8 I should have seen an issue around here at some point.  This comic alternates between stream of consciousness weirdness and more normal storytelling effortlessly, to the point where it gets a little difficult to tell when one piece ends and another begins.  It’s irrelevant though, as the comic works beautifully as a whole.  Josh starts off simply enough, with a couple of stories about how it’s easier to wake somebody up early in the morning if they’re not your lover and about his experience at COSI, a Columbus landmark of sorts.  He follows that with a simple observation from his grandfather, then everything starts to come together.  Without trying to analyze things too much, it’s all about formless sex, learning about women, drawing, watching serpentine cigarette smoke, failing to clean up before attempting to meet women, more sex (with symbolic dog head), taking inner photos with hard blinking, meeting two women in L.A., a sign of affection, being self-centered and a drunken brawl.  Honestly, when something is this disjointed it could go either way, but I thought it was brilliant.  Makes me wonder if #1-7 were this good or if he had to work his way up to this.  Hey, SPACE is coming up, maybe I can find out more there.  $2