There is something about watching and/or reading anthologies which tell a common theme. This is why Love Actually is still one of the most talked about movies almost 20 years after it came out. There was someone everyone can identify with in each character. The one character in the movie which I most identified with, and this was due to my general shyness, is Mark, Andrew Lincoln’s character.

Now, I know most people know Lincoln, from his character in the Walking Dead, but the way he depicted how painful being shy is, cut right through me. Most of these movies, that depicted a general them usually are considered universal, that is also why Garry Marshall’s movies feels so honest. As they usually showed a city is filled with people just like you even when you think you are all alone. So, when I heard D.J. Bryant’s Unreal City, I knew I was in for a treat.

In “Echoes to Eternity”, a woman in an unhappy marriage, feels as if she is being dragged down by the world, that is until she finds a place that feels all too familiar, but she has no recollection of.In”Evelyn Dayton-Holt”, a woman continusously tortures her husband, until she realizes the monster she has become. In” Emordana”, a theater goer becomes engrossed in a play to where becomes part of it in the weirdest way.” In the “Yellowknife Perspective”, a man gets trapped in a museum where a time loop exists, which leads him to question whether his girlfriend is a figment of his imagination. In “Objet D’Art”, a man’s infatuation becomes his undoing until he meets the love of his life.

Overall, a creepy, gripping and entertaining set of stories, that will either divide or unite readers, as these stories are not for kids. The stories by D.J. Bryant is uneasy, riddled with black humor and ones the reader will soon not forget. The art by D.J. Bryant reminds me of Daniel Clowes work, but with a panache all his own. Altogether, a book and an artist to watch out for.

Story: D.J. Bryant Art: D.J. Bryant
Story: 10 Art: 9.0 Overall: 9.4R ecommendation: Buy