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Finder, Vol. 08: Five Crazy Women

The "aboriginal science fiction" setting of McNeil's long-running serial is a framework for an enormous range of stories, and this eighth collection is romance — from the point of view of the kind of guy who usually leaves women's apartments through the window. Jaeger Ayers is a ritual sin eater for a tribal religion, a hot-looking lowlife from the country on the loose in a big city and a total tomcat. Maybe he brings out the worst kinks, fetishes and neuroses in women, as he describes them in hilarious, R-rated terms to a friend; maybe his experiences with them are just a reflection of his own macho unreliability. The story's got a marvelous, unusual tone — light comedy with flashes of chilling psychological darkness — and McNeil's artwork is a joy, meticulously observing each of her characters' expressions and body language. She packs every panel with details that suggest how her invented culture works, like a professional bathgiver with tiny bars of soap-on-a-rope for earrings. A lot of what McNeil does is world building, fleshing out the ethnography and technology of her imaginary society, but it's a natural extension of her characters' amorous collisions and near-misses. — Publisher's Weekly

  • Format
  • paperback
  • Pages
  • 128
  • Language
  • english
  • ISBN
  • 9780967369174
  • Genres
  • comics, fantasy, fiction
  • Release date
  • 2006