Box Office Poison [Paperback]

Alex Robinson (Author, Artist)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 1, 2001

This epic story of Sherman, Dorothy, Ed, Stephen, Jane, and Mr. Flavor is not to be missed. Alex Robinson's completely natural and inspiring knack for dialogue has made his story of dreary jobs, comic books, love, sex, messy apartments, girlfriends (and the lack thereof), undisclosed pasts, and crusty old professionals one of the most delightful and whimsical graphic novels to hit the stands in years.

Product Details

• Paperback: 608 pages
• Publisher: Top Shelf Productions (May 1, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1891830198
• ISBN-13: 978-1891830198
• Product Dimensions: 9.5 x 6.5 x 1.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (38 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #270,493 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Alex Robinson was born in the Bronx on 8 August. He grew up in Yorktown Heights, New York where he graduated high school in 1987. His first job upon graduation was washing dishes in a gourmet deli and it was while working there he decided that maybe college was a pretty good idea afterall.

He spent one year at SUNY Brockport and then transferred to an art school in New York City, where he majored in cartooning. Among his teachers were Will Eisner, Andre LeBlanc, Sal Amendola and Gahan Wilson. In his sophomore year he got a job at a bookstore, where he continued to work for seven long years.

After graduating from art school, Alex began doing mini comics (small print run comics xeroxed and stapled by himself). He soon started working on the story that would become his first graphic novel, Box Office Poison.

In 1996, Antarctic Press started publishing the serialized version of Box Office Poison. The series ran for twenty-one issues, and once the story was complete, Top Shelf Productions published the entire thing in one 608 page book. Shortly after the book was published, Alex won the Eisner Award for Talent Deserving of Wider Recognition.

Although Box Office Poison was nominated for several awards (a Harvey, an Eisner, an Ignatz and the Firecracker book award) it failed to take home a single prize. Pathetic. Alex bitterly got to work on a second book.

2005 got off to a great start when the French translation of Box Office Poison won the prestigious Prix du Premier Album award in Angouleme, France. August finally saw the release of Tricked, which Top Shelf announced was going to a second printing in November.

In 2006, Tricked lost the Eisner Award for Best Graphic Novel, but managed to win a Harvey and Ignatz Award. This year also so Astiberri in Spain release both of his graphic novels in handsome, one volume editions.

Alex has expanded his storytelling to include fantasy, with the release of Alex Robinson's LOWER REGIONS (2007), the time travel/high school drama Too Cool to Be Forgotten (2008) and an adaptaion of L. Frank Baum's A Kidnapped Santa Claus (2009).

He currently lives in New York City with his wife Kristen and their pets, Krimpet and Wrigley.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Very refreshing, September 26, 2001

By 

Ron Tothleben ([e-mail]) (Tilburg, Netherlands, Europe) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Box Office Poison (Paperback)

In an industry where 'bigger, harder, shinier' is the status quo, the 'Box Office Poison' collection (this book collects every single Box Office Poison issue in existence, making it a more than complete story) came to me as a refreshing experience, and a very good one at it.
I can understand why people compare it to 'Strangers in Paradise', but I will hastely add that it's not the same kinda book in its entirety. Where Strangers in Paradise almost exclusively focuses on relationships and what comes with them, Box Office Poison takes a wider view and handles everyday life of a certain group of people in it's entirety. WITH relationships, but also with (in)security issues, finding out what to do with your life, gaining perspective on it and REALLY see how a personal life evolves (where it is a little romanticized in most comics in this 'genre', even Strangers in Paradise). The main point is that nothing happening in it is in any way forced. It's what comes and goes. Very relatable.

A storywise introduction: Although the story is about an entire group of people there are two characters, the friends Sherman and 'Ed', around which everything evolves, the red line if you will. Sherman is just out of college, wants to be a writer, but for now works in a bookstore as a clerk. The shy and insecure Ed wants to become a cartoonist. Along the book you'll witness the ups and downs, recognizable joys and annoyments (funny if you're into sarcasm) and relationships being made and broken. Various things happen like for instance: Ed trying everything he can to gain some confidence, honesty and loyalty (or lack off it) in the comic industry, people assuming things they 'heard somewhere' and only seeing how somebody means something to you when he or she isn't there at the time. But also less 'deep' things like a philosophy about why men just HAVE to look when there's cleavage shown and stupid things people ask clerks (you'll find yourself go "damn, I did that !' more than once).

All in all this little un-exaggerated comic-book soap-opera is the nicest thing I've read in a while and the most refreshing thing since I first opened a Strangers in Paradise Graphic Novel.
The art is, compared to the before mentioned book, a little less good but the variety in storylines AND a very plot-twisting last few pages makes than up more than enough. Funny as well, but never forced. Very relatable and as uncliche as it gets. A lot of good pages of fun for your money.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Box Office Posion Success, June 9, 2001

By A Customer

This review is from: Box Office Poison (Paperback)

I have been one of the fortunate people to be following Box Office Poison since the start of the series when it was just a mini-comic. Seeing this culmination of the 21 individual issues in this huge book and holding it in my hands confirms what fantastic characters and stories Alex Robinson can write and draw. This is a must have for anyone that enjoys a funny, sad, surprising, truthful story of believable characters that could be people in your life. This isn't a graphic novel just for people who like graphic novels, but for people who enjoy great fiction storytelling. Kudos to Top Shelf for putting together a book that no one would be embarassed to read on the subway. I hope many will request this book!

6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars People you know? Mammoth, entertaining comics novel., April 11, 2002

By 

miles@riverside (Indio, CA United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Box Office Poison (Paperback)

... The book's format resembles those CEREBUS phonebook collections: a huge mass of black and white comics, with liberal use of heavy blacks for inking effects. Unlike CEREBUS, the focus here is on regular folks living in a contemporary metropolis.

I read through this intimidating heap of pages pretty quickly. There's something funny on virtually every page, although there's also tragedy and drama. The book's strong points are the characters and their dialog. A few of the characters seem unlikable, when they're introduced; but by the end of the story, I liked all of them (except the psycho murderer, maybe). At the end, I felt relieved for some and sad for others. Those I liked best at the beginning weren't in all cases the ones I liked best near the end.

It's a book that makes you think hard about people you know or knew, and about how you yourself appear to other people. An impressive accomplishment, I think.