The Playboy

This is an unvarnished take Chester Brown's teenage sexuality and his obsession with Playboy. I finished this book in one sitting and in less 30 minutes, and I must say that I have mixed thoughts. The book is rather short, even though it is more than 200 pages, with just two (sometimes one) panels per page. For this alone, I think it's unfair to pay 800 bucks for it. Secondly, there isn't much to this book. We only learn that Chester buys one Playboy after another and masturbates everytime he does this. That's all we learn from this so called “memoir”. Actually, we learn that he has a thing for big tits and blondes (Tiger Woods has company). That's it. There's virtually no plot and character development. We don't know whether his relationships are affected or not. We do not know how and whether this filthy habit affects his self esteem. Needless to say, I liked the humour. There were many panels in this book that left me chuckling, especially of those frantic moments when someone is about to find out that he just bought a copy of Playboy. The illustrations are monochromatic and well done. The ‘Notes' at the end of the book is a treat to read. Having read this, I can't wait to read ‘Paying For it', which supposedly got rave reviews.

Unless you're a comic book collector like me, don't buy this. Instead, go for the “quickie” (pardon the pun): pick it up, read it in the shop itself and put it back.