Ramsey, whose zine List I've long been a fan of, moves from Chicago to Philadelphia and documents her first year there in one-week chunks. I've read a fair amount of daily comics, which I also like, but I appreciate how an artist giving herself a week allows her more space and the opportunity to be more selective about what she chooses to illustrate and share.
Cover image from author's website.
She explores that concept in week 21:
I love the "Whoa. That's meta." ending.
I'm not going to copy every page I loved into this review because I'd end up reprinting practically the whole thing, which you can read on your own on Ramsey's website for the project. (I recommend that you borrow or buy the book, rather than paging through the web comics, but that's just me.) The next bit I want to share is my enjoyment of the Halloween costume mash-ups Ramsey and her friends came up with. My favorite might be Where's Molly Ringwaldo.
Another favorite element is the role Ramsey's dog Rover plays. He always seems to know what's what, including when Ramsey is using him as an excuse. In a discussion of polyamory and jealousy, he says "Oh, I understand jealously, alright. Like when some dude steals my spot in the bed and you make me sleep on the floor. I get it but it still bums me out."
And good lord, I want to throw a parade in Ramsey's honor for including an Index of Characters at the end of the book! Speaking for librarian kind, that's hot! There is one lacuna, though, Rover doesn't have a listing!
If after this "review," you're wondering what the book is about, basically it's an evocative chronicle of a straightedge art punk in her 20s. She visits zine friends and pen pals, has zine friends and pen pals visit, has crushes and boyfriends, works as a nanny, frets a bit about money, draws and does crafty things alone or with friends, worries about her social life and the fact that she often prefers to stay home, and loves her animal companion. Wait, that's a lot like my fortysomething life, minus most of the travel. And Ramsey and her friends are cuter and more fit than me and some of mine--and generally more tattooed.
The book is self-published and extremely polished and profesh. I encourage librarians to purchase it for their graphic novel collections. So far only Columbia has it. Catch up, people!