cover image Sinfest

Sinfest

Tatsuya Ishida, . . Dark Horse, $14.95 (195pp) ISBN 978-1-59582-319-9

Advertising, religion, sex and politics are just a handful of the topics touched on by Tatsuya Ishida’s popular Web comic, Sinfest . This first volume collects the first 600 outings of the nearly 10-year-old strip. The cute, slightly raunchy cast of characters includes Slick, the womanizer, Monique, who may or may not be a tramp, the Devil, God and a slew of other demons, angels, animals and humans. While clearly influenced by comic strips such as Peanuts and using takeoffs on some of that strip’s familiar setups, Ishida takes his work into dark, politically incorrect directions. The art is likewise a mix of comic strip cute and manga that’s accessible to a broad range of readers. Bonuses in this volume include a sampling of Sinfest the College Years, proving that the comic was once raunchier and harsher than its current incarnation. Harsh as it is, Sinfest offers many laughs; it may be brutally funny, but it is dead honest and refreshing. And underneath the shock value of some of its gags is a comic strip very much in the classic newspaper tradition. (June)