James Kochalka's The Sketchbook Diaries Volume 3
By James Kolchalka
Publisher: Top Shelf
(review for 4 Color Review April 2003)
(quoted by Top Shelf)

Absolutely impossible to encapsulate into a single review, Kochalka's eminently likeable SKETCHBOOK DIARIES are a singular experience in the world of comics. Are they: a highly unique autobiography? One of the most realistic and honest depictions of a relationship in comics? Some kind of generational statement? A superior portrait of the unpredictability of human moods? A masterpiece of non-sequitor? Funny? Poignant? Candid? Melodramatic? Random? Melancholy?

Works to be read, re-read, and treasured, the SKETCHBOOK DIARIES are a year in the life of an underground cartoonist: 365 (actually, 367 to be exact) sketch-snapshots of the strange beauty of daily living.

Comics' foremost optimist, Kochalka really distinguishes himself from his fellow cartoonists not only through deceptively simple and wonderful art, but also with a goofy, vulnerable cheerfulness. In a medium where many creators find life unbearably and predictably painful, he finds the extraordinary in the ordinary.

© 2002 Andrew Duncan | All rights reserved | Do not reproduce without expressed consent of author.