Hello, Again [Paperback]

Max Estes (Author, Artist)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 12, 2005

William is finding out that his past may not be buried as deep as he once thought. In fact, a colorful character from his past has just crawled out of the ground and is refusing to leave until William changes his ways. Hello, Again is the tale of a drunken fisherman, an unfaithful fiance, and a guilt ridden apartment manager, whose lives intersect with unsuspecting and dangerous consequences.

Editorial Reviews

From Booklist

Estes' first book is modest in size but large in the life lesson it conveys. It's about Willy, who doesn't do much but superintend the building he lives in, unless you count hitting the sheets regularly with his best friend's fiancee. In that, he's rather like his father, who left the family after little Willy found him in flagrante with the babysitter. That discovery haunts Willy, along with the time he and other kids unmoored a boat, which contained a passed-out drunk, that then drifted out to sea. Now, from a hole in the lawn, the drunk reenters Willy's life to help him learn how to deal with the past and the present and perhaps do better in the future with another, unencumbered woman. Estes' economies of line and tone (this is a strictly black-and-white graphic novel) make Willy's story resemble one of filmmaker Eric Rohmer's contes morales about modern love, though his equally economical dialogue more resembles that of such more purely visual moral filmmakers as Robert Bresson and Alfred Hitchcock. Ray Olson
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

Product Details

• Paperback: 160 pages
• Publisher: Top Shelf Productions (April 12, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1891830635
• ISBN-13: 978-1891830631
• Product Dimensions: 5.9 x 4.7 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,782,578 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars THE COST OF A HEAVY CONSCIENCE?, April 29, 2005

By 

Tim Janson (Michigan) - See all my reviews
(HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)    (TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: Hello, Again (Paperback)

What is the cost of a heavy conscience? William is about to find out in a very sudden and powerful way. William has a lot of guilt on his head. Some of it warranted and some not. Years ago he and his friends pulled what they thought was going to be an innocent prank on a drunken fisherman down by the docks. They untied his boat and let it drift away...and the fisherman was never heard from again. Now as an adult he's not making life any easier on himself. He's sleeping with Delia, the wife of his best friend, Aaron. And he also feels the guilt, although misplaced, over his parent's breakup when he was just a child after finding his father having sex with the babysitter.

Then one day his conscience crawls out of a hole in the ground for a little retribution in the form of the very same fisherman. People think William is nuts as he argues with the man since he is the only one who can see him. William tries to run, but you can't run from your conscience. William's past sins hit him full in the face and when he cannot dispel this phantom fisherman, he does the only thing he can do...the right thing and finally confronts his demons. Only this will clear the weight from his soldiers and send the fisherman back the hole.

You never know what you're going to get when you open a book from Top Shelf which to me makes them one of the more intriguing comic publishers today. They are so outside the box and doing edgier, non-traditional type things and giving writers and artists a forum that they otherwise may not have. Maz Extes isn't a great artist but his impressionistic style is well-suited to the story he tells in "Hello Again" He communicates a genuine sense of sincerity and pain with William and the fisherman and you feel a great deal of sympathy for William by the end of the story. Very well-done little graphic novel.