"DOG BOY: Choice Cuts & Happy Endings" by Steve Lafler

This oversize volume collects the best of Lafler's pioneering 1980's alternative comics magazine title Dog Boy, known for its undulating psychedelic twists, coupled with low-brow tropes that border on slapstick.

The date is 1982—early dawn in the alternative comics movement. Steve Lafler, bohemian cartoonist, taps into his unconscious mind and finds his inner Dog Boy: An unruly man-child equipped with a Golden Retriever head. 

Reared on the incandescent comic book innovations of Jack Kirby, coming of age in the subsequent explosion of Underground Comix, Lafler sets out to chart his own inky journey.

Marked by a shattering ego-death experience behind psilocybin on the cusp of adulthood, the artist roots around in his psyche, utilizing an improvisational, unscripted cartooning method. Pumping out page after page of comics penciled in a thick non-photo blue line, he furiously swings at a vision of the simultaneity of all action, reaching for the gold ring deep inside.

Readers encounter a critique of wage slavery, plenty of strong coffee, a bit of beer guzzling, inner probings from the id to the unconscious, and a healthy dose of comedic cul-de-sacs on this cartoon roller coaster ride. Lafler's early career improvisations soar, and at turns fall flat, but it's well worth the coin to join him on these good natured spelunking expeditions of the heart.

Published by Cat Head Comics

8.5" x 11", 328 pages. $36.99
Full-color covers with b+w interior. Perfect-bound GN