Faker [Paperback]

Mike Carey (Author), Jock (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 5, 2008

Freshman year of college is the ultimate time for reinvention -- except when you can't physically justify why you even exist. This is the case for Nick Philo. The only thing that reassures him that he's not going crazy is that his best friends seem to know him. Or do they?

Chock full of ruthless characters with hidden agendas, this graphic novel proves that if you're up for it, you can lie, cheat and fake your way through almost anything.

Editorial Reviews

From Booklist

In his first collection, Gaskin struts his stuff in more forms than many a comics artist does these days, including one-panel gags, four-panel strips, six-panel one-pagers, several-page stories, and sketchbook outtakes, funny and not. (The only veteran cartoonist who regularly offers as much variety is Sam Henderson, whose latest Magic Whistle collection, Body Armor for Your Dignity, is reviewed in this issue.) Silliness and pop-cultural referentiality inform virtually everything Gaskin does, sometimes rather complexly. “Speedy Beepy” requires familiarity with (1) the picture-book convention of anthropomorphizing machines, (2) claims made about biodiesel fuel, and (3) the perception of environmental greens and sixties hippies as birds of a feather. “My Kinski” is so quirky and daft that appreciating it doesn’t depend on knowing the Werner Herzog films that inspired it, though such knowledge still helps. Employing the deliberately crude drawing manners of alternative cartoonists from S. Clay Wilson to Lynda Barry and displaying a sensibility poised somewhere between Wilson’s ludicrous obscenity and Barry’s laughing to keep from crying, Gaskin’s a talent to watch. --Ray Olson

Product Details

• Paperback: 160 pages
• Publisher: Vertigo (March 5, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1401216633
• ISBN-13: 978-1401216634
• Product Dimensions: 6.7 x 0.4 x 10.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 2.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,314,923 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars not mike carey's best work, May 10, 2008

By 

S. Robert Katz (East Lansing, MI USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Faker (Paperback)

i essentially agree with the other review here. i like mike carey a lot, but this was a rare miss for him. it's strictly "ok," not bad but nothing special. there's a somewhat interesting idea that's a major theme and pops up explicitly in a few places (the last page, for one), but it's just not enough. the characters are basically flat, and the pacing was peculiar, but i think that was a result of the bizarre (not necessarily in a good way) turn the plot took. jock's not at the top of his game either. i normally like his art quite a lot, but there just wasn't much here for him to sink his teeth into. some great looking covers (as usual), but otherwise not much to look at. this is probably a 2.5 star book, might appeal more to someone else, but i was disappointed. did like the last page tho, which helps, but i can't really recommend this.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Complicated sf thriller with a loathesome cast, June 9, 2008

By 

J. Shurin "carnivore" (London) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Faker (Paperback)

Inexplicable but surprisingly strong Vertigo one-off.

Difficult to describe (partially because I'm still a bit confused), but Carey does a good job making four utterly reprehensible protagonists into empathetic figures.

The strange bio-nano-psycho-technology at the core of the story exists mostly as an excuse for Carey to do what he wants. Although there are a myriad of twists and turns, it is hard to muster a sense of surprise when there's no initial normality.

The book is supported by solid, but not great art by Jock - I really liked the dyamic layouts more than the pictures within them. And, unlike some of the other reviewers, I love the cover...

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Not for everyone, but underrated., May 15, 2008

By 

J.D. "Cornelius" (Los Angeles, CA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Faker (Paperback)

Mike Carey (Hellblazer) and Eisner-nominated artist Jock (The Losers) tell a tale of disaffected college youth that's equal parts Bret Easton Ellis and Philip K. Dick.

A group of housemates made up of shallow, exploitative people return from winter break and get really trashed at a party. When they wake up, suddenly they find that no one else seems to remember their roommate Nick. Questions of identity, memory, and existence itself soon wreak havoc as the roommates wrestle with their unraveling lives.

If you're willing to go with some of the more far-fetched plot turns, there is a core idea here that hits on very vital issues at a sometimes overwhelming time in one's life.