Minimum Wage Book One [Paperback]

Bob Fingerman (Author)

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Fingerman has the knack for identifying the humor in the weirdest and the most unexceptional people or situations. This first installment of Fingerman's crisply rendered mini-epic presents a couple of days in the life of Rob, paradoxically stuffy N.Y.C. slacker/artist and reluctant party-boy, who freelances for porn magazines while convincingly delivering the line "You kiss your mother with that mouth?" to his shoot-from-the-hip girlfriend Sylvia. Rob slouches along from Pork magazine headquarters to Brooklyn and beyond, sharing joints, drinks and woes with his baggy, sex-starved buds?prototypical loser-types all?along the way. The sneakily incisive Fingerman presents his characters in all their skewed, dweebish glory, from their often hilarious dialogue to the band-emblazoned T-shirts that they wear like ID tags. The graphics and overall atmosphere are distinct from such earlier work as White Like She; Minimum Wage has a clean, cartoony style that manages to be both light and cluttered in a manic, obsessive way, tight yet loose-limbed. His backgrounds are packed with layers of detail that, when decoded, provide further insights into an engaging and entertaining work that is dense with demented particulars. Drawings are in b&w.
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Review

"STARK YET HILARIOUS REALITY" "The sort of earthy realism so often missing from conventional prose novels." --Entertainment Weekly

"Minimum Wage features a cast that is full of energy and life." --Wizard Magazine

"Bob Fingerman has grounded his stories in stark yet hilarious reality. Unlike most writers, who bring their characters to the brink of disaster and then veer them off into safety, Bob plunges them headlong into the maw of it. Just like life. That's why his work resonates. That is the pendulum upon which Minimum Wage swings." --stand-up comic Dana Gould, the star of his own HBO comedy specials, from the Foreword -- Eric Reynolds, Publicist

...graphic novel form with the sort of earthy realism so often missing from conventional prose novels. -- Entertainment Weekly, Ken Tucker

Minimum Wage: Book Two is a thoroughly enjoyable twentysomething slice of life. Even though this is the second collection of Bob Fingerman's Minimum Wage stories, it reads well as a stand-alone volume: all of the characters are properly reintroduced and are distinctive enough to immediately engage new readers. The first two of the five chapters deal with protagonists Rob and Sylvia looking for an apartment together in New York City. Anyone who's had a hard time looking for a place to live or who hates to move will find plenty of humor in these pages. The fourth chapter, which centers on a comic-book convention (Rob is a cartoonist), is chock full of funny scenes and comics-industry cameos, which can be pretty darn funny if you're in on the jokes (if you're not up on comics convention humor, though, the chapter may not be as engaging). The volume ends slightly anticlimactically, leaving room for a third book, but don't let that deter you. Minimum Wage is great reading. -- amazon.com

Product Details

• Paperback: 72 pages
• Publisher: Fantagraphics Books; First Edition edition (June 1, 1997)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1560971878
• ISBN-13: 978-1560971870
• Product Dimensions: 10.4 x 6.6 x 0.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 6.9 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,410,435 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #38 in Books > 4-for-3 Books > Comics & Graphic Novels > Publishers > Fantagraphics
  • #42 in Books > 4-for-3 Books > Business & Investing > Economics > Labor & Industrial Relations

More About the Author

Bob Fingerman authors both graphic as well as straight prose novels. His books include the critically acclaimed graphic novels BEG THE QUESTION (a reworked collection of the comic series MINIMUM WAGE) and WHITE LIKE SHE (both Fantagraphics). Other books include YOU DESERVED IT and RECESS PIECES (both Dark Horse Books), and the illustrated novella, CONNECTIVE TISSUE (Fantagraphics).

His debut prose novel, BOTTOMFEEDER, was published in 2007. From Fangoria's Book of the Month review: "If, like me, you've been looking for the balls that have been torn from the modern vampire, you need to pick up this book."

His newest graphic novel FROM THE ASHES (IDW), a satirical "speculative memoir" set in the post-apocalyptic ruins of NYC will be released in March 2010. Bob's next novel, PARIAH, will be released by Tor in July 2010.

He lives in NYC with his wife, Michele.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Why Black and White comics will never die!, April 18, 2006

By 

Noah Stevens "weird fiction enthusiast" (Due west of the armpit of Florida) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Minimum Wage Book One (Paperback)

Bob Fingerman, He's a poet and an artist. He captures, quite comically (pun intended) what I imagine it must be like to be young, tragically hip and underemployed in New York. I found one issue of this on an old friend's comic shelf. My local store didn't carry it, so I ended up going to another town and ordering it from their store. A great story with really interesting characters that will remind you of your friends - especially if you read enough comics. Plenty of nudity, sex, vulgar talk, character development, plot and tender moments between friends to rank up there with Love and Rockets and a legion of other well written but unnoticed works of art.

Bob Fingerman! Come back!