Yet another Wednesday signing at Jim Hanley Universe (JHU). At first, I was going to skip it. I had plenty of excuses. Wednesday is hump day, I have a long commute from Mid-CT to NYC (and vice versa); and around 6 PM all I want to do is get on the train for my afternoon nap on the ride home. However, I already owned a signed copy of Brian Wood‘s the DMZ Vol. 1 TPB, and rationalized that the admission price of a signed $9.99 Starve TPB–even though I really had no interest in a book about a celebrity chef–was well worth the effort to get my copy of DMZ Vol. 2 TPB signed to add to my collection.

Man, was I so wrong on this one.

Wired and wide awake from the long cold walk from East 32nd to Grand Central; on the train ride home, I cracked open my signed copy of Starve to see what it was about.

Initially, I had mixed feelings after reading the first chapter.  I was intrigued by the drug addled Gavin Cruikshank celebrity chef character, but a little put off by the dog episode. Still, I needed to know what happened next. About a half an hour later, a third of my train ride was over, and I was on Chapter 4 … like goddamn … this is pretty damn effin good.

At times the resolutions were a tad too neat, but the writing was superb, and it kept me awake the entire train ride home. This is no easy feat; usually the rhythmic motion of the train knocks me out cold in 15 minutes or less; but by the end of Chapter five (set in Brooklyn, my old stomping grounds), I was surprised to realize I was only about ten minutes away from my stop. I had been in the reading zone, where time flew by at a rapid clip unawares to me.

After reading it, I still didn’t know how to categorize it. A blurb on the back cover from Eater.com makes reference  to a “golden era of food comics.” I’m not aware of any such genre, but that doesn’t mean it doesn’t exist.

What is it about? It’s about a present-future dystopian society focused on a dysfunctional celebrity family, at odds with each other amidst a subversive society of uber shallow one percenters flaunting their wealth in the middle of a looming class war. It’s a gut wrenching horror story that brilliantly satirizes the reality tv programs of today. It’s a dark bloody and violent televised contest between the young and the old. It’s the heartwarming reconciliation story of an out of the closet 1970s  queer coming to terms with his abandoned ex-wife, and barely 18 year old daughter. It’s all these things and more.

Zezelj’s art with Stewart’s colors is disturbing. It is tinted mauves, grayish blues, greens and yellows with heavy dark black inks. It is a visceral gory mess that you don’t want to look away from.

Don’t let this one pass you by like I almost did. Give Starve a chance.

And thanks again to Brian Wood for the sigs and the photo op! Now I gotta go and catch up on Season 2.